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Windowsfx was developed for users who have computers that used Microsoft Windows 7 and cannot run Windows 10 or 11. New computers with weak processors and low memory are also supported.
Support x86 64bits PC — Run on 2GB RAM
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? says:
thanks, alex. from Sao Paulo Brazil SA. comes in two flavours, free edition and for only $20.00 US a fully loaded win11 emulating professional version:
https://www.windowsfx.org/index.php/release-news/windowsfx-operating-system
Bad ideas multiply as much as good ones 
Spill… what have you done now? 
Windowsfx = no feature updates, telemetry or dodgy patches with stability from debian, mint and kde..anyone can create the look of Win11 in linux with the know how.
I satisfied enough with Linux Mint on all my older Windows 7 laptops and I’m dual booting there but the laptops are not allowed online when booted into Windows 7. If one takes the time to consider that under Linux that Older Intel hardware is still getting graphics driver/graphics API support there long after MS has dropped support under Windows 7 so there are versions of Blender 3D 2.8/Above that refuse to run on any of my Intel Sandy Bridge generation laptops when booted into Windows 7 that will if booted into Linux Mint run Blender 3D 2.8/later fine for the most part.
I find that Linux Mint is close enough to Windows and better in most ways there for Updates and other things aw well.
A few points not mentioned in Jack Wallen’s review (Windowsfx is the Linux distribution Windows users have been looking for [TechRepublic.com]):
1. Installation for all of the Windows compatibility components: Jack mentions this can take “30-60 minutes (depending on the speed of your network)” for the components used for the Wine layer.
Hmmm… and the rest…
Anyone who has ever used the Wayback Machine knows that downloads from web.archive.org are painfully slow, e.g. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 took nearly 1.5 hours.
My installation of the components took over 3.5 hours in total, not helped that new component installer screens often kept appearing *behind* the commandline console window used to show progress… so I was often unaware that another component was ready for installation.
2. Network discovery: This is the first Linux distro I have used where – out-of-the box – I was able to discover, connect to and browse shared resources on Windows devices across my LAN with *no* configuration whatsoever.
I just opened the Dolphin file explorer, scrolled to the Network entry in the left-hand navigation pane then – in the right-hand pane – clicked on the Shared Folders (SMB) icon and the Windows devices appeared.
Once I had authenticated to each Windows device (by entering the account/password combo), that was it… browse heaven of shared resources across the LAN. So easy!
Note: Windows devices need SMB1 enabled for this to work… which I have, due to other older equipment in use.
Note: The Network entry also shows Bluetooth and MTP Devices icons.
(Note: IMO the Dolphin file manager is one of the most useful and intuitive file managers that I’ve every used… and uses tabs!)
3. Internet browser: Firefox and Google Chrome are both installed by default… but – to my surprise – so is Edge… and it’s the only browser both pinned by default to the panel (Taskbar) and shown in the Start menu.
(It’s also strange to see PowerShell installed by default.)
4. Free edition notification: A popup notification appears every single time you start Windowsfx. I haven’t yet found a way of disabling this.
5. Battery life: I used two identical Dell Latitude E7450 laptops side-by-side, one running Windows 10, the other Windowsfx. Even the battery MTBF percentage (i.e. before the battery can no longer accept a charge and needs replacement) is almost identical (80%/81% respectively). From full charge, the laptop running Windowsfx lasted nearly 3 hours longer than the one running Windows 10.
6. Virtual desktops: By default there are 4 configured… and quite by chance I discovered that a 2-finger swipe up or down on the trackpad scrolled through the desktops. The scrolling is impressively smooth.
7. Wi-Fi: The Windowsfx wi-fi client connects much faster then the Windows 10 wi-fi client on an identical laptop – almost instantly.
8. Updates: Windowsfx has already shown several available updates (all of which I’ve accepted). The Updates Notifier is efficient and the Updates Manager handles ‘Applications’, workspace UI (called ‘Plasma’) and ‘System’ updates all in the same dialog. A press of F5 initiates a check for updates, apparently across the board (without any updates being force-installed). It’s impressive.
9. Remote access: Both AnyDesk and TeamViewer clients appear to be installed by default. However, clicking on TeamViewer only brings up Google Chrome‘s default search page. Here’s my Windows 10 laptop from the AnyDesk client running on the Windowsfx laptop. Just so, so easy.
10: Phone: Unfortunately I couldn’t get it to recognise my iPhone and I don’t have an Android phone to test. If I remember, I’ll try again with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 tablet I have (somewhere…).
