Windows XP Support

Question

Will the final version of Geneva support Windows XP?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi,
        Thanks for your interest in Geneva. As of now, we have not yet finalized whether to include XP support in Geneva RTM release. We will let the community and our customers know as soon as a final decision in this regard is made. How would you rate the need for XP support (low/medium/high) based on your (or your customers') deployment?

Thanks.

Answer 2

I would rate windows xp support HIGH.

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Learning the trade

Answer 3

I tend to agree. 

All the corporates I work with have not, and probably will not unless they are absolutely forced to, moved to Vista, and moving to anything else (Win7) would take them ages, so it looks like for the time being XP is going to stay the most common O/S for the corporate client desktops. 

For passive scenarios that's not an issue, but for active scenarios, where desktop-based application need to consume corporate and 3rd party services that will most definitely be one; wouldn't it?

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Yossi Dahan Connected Systems MVP

Answer 4

I don't understand why Microsoft Geneva isn't already supported. The libraries are based in the .NET Framework. I've been running my STS on Windows Server 2003 and it works just fine. All I had to do was GAC the Microsoft.IdentityModel.

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Thomas

Answer 5

I agree about XP support need being high. If the goal is for this to become a standard, then interoperability should be high on your to-do list.

Answer 6

I have to agree, I write applications for several large corporations and to not support Windows XP means I cannot use Geneva for anything except web-based applications where I can keep everything on a Windows Server. To exclude Windows XP is to exclude using it for applications that run on hundreds of thousands of desktops in corporations across the world.

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jlavin

Answer 7

In my case, I'm writing a winform app that talks to a WCF service. If I develop on Vista + Geneva Beta and the WCF server runs Windows Server 2008, would clients still need to run on Vista?

Answer 8

In an early Feedback post, I recommended how you can do this (Feedback).
What I describe here is a hack ... not recommended or supported by MS ...  use at your own risk; this information is not warranted to be free of defects or useful for any particular purpose; don't try this at home; offer not valid where taxed or prohibited by law.

You'll first have to install the Orca MSI editor tool (How to use the Orca database editor to edit Windows Installer files)  It's delivered as an MSI install file as part of the Windows SDK Components for Windows Installer Developers.  (See Windows Installer Development Tools - Orca.exe).


Backup the file MicrosoftGenevaFrameworkSDK.x86.msi to MicrosoftGenevaFrameworkSDK.Original.x86.msi.  No - make that two backups ... the second one to a diferent hard drive.  Start the Orca MSI editor and open the file MicrosoftGenevaFrameworkSDK.x86.msi.  Select the LaunchCondition table (in the left pane).  Click the Condition "VersionNT >= 502" and change it to "VersionNT >= 501".  Save your modifications.

Use the modified MSI file and it will install without complaint on Windows XP.  Everything as far as development and operation should run as expected ... except that a bunch of the samples depend on specific features (e.g. the version of IIS) that won't run on XP without bunches of tweaking.  But like all really valuable experience, that tweaking is "left as an exercise for the student."

Whether you author on Win2k8, Win2k3, Vista or XP makes no difference.  Simply target .NET Framework 3.5 with your project and ensure that your installation process validates that both .NET 3.5+ and the Geneva Framework are installed on the target system.  (Look at the other LaunchCondition rows for hints on how to add this to your own MSI installer.)

Dave Romig MCSE, MCT
The Computer Solution Company

Answer 9

I also have to say that XP support is VERY important for adoption. No need for the samples to run on IIS 5.x (nor is the Windows Token Service needed [Kerb4U2Proxy isn't supported anyways] - but we need to be able to use Geneva in e.g. WinForms apps running on XP.

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Dominick Baier - http://www.leastprivilege.com

Answer 10

Hmm. I guess this answers my question: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/Geneva/thread/ee1ec886-d92e-412c-b795-150c08b09bf5

I would also say that XP support is very high on a feature list -- not so much for a server, but for clients. Especially for winforms (& other) clients.

I would also say that interoperabilty with other clients (Java,...) is desired -- in a way that they can consume SOAP-based services where they authenticate trough STS.

Regards,
 Miha.

Answer 11

What tweaking would be needed to run web-based samples on XP?

Answer 12

I just realized today that Windows XP is not supported by the Geneva framework.  That is a showstopper for my company.  We're fine with Geneva Server only running on Windows Server 2008, but for us to adopt the Geneva platform we must be able to run client applications on Windows XP.  As of today we are halting all work on Geneva until and unless Microsoft decides to officially support this.

Answer 13

My rate for XP-support is HIGH. We have to upgrade over 20 OS to Vista if we jump on the Geneva-train.

Is there any decisions made yet when final release will be and if there will be Support for XP on the client side?

