WinApps stops Docker container too early

[DavidAlexanderMueller]

Hello all,

I recently migrated to linux and am using WinApps with Docker (Docker version 28.2.2, build e6534)

I encountered a problem, which I want to describe in more depth:

1. Step: I have nothing opened

• The Docker is closed (VM (WIN10) is not running)
• WinApps is also not active

2. Step: I try to be productive with office and start Windows

• There is a notification that WinApps is booting Windows (yay, it works)
• After a short time, another notification states that "The Windows RDP port '3389' is closed"

3. Step: I am confused.

• I check my log files

winapps.log

--------- winapps.log excerpt ------------
[Sa 14. Jun 16:21:10 CEST 2025-22107] START
[Sa 14. Jun 16:21:10 CEST 2025-22107] SCRIPT_DIR: /home/kranich/.local/bin
[Sa 14. Jun 16:21:10 CEST 2025-22107] SCRIPT_ARGS: word-o365
[Sa 14. Jun 16:21:10 CEST 2025-22107] HOME_DIR: /home/kranich
[Sa 14. Jun 16:21:10 CEST 2025-22107] LAST_RUN: 1749910810
[Sa 14. Jun 16:21:10 CEST 2025-22107] THIS_RUN: 1749910870
[Sa 14. Jun 16:21:10 CEST 2025-22107] Using FreeRDP command 'xfreerdp3'.
[Sa 14. Jun 16:21:10 CEST 2025-22107] WINDOWS SHUT OFF. BOOTING WINDOWS.
[Sa 14. Jun 16:21:10 CEST 2025-22107] ERROR: RDP PORT CLOSED. EXITING.
end of file

I also checked in terminal what happened with my docker with docker logs WinApps

terminal output

kranich@kranich-B650-GAMING-X-AX-V2:~$ docker logs WinApps
❯ Starting Windows for Docker v4.35...
❯ For support visit https://github.com/dockur/windows
❯ CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D | RAM: 23/31 GB | DISK: 203 GB (ext4) | KERNEL: 6.15.2-061502...

❯ Booting Windows using QEMU v10.0.0...
BdsDxe: loading Boot0004 "Windows Boot Manager" from HD(1,GPT,432D619E-5A84-4B81-A27C-5F49316F6541,0x800,0x40000)/\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
BdsDxe: starting Boot0004 "Windows Boot Manager" from HD(1,GPT,432D619E-5A84-4B81-A27C-5F49316F6541,0x800,0x40000)/\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
❯ Windows started succesfully, visit http://127.0.0.1:8006/ to view the screen...
❯ Received SIGTERM, sending ACPI shutdown signal...
❯ Waiting for Windows to shutdown... (1/110)
❯ Shutdown completed!

4. Step: Messing around

i found that the following command starts windows without issue, there is no SIGTERM send. This is pasted into the console as-is, there should be no significant time difference between both lines.

docker start WinApps
/home/kranich/.local/bin/winapps windows %F

The log files of this command:

winapps.log

--------- winapps.log excerpt ------------
[Sa 14. Jun 16:56:00 CEST 2025-8069] START
[Sa 14. Jun 16:56:00 CEST 2025-8069] SCRIPT_DIR: /home/kranich/.local/bin
[Sa 14. Jun 16:56:00 CEST 2025-8069] SCRIPT_ARGS: windows %F
[Sa 14. Jun 16:56:00 CEST 2025-8069] HOME_DIR: /home/kranich
[Sa 14. Jun 16:56:00 CEST 2025-8069] LAST_RUN: 1749912909
[Sa 14. Jun 16:56:00 CEST 2025-8069] THIS_RUN: 1749912960
[Sa 14. Jun 16:56:00 CEST 2025-8069] Using FreeRDP command 'xfreerdp3'.
[Sa 14. Jun 16:56:00 CEST 2025-8069] WINDOWS
end of file

terminal output

❯ Starting Windows for Docker v4.35...
❯ For support visit https://github.com/dockur/windows
❯ CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D | RAM: 23/31 GB | DISK: 203 GB (ext4) | KERNEL: 6.15.2-061502...

❯ Booting Windows using QEMU v10.0.0...
BdsDxe: loading Boot0004 "Windows Boot Manager" from HD(1,GPT,432D619E-5A84-4B81-A27C-5F49316F6541,0x800,0x40000)/\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
BdsDxe: starting Boot0004 "Windows Boot Manager" from HD(1,GPT,432D619E-5A84-4B81-A27C-5F49316F6541,0x800,0x40000)/\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
❯ Windows started succesfully, visit http://127.0.0.1:8006/ to view the screen...

5. Conclusion

I am pretty certain that the termination signal is send too early. In the logs, it seems that it initiates shutdown in the same moment as it has started the VM.
How can I fix this? My configuration file is attached.

winapps.conf

##################################
#   WINAPPS CONFIGURATION FILE   #
##################################

# INSTRUCTIONS
# - Leading and trailing whitespace are ignored.
# - Empty lines are ignored.
# - Lines starting with '#' are ignored.
# - All characters following a '#' are ignored.

