Install location

[GingkoFr]

Hello,

Trying to run Winboat for the first time after an apparently successful installation on Linux Debian 13, I'm stuck with the following question:

"Install Location".

Apparently I have to create and/or select a directory, but I have no information about where to locate it, and how to create it.

Do I have to select an existing directory or a new one?
What is it expected to contain?
Is it expected to be in the user space (my user account) or in the global space?
Which owner, group and permissions is it expected to have?

Regards.

[ASRSI]

You should select a directory with enough space to run the VM installation of Windows, so at least 32GB or more should be available. I specifically used a partition I still had free, mounted it on /media/WB_Data and simply selected this directory. WinBoat then creates a subdirectory (winboat) in this directory where the installation takes place. It is important that you have sufficient access rights to the corresponding directory! Since you start Winboat as a normal user, the permissions must be set accordingly for this user.

[GingkoFr]

Ok, thank you very much.
But what if I expect Winboat to be usable by more than one user?
Will this directory contain data specific to any user?
Will I have to allocate at least 32GB for each user?

[ASRSI]

I'm not a develope of WinBoat, but at the moment, there is only one installation possible (without tricks...).

[GingkoFr]

I'd logically expect to have one huge global space for global data common to all users (like C:\Windows in regular Windows) and one smallest space for data specific to each users (like C:\Users\<UserName>), something like /home/<username>/.winboat.

[auri-f5bde6]

I'd logically expect to have one huge global space for global data common to all users (like C:\Windows in regular Windows) and one smallest space for data specific to each users (like C:\Users\<UserName>), something like /home/<username>/.winboat.

That's not how winboat work, interestingly. Essentially, the entirety of C:\ drive is stored inside ~/winboat or the install path you've choose in the dialog.

(And thus, it is possible to have multiple user inside of the winboat VM, in theory. But, the winboat GUI doesn't really account for that, so it would be really awkward to do)

[auri-f5bde6]

Just use the default setting if you're unsure! And this is the folder that will contain the entire “disk” that the window VM can see, window user(s)'s data, including window itself will be installed to that directory.

[GingkoFr]

That is not a solution.
There is no default setting.
Just an empty field for choosing an install location which does not validate if left empty.

[auri-f5bde6]

That is not a solution.
There is no default setting.
Just an empty field for choosing an install location which does not validate if left empty.

Strange, that might be a bug. Hmmm
It's supposed to default to ~/winboat
(See: https://github.com/TibixDev/winboat/blob/main/src%2Frenderer%2Fviews%2FSetupUI.vue#L878)

Perhaps try closing and restarting the installation process. It should be filled in by default.

[cmonty14]

If I understood correctly the default location (installation directory) is: $HOME/winboat.

If I setup installation directory to /var/lib/winboat, will this cause problems due to permissions?
/var/lib/winboat is typically owned by root.

[auri-f5bde6]

Well, nothing is stopping you from creating a winboat group, chown /var/lib/winboat to root:group and give the group write perm. Then add the user to the group.
p.s. You might not actually need to do this, come to think of it, if you're using docker(as docker daemon run as root) , am not sure

[cmonty14]

Well, nothing is stopping you from creating a winboat group, chown /var/lib/winboat to root:group and give the group write perm. Then add the user to the group. p.s. You might not actually need to do this, come to think of it, if you're using docker(as docker daemon run as root) , am not sure

I set owner:group of /var/lib/winboat to my user.
However, winboat does not accept this target directory, maybe because /var is root:root.