# Show HN: WinPodX – run Windows apps on Linux, VM looks like real hardware

> Source: <https://www.winpodx.org/>
> Published: 2026-06-29 05:03:19+00:00

# 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.

## How it works

No manual VM wrangling. WinPodX provisions everything on the first app click.

### Install & setup

One command pulls a Windows container ([dockur/windows](https://github.com/dockur/windows)) in rootless Podman, runs an unattended Windows install, and applies the RemoteApp + agent setup.

### Apps auto-discovered

First boot scans the guest — Registry App Paths, Start Menu, UWP/MSIX, Chocolatey, Scoop — and registers every app with its real icon as a Linux `.desktop`

entry.

### Click & launch

Click the app like any native one. It opens in its own Linux window via FreeRDP RemoteApp — pinnable, alt-tabbable, file-associated. No full desktop.

## Why not just RDP, a VM, or Wine?

WinPodX keeps real Windows compatibility while feeling native.

| WinPodX | Full-screen RDP | Bare VM | Wine | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per-app native windows | ✓ | desktop only | desktop only | ✓ |
| Real Windows compatibility | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | partial |
| Taskbar icons + file assoc. | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | limited |
| One-command setup | ✓ | manual | manual | per-app |
| Linux apps in Windows menu | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |

## What it does

Each Windows app becomes its own Linux window — pinnable, alt-tabbable, file-associated, both directions.

### Seamless app windows

- RemoteApp (RAIL) renders each app as a native window — no desktop
- Per-app taskbar icons via
`WM_CLASS`

matching - Double-click
`.docx`

→ Word opens; open a second file and it lands in the already-running app - Multi-session RDP: up to 25 independent sessions
- Multi-monitor RAIL by default — drag a window to a second screen, keep working

### Reverse-open

- Linux apps appear in the Windows "Open with…" menu, by default
- Correct per-app icons in both Windows chooser dialogs
- Round-trips the file open back to host
`xdg-open`

- Auto-discovers host apps + MIME from freedesktop standards

### Zero-config launch

- First click auto-provisions config, container, desktop entries
- First-boot discovery registers every app with its real icon
- Registry App Paths, Start Menu, UWP/MSIX, Chocolatey, Scoop
- Backends: Podman (default), Docker, manual RDP

### Peripherals & sharing

- Clipboard (text + images), sound, printers — on by default
- Home directory shared as
`\\tsclient\home`

- USB drives auto-mapped; live USB device passthrough
- Smart DPI scaling auto-detected from your desktop

### Automation & resilience

- Auto suspend / resume; optional pod auto-start on login
- Self-heals a stalled RDP guest (UNRESPONSIVE → recover)
- Password auto-rotation; Windows disk auto-grow
- Health checks + auto-fix via
`winpodx doctor --fix`

### Lean & private

- Near-zero Python deps — stdlib only on 3.11+
- No telemetry, ever
- Multilingual UI (en / ko / zh / ja / de / fr / it)
- Start-menu-style Qt6 GUI with a live Dashboard + a lightweight system tray

## Works on

One-line install across the major Linux families.

**Needs hardware virtualization.** WinPodX runs Windows in a KVM-backed container — an x86_64 / aarch64 CPU with virtualization extensions, 8 GB+ RAM (12 GB+ recommended), and ~30 GB free disk. First install takes ~5–10 minutes (Windows ISO download + Sysprep + OEM apply).

[Full requirements →](get-started.html)