11. UI typos: Perhaps it’s just me but I find UI typos jarring. They spoil an otherwise very professional appearance. I’ve emailed the developer with a couple that I’ve found.
Overall, I have to admit that after many years of being a Linux Mint Cinnamon fan, this Windowsfx distro has already become a favourite in just two days for its sheer simplicity of use, even though it’s just a preview (beta) and I’m only using the Free edition. I’ve used the Windows 11 preview and IMO there’s little or no learning curve to using Windowsfx. I’m going to try it for a month then consider laying out $20 for the full version.
I also have to agree with @Alex5723… I would be amazed if Microsoft didn’t stomp on it.
Hope this helps…
Good post Rick, seems to be of the same calibre/potential as PearOS,
a linux iOS/OSX clone that suddenly disappeared back in January 2014.
Shut-up and desist issued by a ‘large organisation’ to David Tavares, who moved on..
Shame, was a good little distro back then albeit with bugs.
Only just came across this: https://www.wikigain.com/install-pearos-on-pc/
huh?!
I’m waiting to see if Windowsfx reaches ‘final’ then take it for a spin.
BTW, where did you get the checksums for the iso?
Found nothing on the Windowsfx website, which put me off a while back and just re-checked.
Thank you, @Microfix.
Checksums for x64 version on SourceForge
Click on the ‘info’ roundel on the right and you get this:
However, I didn’t pay a huge lot of attention to this as I knew from Jack Wallen’s review that it would be downloading ‘support files’ for the Wine layer… which could come from anywhere. As it turned out, they appear to all come from a presumably safe source – web.archive.org.
I did make a mental note to myself not to use any of its built-in browsers for any of my usual websites where I have to enter username/password combos. I might perhaps later on… after I have become more conversant with what’s going on and have monitored internet traffic and connection endpoints.
My LAN browsing with Windowsfx – with network monitoring (Nir Sofer’s CurrPorts with logging enabled plus others) on the Windows clients – has shown no unexpected TCP or UDP traffic, port probing or any other surprises in the brief time I spent exploring, most of which was copying screenshots over.
Right this moment I’m more interested in just exploring the Windowsfx look-and-feel… then perhaps trying out its implementation of Wine… although the latter is a minor interest.
I’ve also sent two messages to the developer – one via the website portal and one via email – but no reply so far.
Hope this helps…
It’s good that it’s running well for you with only 2GB RAM for a VM. I’m a bit surprised.
Is your Windowsfx VM hosted within VMware or HyperV?
Windowsfx 11.0 LTS, a Windows 11 inspired Linux distribution based on Ubuntu Linux 20.04 LTS is now available on Final version, more info over on: https://www.windowsfx.org/
WxDesktop ported to version 11:
New MS-Windows 11 Control Panel
All features now support dark theme
Fixed one-drive login issue
Added new automatic WxDesktop updater
Fixed issues with personal assistant
All system ported to Fluent theme
New MS-Windows executable program support tool
Added stable MS-Edge browser
Improved support for device drivers
Improved Active Directory support
Improved boot system
Fixed issues with blur and shader
System now runs blur and shader natively
probably less bloat bugged with better stability than the NTFS version
I don’t know if anyone else is experiencing this but the download speed of the windowsfx ISO is pitifully slow at the moment. I wish they provided torrent links.
If they made a version that looked instead like Windows Vista or 7
Have a look at Make your Ubuntu/Linux Mint look like Windows 7 or 8 (Because You Can).
What is the advantage of using Windowsfx over using Mint or Kubuntu?
This is difficult to answer without knowing what it is you want to be able to do and what hardware you have to run the distros on… so I’ll have to generalise without going into any specifics.
I’ve been using Linux Mint Cinnamon for several years. I’ve tried Kubuntu briefly but went back to Mint almost immediately… I’m just not keen on the KDE desktop. I’ve also used Linux Mint Xfce on a couple of underpowered netbooks.
Just recently I’ve been ‘playing’ with Windowsfx, first the pre-release version and now the v11 release. I’ve also just downloaded Windowsfx with the Windows 10 UI to have a look but haven’t yet installed it.
Linux Mint (all flavours) and Kubuntu have tried and tested stable releases backed up by documentation and support developed over many years. There is a lot of experience readily available online for newcomers to these distros.
If you read the Windowsfx General Discussion forum then it’s clear that many people are experiencing difficulties with bugs (UI elements, licensing, networking). There appears to be just a single person – the main developer (Rafael Rachid) – answering queries… and some just haven’t been answered. As Windowsfx has only just come out of pre-release I would hold off for a while and keep an eye on the forum.
