Over the years, I’ve often thought that, despite how fast-moving the desktop Linux ecosystem is, there’s not much left that could truly surprise me. Yet I keep being proven wrong, and that’s a good thing. Winux, one of the newest additions to the scene, is a clear example.
Whether I like it or not, this distribution brings back memories of about 20 years ago, when Lindows, later renamed Linspire under legal (and fully justified) pressure from Microsoft, first tried to take the path of a Linux distribution built entirely to be as close as possible to the Windows experience.
Today, several Linux distributions aim to position themselves as an easy starting point, and even a replacement for Windows users looking to switch without friction. Zorin OS is a well-known example. Even so, these projects keep their own Linux identity, with similarities to Windows being more indirect than literal.
Winux takes a very different approach. Its goal is not subtlety but direct imitation. If there is any doubt about that, the default desktop shown immediately after installation makes the point far more clearly than words ever could.
No, I didn’t mix up the screenshots when publishing the article, nor was I trying to joke with you by showing a Windows 11 desktop. What you’re looking at is Winux Linux. More specifically, it’s the KDE Plasma 5 desktop environment (version 5.27), heavily customized with themes, extensions, styles, and icons to mimic Windows 11.
However, some things are a bit excessive, for example, the loading screen shown before logging into the system, which uses the Windows logo. Not to mention how acceptable this might be from a legal standpoint.
But before going any further, it’s worth saying a bit more about the distribution itself. As I already said, Winux is a Linux distro that aims to replicate the Microsoft Windows user experience as closely as possible. Its primary goal is to make Linux feel familiar to Windows users by closely matching Windows’ visual design, layout, and everyday workflows, while still running on a Linux system underneath.
However, rather than introducing new concepts, Winux focuses on imitation, trying to position itself as a transition-friendly environment for users accustomed to Windows who want minimal change when moving to Linux. The current stable version, Winux 11.25.12, is based on Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS “Noble Numbat” and runs the Linux kernel 6.14.
Under the hood, Winux relies on WinBoat to install and launch Windows applications. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s a preconfigured Wine stack tuned for Windows applications that automatically manages prefixes and dependencies, eliminating the need for manual Wine setup.
However, one of its important requirements is at least 32 GB of disk space. Keep this in mind if you plan to try Winux in a virtual machine, and make sure you allocate enough storage. In addition, WinBoat depends on Docker, so installing Winux also installs Docker by default. Snap and Flatpak support are also provided out of the box. Application management is performed via KDE’s Discover Software Center.
And since I’ve started talking about the software side of things, I’ll continue there. The default software that comes with Winux reflects a different philosophy from that of most Linux distributions. The default web browser, for example, (presumably chosen to match Windows users’ expectations) is Microsoft Edge.
Google Chrome is also included, while the widely used Firefox is not installed by default, though it can of course be added separately. For office work, you get ONLYOFFICE 9.2, while VLC 3.0.20 media player handles your multimedia needs. As for desktop email, there are no surprises—you get Thunderbird 140.6.0esr.
The system is managed through System Settings, which (unsurprisingly) closely resemble those found in Microsoft Windows. And now something important. Winux follows a monetization model similar to Zorin OS: the basic version is free, but unlocking the full set of features requires a product key for the in-house PowerTools application, priced at $19.99.
Purchasing the license unlocks features such as an even more Windows-inspired desktop and control panel, an integrated Android subsystem with graphics acceleration, a graphical OneDrive client inside the file manager, Copilot and ChatGPT integration, advanced system configuration tools, improved security for web browsing, and exclusive desktop enhancements that are not available in the free base Winux install.
For the installation process, Winux uses the well-known Calamares installer. However, the default installation occupies a substantial 18 GB of disk space, which is unusually large by Linux standards. By comparison, a Debian 13 system with the KDE desktop installed takes up less than 7 GB.
To learn more about Winux, visit the distribution’s official website. Full details about what’s new in the latest 11.25.12 release are available here. Installation ISO images can be downloaded from SourceForge.
Bottom Line
Winux left me with mixed feelings. I certainly had a lot of fun testing its capabilities while preparing this review. At the same time, one question kept coming back to me: if someone wants a smooth Windows 11 experience, well… why not just use Windows 11?
For the record, everything ran smoothly overall, thanks in large part to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS serving as a solid underlying foundation. However, my personal tastes have never leaned toward things that try too hard to imitate others, so Winux is definitely not my cup of tea.
But in any case, if you’re a distro hopper or you really miss the familiar Windows feel when using Linux desktop environments, Winux is worth a try. Whether the distribution will gain broader popularity over time, as Zorin OS has, remains to be seen.
I have seen apple and microsoft sue each other for way less then this.