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pem

Answer 14

I also rate XP support as HIGH.  We are evaluating Geneva at the moment and XP support will be a big factor in the Company's decision to adopt.

Answer 15

Any update on whether support for XP will be included in the release?  It is getting very near to the expected release time so some new information would be welcome, or have I missed it?

My answer is that XP support for clients is High priority for our customers and that Cardspace Geneva should be supported too.

Cheers
  Peter

Answer 16

XP support on the client side is mandatory for us to adopt Geneva. Half our clients use XP and we have no control over upgrading them.

Answer 17

HIGH - (very high maybe)

Answer 18

HIGH, Very HIGH.

 its a decision we are waiting on; we have done some good stuff with Geneva so far. the only thing that stop us taking it further is whether XP is supported in the next release of geneva. Without XP support we will have to find an alternative. ALL our smart client users are XP based

Answer 19

High. Most of our solutions are ASP.NET apps. However, there are active clients (WinForms) too.

Answer 20

It is possible to use the assembly Microsoft.IdentityModel for building an STS on WinXP, even with the bits comming with the RC of Windows Identity framework.
Will Microsoft support these szenario for WinXP in the release of wif, or will i be allowed to ship these necessary bits with my own application.
The support of WinXP ist very important.

 

Answer 21

I have to agree with all above me.  I can't 'sell' Geneva technology to my organisation without at least WIF being supported on XP.

I think Micorosoft is really cutting off a large ____ of thier market if they don't provide an adoption path for Windows XP platforms.  I work for a large government department which has a strong demand for fine-grained delegatable security.  We're currently undertaking a substantial technology refresh, and Geneva looked to be a really promising technology to integrate security into new and legacy application platforms, leaveraging a number of identity repositories.
If Microsoft wants this technology to gain traction (and it seems they do, given that it is the foundation of their Azure platform), then they need to maximise the market that can use it.

I'm finding Microsoft's coyness on this decision increasingly frustrating, and in addtion to this, rleaases of Geneva since Beta 1 have ceased to support Windows Server 2003 R2.
I've read that support for 2003 R2 will be delievered later, but when?  Where is the roadmap for this, and when will it be delivered?

I hoped that PDC this week might have rendered a decision on this matter, but I see that the RTM announced in the keynote still only supports Vista, Windows 7 and Server 2008 platforms, with no mention of when or if XP will be supported or when server 2003 will again be supported

C'mon Microsoft, make the call!
Tell us 'if' and 'when' and please let it be that you will support XP as a platform, for at least WIF and hopefully Cardspace also. and that Geneva Server will run on 2003 R2.

Answer 22

WIFs main functionality is about providing services for returning tokens (STS) and consuming those tokens at a RelyingParty (WCF endpoint or ASP.Net).  The client portion of sending WSTrust messages to the STS can be handled by WCF or IE (redirect) both of which are supported on XP.  WCF has a WSFederation binding, the Web part of WIF has support for redirecting IE to the STS transparently to the STS.

Now using the WSTrustChannel APIs will not be available on XP but those are used by the STS for ActAs and OnBehalfOf Scenarios.

Are you thinking of building an STS or Website on XP?

Answer 23

Hello Brent,
thank you for answere.

We are thinking of building an STS on Win XP.
For this szenario the wif rc assemblies from Vista are working on WinXP.
This scenario is very necessary for our customers.

Answer 24

Brent, I don't understand your statement "The client portion of sending WSTrust messages to the STS can be handled by WCF or IE (redirect) both of which are supported on XP."  Back in March when I was looking at this technology the client portion of sending WSTrust messages by WCF was NOT supported on XP.  Has there been an updated release since then that included this ability?  Or are you saying that it will be included in the final release (which I believe will be in .NET Framework 4, right?)?  If so that would be great news.

Answer 25

BradVoy,

What I am attempting to point out is that a client who uses WCF and a WS2007FederationHttpBinding will (without knowing it) send WSTrust (RST/RSTR) messages to communicate with the STS (build using WIF).  A browser based app can be redirected by a ASP.Net app that using WIF to the STS.  In both these cases, WIF is involved but the client is not in need of WIF.

Harald13,

WinXP is not supported by WIF.  You use Win2K3 server.  Why do you need to use XP?

Answer 26

Brent,

Your comments above make a lot of sense in terms of not needing to deploy or run WIF on XP for clients to use it. The current problem we are facing in our organization, however, is that we are still doing development on XP systems. We would love to use Windows 7 but unfortunately from what I'm hearing corporate deployment of that is going to be a good while out. So although we may not need WIF on XP in a production environment it would be helpful if we could have it on our XP workstations while developing and testing services. We are also entertaining the idea of developing a custom STS which will be difficult for us without support for XP. Thanks again for your helpful comments above and any tips or tricks for doing WIF development on XP would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Lance