Click an app. Word opens. That's it.

Native Linux windows for every Windows app — real icons, real WM_CLASS,
pin-to-taskbar. FreeRDP RemoteApp + dockur/windows. Zero config.

# Latest stable release (default)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kernalix7/winpodx/main/install.sh | bash

# Latest main HEAD (development; may be unstable)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kernalix7/winpodx/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --main

# Uninstall (keeps Windows VM data; pass --purge to wipe everything)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kernalix7/winpodx/main/uninstall.sh | bash -s -- --confirm

_{Windows About / Performance Monitor / PowerShell each in their own Linux window, alongside the winpodx Apps grid.}

Works on

_{English  ·  한국어  ·  Install  ·  Usage  ·  Features  ·  Architecture  ·  Comparison}

---

Status: Beta

winpodx is in active development (v0.5.0). The headline of v0.5.0 is reverse-open: Linux apps now appear in the Windows guest's right-click "Open with…" menu by default, with correct per-app icons. Double-click a .txt inside the guest, pick Kate from the menu, and it opens in your Linux Kate against the real host file path. The host→guest pipeline (bearer-authed HTTP agent on 127.0.0.1:8765, FreeRDP RemoteApp fallback) is unchanged from v0.3.x. First install still takes ~5–10 minutes (Windows VM ISO download + Sysprep + OEM apply); winpodx pod wait-ready --logs shows live progress. Please file issues at https://github.com/kernalix7/winpodx/issues if something breaks.

No full-screen RDP. Each Windows app becomes its own Linux window with its real icon — pinnable, alt-tabbable, file-associated, both directions. Drop into a full Windows desktop only when you actually want one (winpodx app run desktop).

winpodx runs a Windows container (via dockur/windows) in the background and presents Windows apps as native Linux applications through FreeRDP RemoteApp, while a bearer-authed HTTP agent inside the guest handles the host→guest command channel without flashing a PowerShell window. The reverse direction — Linux apps surfaced in the Windows "Open with…" menu — is handled by a host-side listener that consumes JSON requests written by per-slug Rust shims inside the guest. Near-zero external Python dependencies (stdlib only on Python 3.11+; one pure-Python tomli fallback on 3.9/3.10).

Quick install

One-liner (any supported Linux distro):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kernalix7/winpodx/main/install.sh | bash

Or via a native package manager:

# openSUSE Tumbleweed / Leap / Slowroll
sudo zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Kernalix7/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/home:Kernalix7.repo
sudo zypper install winpodx

# Fedora 42 / 43
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Kernalix7/Fedora_43/home:Kernalix7.repo
sudo dnf install winpodx

# Debian / Ubuntu — grab the matching .deb from the latest release
sudo apt install ./winpodx_0.5.0_all_debian13.deb

# AlmaLinux / Rocky / RHEL 9 / 10 — grab the matching .rpm
sudo dnf install ./winpodx-0.5.0-0.noarch.el10.rpm

# Arch
yay -S winpodx

# Nix
nix run github:kernalix7/winpodx

See docs/INSTALL.md for offline / air-gapped builds, source installs, version pinning, and uninstall.

Launch

winpodx app run word              # Launch Word
winpodx app run word ~/doc.docx   # Open a file
winpodx app run desktop           # Full Windows desktop

Or just click an app icon in your application menu. See docs/USAGE.md for the full CLI, the Qt6 GUI, health checks, and configuration.

