Abstract. We propose a very general construction of simple Virasoro modules generalizing and including both highest weight and Whittaker modules. This reduces the problem of classification of simple Virasoro modules which are locally finite over a positive part to classification of simple modules over a family of finite dimensional solvable Lie algebras. For one of these algebras all simple modules are classified by R. Block and we extend this classification to the next member of the family. As a result we recover many known but also construct a lot of new simple Virasoro modules. We also propose a revision of the setup for study of Whittaker modules.

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We show that the support of a simple weight module over the Virasoro algebra, which has an infinitedimensional weight space, coincides with the weight lattice and that all non-trivial weight spaces of such module are infinite-dimensional. As a corollary we obtain that every simple weight module over the Virasoro algebra, having a non-trivial finite-dimensional weight space, is a Harish-Chandra module (and hence is either a simple highest or lowest weight module or a simple module from the intermediate series). This implies positive answers to two conjectures about simple pointed and simple mixed modules over the Virasoro algebra.