# [WINDOWS USERNAME]
RDP_USER="MyWindowsUser"

# [WINDOWS PASSWORD]
# NOTES:
# - If using FreeRDP v3.9.0 or greater, you *have* to set a password
RDP_PASS="MyWindowsPassword"

# [WINDOWS DOMAIN]
# DEFAULT VALUE: '' (BLANK)
RDP_DOMAIN=""

# [WINDOWS IPV4 ADDRESS]
# NOTES:
# - If using 'libvirt', 'RDP_IP' will be determined by WinApps at runtime if left unspecified.
# DEFAULT VALUE:
# - 'docker': '127.0.0.1'
# - 'podman': '127.0.0.1'
# - 'libvirt': '' (BLANK)
RDP_IP="127.0.0.1"

# [VM NAME]
# NOTES:
# - Only applicable when using 'libvirt'
# - The libvirt VM name must match so that WinApps can determine VM IP, start the VM, etc.
# DEFAULT VALUE: 'RDPWindows'
VM_NAME="RDPWindows"

# [WINAPPS BACKEND]
# DEFAULT VALUE: 'docker'
# VALID VALUES:
# - 'docker'
# - 'podman'
# - 'libvirt'
# - 'manual'
WAFLAVOR="docker"

# [DISPLAY SCALING FACTOR]
# NOTES:
# - If an unsupported value is specified, a warning will be displayed.
# - If an unsupported value is specified, WinApps will use the closest supported value.
# DEFAULT VALUE: '100'
# VALID VALUES:
# - '100'
# - '140'
# - '180'
RDP_SCALE="100"

# [MOUNTING REMOVABLE PATHS FOR FILES]
# NOTES:
# - By default, `udisks` (which you most likely have installed) uses /run/media for mounting removable devices.
#   This improves compatibility with most desktop environments (DEs).
# ATTENTION: The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) recommends /media instead. Verify your system's configuration.
# - To manually mount devices, you may optionally use /mnt.
# REFERRENCE: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Udisks#Mount_to_/media
REMOVABLE_MEDIA="/media"

# [ADDITIONAL FREERDP FLAGS & ARGUMENTS]
# NOTES:
# - You can try adding /network:lan to these flags in order to increase performance, however, some users have faced issues with this.
# DEFAULT VALUE: '/cert:tofu /sound /microphone'
# VALID VALUES: See https://github.com/awakecoding/FreeRDP-Manuals/blob/master/User/FreeRDP-User-Manual.markdown
RDP_FLAGS="/cert:tofu /sound /microphone /dynamic-resolution"

# [MULTIPLE MONITORS]
# NOTES:
# - If enabled, a FreeRDP bug *might* produce a black screen.
# DEFAULT VALUE: 'false'
# VALID VALUES:
# - 'true'
# - 'false'
MULTIMON="true"

# [DEBUG WINAPPS]
# NOTES:
# - Creates and appends to ~/.local/share/winapps/winapps.log when running WinApps.
# DEFAULT VALUE: 'true'
# VALID VALUES:
# - 'true'
# - 'false'
DEBUG="true"

# [AUTOMATICALLY PAUSE WINDOWS]
# NOTES:
# - This is currently INCOMPATIBLE with 'docker' and 'manual'.
# - See https://github.com/dockur/windows/issues/674
# DEFAULT VALUE: 'off'
# VALID VALUES:
# - 'on'
# - 'off'
AUTOPAUSE="on"

# [AUTOMATICALLY PAUSE WINDOWS TIMEOUT]
# NOTES:
# - This setting determines the duration of inactivity to tolerate before Windows is automatically paused.
# - This setting is ignored if 'AUTOPAUSE' is set to 'off'.
# - The value must be specified in seconds (to the nearest 10 seconds e.g., '30', '40', '50', etc.).
# - For RemoteApp RDP sessions, there is a mandatory 20-second delay, so the minimum value that can be specified here is '20'.
# - Source: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/security-compliance-and-identity/terminal-services-remoteapp-8482-session-termination-logic/ba-p/246566
# DEFAULT VALUE: '300'
# VALID VALUES: >=20
AUTOPAUSE_TIME="300"

# [FREERDP COMMAND]
# NOTES:
# - WinApps will attempt to automatically detect the correct command to use for your system.
# DEFAULT VALUE: '' (BLANK)
# VALID VALUES: The command required to run FreeRDPv3 on your system (e.g., 'xfreerdp', 'xfreerdp3', etc.).
FREERDP_COMMAND=""

# [TIMEOUTS]
# NOTES:
# - These settings control various timeout durations within the WinApps setup.
# - Increasing the timeouts is only necessary if the corresponding errors occur.
# - Ensure you have followed all the Troubleshooting Tips in the error message first.

# PORT CHECK
# - The maximum time (in seconds) to wait when checking if the RDP port on Windows is open.
# - Corresponding error: "NETWORK CONFIGURATION ERROR" (exit status 13).
# DEFAULT VALUE: '10'
PORT_TIMEOUT="10"

# RDP CONNECTION TEST
# - The maximum time (in seconds) to wait when testing the initial RDP connection to Windows.
# - Corresponding error: "REMOTE DESKTOP PROTOCOL FAILURE" (exit status 14).
# DEFAULT VALUE: '30'
RDP_TIMEOUT="30"

# APPLICATION SCAN
# - The maximum time (in seconds) to wait for the script that scans for installed applications on Windows to complete.
# - Corresponding error: "APPLICATION QUERY FAILURE" (exit status 15).
# DEFAULT VALUE: '60'
APP_SCAN_TIMEOUT="60"