Environment for running checkra1n on Windows
The winra1n installer installs a WSL 2 linux distro, builds and registers a custom WSL 2 kernel with USB support, and enables USB/IP in WSL. In the future it will configure libusbK drivers.
winra1n itself starts a USB/IP server on Windows that captures the connected iDevice in DFU mode, attaches the device to the USB/IP client in WSL, and runs checkra1n in command-line mode.
checkra1n is currently only available on macOS and Linux systems. It is not yet available on Windows because, as it says on the checkra1n website, "[the checkra1n developers] need to write a kernel driver to support Windows".
The main functionality missing in the Windows drivers is the ability to perform a "USB Reset", as required by the checkm8 exploit. libusbK drivers, however, support USB Reset. checkra1n uses (as far as I can tell) libusb to access the USB stack, so libusbK should provide the necessary control.
Assuming libusbK works, there still needs to be a way to run checkra1n on Windows. Linux is easier to virtualize than macOS, so winra1n uses the Linux version of checkra1n. checkra1n could potentially be run in a VM, but winra1n uses WSL 2 instead. The default WSL 2 kernel does not support USB, so winra1n builds a custom kernel (the Microsft kernel but with USB support enabled in the .config file).
To connect a device to WSL 2, the USB must be forwarded over a TCP connection as there is no built in USB passthrough yet. For this, a usbip-win server runs on the host and a usbip client in WSL. The device is detected and attached in DFU mode when winra1n starts.
WSL 2 uses a real Linux kernel (which can have USB support enabled) but WSL 1 does not.
VMs are slow and require bulky additional software. Soon WSL 2 will be on all up-to-date Windows 10 computers (excluding some versions), so it simply needs to be enabled. With WSL winra1n opens a terminal to run checkra1n whereas a VM opens in a window (usually), making WSL feel more native.
No, but give it a go anyway if you have a spare device.
To build, Visual Studio 2019 and WDK. To use, a device with support for WSL 2 (Windows 10 version 2004 or later).
Build submodules first.
Follow usbip-win build instructions. Create a directory somewhere to install winra1n. Copy the output program files and driver files and place them inside a subdirectory called bin.
Build the install project using Visual Studio 2019 in debug configuration for x64. Copy the output program files and place them inside bin within the installation folder. Copy the script and distro folders and place them within the installation folder.
Build the winra1n project using Visual Studio 2019 in debug configuration for x64. Copy the output program files and place them inside bin within the installation folder.
Download a rootfs Ubuntu 16.04 build and name it distro.rootfs.tar.gz. Place it in the distro folder.
This project does not yet configure the libusbK drivers. Use Zadig.
Open an administrator command prompt and run install.exe. Follow the instructions and run the program again after restarting.
Install the usbip-win test certificates as described in the usbip-win instructions.
Connect the iDevice and place it in DFU mode. Run usbip list -l from the bin directory and note down the busID for your device. Run winra1n {busID} using the busID for your device. winra1n will attach your device to WSL and run checkra1n.
Use the USB ports on the motherboard IO (don't use a USB hub, it won't work). Stick to the same USB port (if it works). Close other programs when running winra1n. Expect a billion errors (including bluescreens).
Please report any issues no matter how small as it will help to improve this project.