I personally haven’t had any issues with Windowsfx… but I haven’t been using it as my daily driver (nor have I yet tried its installation of Wine). It’s very attractive looking and I was really impressed by its networking right out the box. (It took me a while to get my head round the equivalent configuration in Mint so I could seamlessly access Windows devices on my LAN.)
Having said that, I prefer Mint for day-to-day use for its rock-solid stability… now I’ve worked out printing and scanning.
If you’re new to Linux then I suggest trying both a flavour of Mint (depending on your hardware) and Kubuntu to see what desktop interface you like. IMO Windowsfx doesn’t yet have any clear advantage over Mint or Kubuntu, but this may change in time.
Hope this helps…
Who develops this new distro of LINUX? Is it MS itself
Windowsfx appears to have just the one main developer – Rafael Rachid, based in Sao Paulo in Brazil, although in the forum he uses ‘we are working through the issues’. Linux Mint‘s origin is Ireland and Kubuntu‘s is the Isle of Man, UK. None have any involvement with Microsoft per se.
As I’ve mentioned in another post, one of the possible problems Windowsfx may face is Microsoft itself. Windowsfx hasn’t just copied the ‘look and feel’ of Windows 11 (and 10) but is also re-using MS support libraries downloaded via the Wayback Machine.
Quite frankly I’m a bit surprised Microsoft lawyers haven’t shut Windowsfx down already. This may be because copyright law is different in Brazil or, more likely, Microsoft (which appears to have embraced Linux like latter-day evangelists) is watching to see how well Windowsfx development goes before swooping in with a ‘sell to us or be bankrupted by law suits’ offer in order to take over someone else’s effort for little or no cost.
(Another possible issue is that the Wayback Machine itself is struggling to support itself and has recently launched another major fundraising effort to keep going.)
Windowsfx 11.2 22.04.6 LTS Plasma WxDesktop 12.0 – 12/28/2022
It is with great pleasure that we announce Windowsfx version 11.2.22.06 Plasma. This edition features the latest version of KDE Plasma and is built on top of the latest Ubuntu 22.04 LTS release and also features the latest version of the WxDesktop tools. Wine 7, Plasma 5.26.3, WxDesktop 12.0, Kernel 5.15 and advanced support for the Android system are some of the new features in this version. There are several new features and improvements, so we recommend downloading this version immediately!
What’s New in This Version:
System Base up to 22.04.6 LTS (Ubuntu Jammy LTS)
System Kernel up to 5.15.0-56 updates LTS
KDE Plasma 5.26.3
Wine (Windows .exe/.msi application support) up to 7.20
WxDesktop tools is updated to 12.0
Fix WxDesktop and Operating System bugs..
They also have a version called LinuxFx which may be a backup plan if they have to stop using the Windows name. Check out the carbon copy webpage:
https://www.linuxfx.org/index.php/release-news/linuxfx-operating-system
I checked out the site a few months ago but it didn’t appeal to me. I was satisfied with Linux Mint and if i wanted a change the KDE Plasma would work.
I think Derek at Distrotube summed it up best in his review:
If they made it look like Windows 7, I’d be interested. For me, the whole point would be to get away from the Windows 11 UI.
If the developers offered GUI packages say within ‘Discover’ package manager then yes, I’d be interested also for a Win7 GUI. I know Q4OS (GDPR compliant) distro dvelopers offer their own iterations of various Windows GUI’s to implement on the KDE edition but, it’s been a while since I last revisted that distro (which, when tweaked and configured ran very quickly on legacy hardware)
IIRC the XP style is by default with other options such as Vista/ 7 then through ‘Discover’ one can download W10/ 11 packages that emulate the fisher-price look /snark
Thanks, I had not heard of Q4OS. Went to check it out (https://q4os.org/index.html) and may give it a whirl off a LiveCD.
In addition to the standard method for finding desktop themes via a package manager such as Discover, they also offer what’s billed as a one-click way to change themes, Lookswitcher.
Thanks Cybertooth, couldn’t remember what the GUI switcher (Lookswitcher) was called. Q4OS offer that lookswitcher in both KDE (plasma) and Trinity (for legacy devices but less visual sparkle).
IMHO the Plasma version is a hidden gem with a small OS footprint at installation. Get and add what YOU want thereafter which is a nice option. Discover and Synaptic doesn’t install by default, you’ll need to install it via the software manager. After that it’s a breeze…
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