diff --git a/daemon/lokinet.cpp b/daemon/lokinet.cpp
index 310211082..b56227f40 100644
--- a/daemon/lokinet.cpp
+++ b/daemon/lokinet.cpp
@@ -275,7 +275,8 @@ namespace
         (MINIDUMP_TYPE)(MiniDumpWithFullMemory | MiniDumpWithFullMemoryInfo | MiniDumpWithHandleData | MiniDumpWithUnloadedModules | MiniDumpWithThreadInfo);
 
     const std::string fname =
-        "C:\\ProgramData\\lokinet\\crash-{}.dump"_format(llarp::time_now_ms().count());
+        fmt::format("C:\\ProgramData\\lokinet\\crash-{}.dump", llarp::time_now_ms().count());
+
     HANDLE hDumpFile;
     SYSTEMTIME stLocalTime;
     GetLocalTime(&stLocalTime);
diff --git a/llarp/util/str.cpp b/llarp/util/str.cpp
index 79329d756..84c488730 100644
--- a/llarp/util/str.cpp
+++ b/llarp/util/str.cpp
@@ -95,4 +95,22 @@ namespace llarp
         ch = ch + ('a' - 'A');
     return src;
   }
+
+  std::wstring
+  to_wide(std::string data)
+  {
+    std::wstring buf;
+    buf.resize(data.size());
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    // win32 specific codepath because balmer made windows so that man may suffer
+    if (MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, data.c_str(), data.size(), buf.data(), buf.size()) == 0)
+      throw win32::error{GetLastError(), "failed to convert string to wide string"};
+
+#else
+    // this dumb but probably works (i guess?)
+    std::transform(
+        data.begin(), data.end(), buf.begin(), [](const auto& ch) -> wchar_t { return ch; });
+#endif
+    return buf;
+  }
 }  // namespace llarp
diff --git a/llarp/util/str.hpp b/llarp/util/str.hpp
index 0ea783898..7f4085fc5 100644
--- a/llarp/util/str.hpp
+++ b/llarp/util/str.hpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <fmt/format.h>
 
+#include <algorithm>
 #include <charconv>
 #include <chrono>
 #include <iterator>
@@ -96,4 +97,9 @@ namespace llarp
 
   std::string_view
   TrimWhitespace(std::string_view str);
+
+  /// convert a "normal" string into a wide string
+  std::wstring
+  to_wide(std::string data);
+
 }  // namespace llarp
diff --git a/llarp/vpn/win32.cpp b/llarp/vpn/win32.cpp
index 1e8dee467..9ca93a25d 100644
--- a/llarp/vpn/win32.cpp
+++ b/llarp/vpn/win32.cpp
@@ -89,8 +89,10 @@ namespace llarp::win32
         if (not range.Contains(ifaddr))
           b = false;
       }
+      // TODO: FIXME
       if (b)
-        gateways.emplace(*iface.gateway);
+        throw std::runtime_error{"FIXME ALREADY"};
+      // gateways.emplace(*iface.gateway);
     }
     return {gateways.begin(), gateways.end()};
   }
diff --git a/llarp/win32/guid.hpp b/llarp/win32/guid.hpp
index 06de11b1e..567a9586f 100644
--- a/llarp/win32/guid.hpp
+++ b/llarp/win32/guid.hpp
@@ -15,12 +15,15 @@ namespace llarp::win32
   MakeDeterministicGUID(Data data)
   {
     ShortHash h{};
-    auto hash = [&h](auto data) { crypto::shorthash(h, data); };
+    auto hash = [&h](uint8_t* d, size_t size) { crypto::shorthash(h, d, size); };
 
     if constexpr (std::is_same_v<Data, std::string>)
-      hash(llarp_buffer_t{reinterpret_cast<const byte_t*>(data.data()), data.size()});
+      hash(reinterpret_cast<uint8_t*>(data.data()), data.size());
     else
-      hash(llarp_buffer_t{data});
+    {
+      auto dat = llarp_buffer_t{data};
+      hash(dat.base, dat.sz);
+    }
     GUID guid{};
     std::copy_n(
         h.begin(), std::min(sizeof(GUID), sizeof(ShortHash)), reinterpret_cast<uint8_t*>(&guid));