Guest operating systems
The WSH extensions are aimed at running older and non-x86 operating systems that benefit from legacy devices (cirrus / cg3 display, sb16 / adlib audio, ne2k / pcnet / lance network) and alternative architectures.
The operating systems below are known to work. OS-specific driver packs and detailed walkthroughs will be expanded over time.
| Operating system | Architecture | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Linux (as old as 2.x) | x86_64, sparc, sparc64 | Generally works with legacy devices |
| SunOS / Solaris 2.4+ | sparc, sparc64 | See the SPARC guide |
| MS-DOS 3+ | x86_64 | Performance improved with a curated set of drivers and patches |
| Windows 1.x and up | x86_64 | Works with legacy display/network/audio devices |
| Windows 9x | x86_64 | VBE-enhanced drivers, plus 3DFX/Mesa passthrough for 3D acceleration |
Older Linux releases (down to the 2.x kernel series) run on the legacy devices added by the extensions. Use the reference pages to pick a display, network card, and audio device the guest has drivers for.
SunOS / Solaris
Section titled “SunOS / Solaris”Solaris and SunOS run on the emulated SPARC platforms. See the dedicated SPARC guide for the recommended machine, BIOS, disk, and network layout.
MS-DOS
Section titled “MS-DOS”MS-DOS 3 and later run on x86_64. Performance and compatibility improve significantly with a curated collection of drivers and patches.
Windows
Section titled “Windows”Windows releases from 1.x onward are supported on x86_64. For Windows 9x, the VBE-enhanced display drivers and the experimental 3DFX/Mesa passthrough (see Display) enable accelerated graphics.
Graphical and audio forwarding
Section titled “Graphical and audio forwarding”Several of these guests rely on legacy display and audio devices that cannot be used with SPICE. The extensions can forward GTK/SDL output and ALSA/PulseAudio/PipeWire audio to the host instead — see the Audio device and Display references for configuration details.