Key features

Reverse-open (new in v0.5.0) Linux apps appear in the Windows guest's right-click "Open with…" menu by default Correct per-app icons in both the short menu and the long "Choose another app" dialog Selecting one round-trips the file open to host xdg-open Auto-discovers host-side Linux apps + their MIME associations from freedesktop standards Manage via winpodx host-open CLI or the GUI Settings panel Details →	Seamless app windows RemoteApp (RAIL) renders each Windows app as a native Linux window — no full desktop Per-app taskbar icons via WM_CLASS matching (/wm-class:<stem> + StartupWMClass) Bidirectional file associations: double-click .docx in your file manager → Word opens Multi-session RDP: bundled rdprrap auto-enables up to 10 independent sessions RAIL prerequisites set automatically during unattended install
Zero-config launch First app click auto-provisions everything: config, container, desktop entries Auto-discovery on first boot scans the running Windows guest and registers every installed app with its real icon (Registry App Paths, Start Menu, UWP/MSIX, Chocolatey, Scoop) Manual rescan any time via winpodx app refresh or the GUI Refresh button Multi-backend: Podman (default), Docker, libvirt/KVM, manual RDP	Peripherals & sharing Clipboard: bidirectional copy-paste (text + images) — on by default Sound: RDP audio streaming (/sound:sys:alsa) — on by default Printer: Linux printers shared to Windows — on by default Home directory: shared as \\tsclient\home USB drives: auto-mapped to drive letters (E:, F:, …) via FileSystemWatcher; subfolders work for drives plugged in after session start USB device passthrough: opt-in via extra_flags (/usb:auto)
Automation & security Auto suspend / resume: container pauses when idle, resumes on next launch Password auto-rotation: 20-char cryptographic password, 7-day cycle with atomic rollback Smart DPI scaling: auto-detects from GNOME, KDE, Sway, Hyprland, Cinnamon, xrdb Windows debloat: telemetry, ads, Cortana, search indexing disabled by default FreeRDP extra_flags allowlist (regex-validated) as the user-input safety boundary Time sync: force Windows clock resync after host sleep/wake	Operations & resilience Offline / air-gapped install (--source + --image-tar) One-line uninstall (keeps Windows VM data unless --purge) Health checks via winpodx check (pod / RDP / agent / disk / round-trip / password age) Qt6 GUI: Apps / Settings / Tools / Terminal / Info pages — plus a lighter system tray Stdlib-leaning Python (no pip-deps on 3.11+; one tomli fallback on 3.9 / 3.10)

See docs/FEATURES.md for deep dives, including multi-session RDP internals, app profile schema, and the reverse-open architecture.

Documentation

Document	What's inside
INSTALL.md	Every install path — one-liner, package managers, offline, Nix, source
USAGE.md	CLI reference, Qt6 GUI tour, health checks, configuration file
FEATURES.md	Reverse-open, multi-session RDP, peripherals, app profiles, auto-discovery
ARCHITECTURE.md	How it works (diagram), tech stack, source tree, data flows
COMPARISON.md	winpodx vs winapps / LinOffice / winboat, and winpodx vs Wine
CHANGELOG.md	Full version history
CONTRIBUTING.md	Development setup and workflow
SECURITY.md	Security disclosure process

Supported distros

Distro	Package manager	Status
openSUSE Tumbleweed / Leap 15.6 / Leap 16.0 / Slowroll	zypper	Tested
Fedora 42 / 43 / 44	dnf	Supported
Fedora Silverblue / Kinoite / Sericea / Bluefin / Bazzite (42 / 43 / 44)	rpm-ostree (OBS, --apply-live)	Supported
Debian 12 / 13, Ubuntu 24.04 / 25.04 / 25.10	apt	Supported
AlmaLinux / Rocky / RHEL 9 / 10	dnf	Supported
Arch / Manjaro	pacman + yay -S winpodx	Supported
NixOS (and Nix on any distro)	nix flake	Supported

Each tag push (v*.*.*) publishes to all channels automatically — see packaging/ for maintainer details.

Testing

# From repo root (no install needed)
export PYTHONPATH="$PWD/src"
python3 -m pytest tests/    # 1090+ tests
ruff check src/ tests/      # Lint
ruff format --check src/ tests/

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, branch naming, commit conventions, and CI expectations.

Security

For security issues, follow the process in SECURITY.md.

Star History

Support

If winpodx makes your Linux desktop a little nicer:

Ko-fi handles international cards and PayPal; fairy.hada.io is a Korean tipping platform. Bug reports, PRs, and stars on the repo are equally appreciated and free.

License

MIT — Kim DaeHyun (kernalix7@kodenet.io)