Keep your PC
Windows 11 refuses plenty of perfectly good hardware. Fennek OS runs on it.
Fennek OSEst. 2026Free & open source
Windows 10 is over.
Your PC isn't.
Fennek OS is a familiar, private, locked-down Linux desktop for people leaving Windows 10. Your .exe programs still open. Unknown ones run in a sandbox. Nothing phones home.
Boarding passOne way · no return needed
WINWindows 10
FNKFennek OS
- Passenger
- Your PC
- Seat
- The one you already own
- Class
- Free & open source
- Luggage
- Your .exe programs
- Gate
- GitHub
- Status
- Boarding soon
FNK · 2026
Hear when it boards
October 14, 2025
Windows 10 support has ended.
Your PC still works fine.
Keep your habits
Taskbar at the bottom, Start in the corner, a file manager that opens on your drives.
Keep your privacy
No account, no ads, no telemetry. Every connection is listed, and you can switch it off.
The tour
It already feels like home.
Pick a moment from an ordinary day and watch what Fennek OS does. Or just click around: the desktop works.
Start, search as you type, apps pinned as tiles. Nobody needs a tutorial.
Phrasebook
Speak the language on day one.
Your habits travel with you. What you’re used to, and what it does in Fennek OS.
Phrasebook · Vol. IFamiliar habits, new home
- Double-clicking an .exe
- Still works. It opens through Proton, and if Fennek OS doesn’t know the program, inside a sandbox.
- Ctrl Shift Esc
- Opens the task manager, to end a frozen app.
- The logo key + R
- Opens Run. Type a program name and press Enter.
dir·cls·ipconfig- Work in the terminal.
delgoes to the Trash, so it can be undone. - A restore point
- Your home folder is snapshotted every hour, and the previous system version waits in the boot menu.
- An antivirus running all day
- New downloads are scanned when they arrive. Nothing sits in memory eating battery.
- A false alarm in quarantine
- The quarantine app shows what was blocked, and lets you delete it or put it back.
- “Updating, don’t turn off”
- Updates install in the background and apply on your next restart. Only the changed parts download.
- Picking the other OS at boot
- “Restart to the other OS” does it once, in one click.
- Settings with a search box
- A Settings home with search and categories, the way you expect it.
Security
Big ears. Nothing gets past.
A fennec fox hears a beetle under the sand. Fennek OS notes where every file came from, and decides how far to trust it before it runs.
Arriving
Where did it come from?
Trustedruns normally
Unknownruns in a sandbox
Maliciousquarantined
Sandbox by default
An unknown program sees only ~/Sandbox/<program>, never your home. Its changes to the system are thrown away.
VirusTotal, without uploading
Right-click → Check with VirusTotal. Only the file's fingerprint is sent, with your own key.
A firewall that speaks human
Right-click a program → Block internet. Home and café Wi-Fi get different rules.
Ransomware undo
Your home folder is snapshotted every hour. Encrypted files come back from the last snapshot.
0hours, the goal
The long haul
Unplug at breakfast. Still going after midnight.
Tuned for laptops from the first line. Unplug and it switches to power saving by itself, and the screen sleeps sooner on battery. No always-on virus scanner, no background indexing of your files, and hardware video decoding so a movie doesn’t cook the CPU.
15 hfirst milestone, 100 Wh laptop
30 hwhere we're headed
Goals, not measurements yet. When we publish a number, it comes with the laptop, the brightness and the exact workload.
Privacy
The full manifest. Every connection it makes.
Not a policy full of "may". This is every place Fennek OS itself talks to, and each automatic one can be switched off. Programs you install and websites you visit follow their own policies.
DestinationPurposeWhen
ghcr.ioSigned system updatesDaily check
flathub.org · app serversUpdates for apps you installedDaily
database.clamav.netVirus definitions for the download scannerDaily
Fedora time serversKeeping the clock rightRegularly
fedoraproject.org"Is there internet?" check on a new networkOn connect
virustotal.comA file's fingerprint, with your own API keyWhen you click
github.com · repo.steampowered.comProton, the first time you open an .exe; then an update check, never for sandboxed programsOnce, then at most daily
Usage statistics · crash reports · install countingNot collected. Crash logs stay on your PC.Never
How to switch each one off, and what Firefox does on its own: the full privacy list. Found one that isn't listed? That's a bug; please report it.
Itinerary
Built in the open, one stop at a time.
Fennek OS boots and runs in a virtual machine today. It isn't ready to be your only computer yet.
- Departed
The foundation
Signed base image, classic taskbar and Start menu, .exe through Proton, auto-sandbox, VirusTotal check, download scanner with a quarantine app, hourly snapshots, staged updates that download only what changed, firewall zones, fast file search, "Restart to the other OS", and an installer ISO for testers.
- We are here
Real laptops
Certifying reference laptops, dual boot next to an existing system with BitLocker on real hardware, the first public installer, and a firewall app with live connections.
- Next stop
Process Explorer
What runs what, who started it, and what drained your battery overnight. Freeze, limit or block any app.
- Further on
An assistant that asks first
Off until you choose it, local or with your own key. Every action it takes needs your click.
Open source
Read every line. Check every build.
GPL-3.0. A fresh image is built, tested and signed every day by public CI, on top of a signature-verified Universal Blue base. Installed systems only accept updates signed with the project’s key.
For testers · existing Fedora Atomic system
$ sudo bootc switch \ --enforce-container-sigpolicy \ ghcr.io/olexify/fennekos:latest
Pre-alpha. Use a virtual machine or a spare PC.
Questions
Before you board.
Can I download it today?
Not as a public download yet. An installer ISO is already built automatically for testers, and the first public release will be announced on GitHub and on the Discord server. Until then, Fennek OS is for virtual machines and spare PCs.
Will every Windows program work?
Many will, not all. Proton runs a huge number of Windows programs, especially games. Kernel-level anti-cheat, some drivers and a few heavy professional suites may not. The aim is for Fennek OS to tell you plainly when something can’t run.
Can I keep Windows next to it?
Yes, that’s the plan. "Restart to the other OS" already works: one click, and the next boot goes to Windows once. Installing next to it, with Secure Boot left on and BitLocker detected and explained, is being tested on real hardware now.
Is it really free?
Yes. Free to download and use, and the source is GPL-3.0. No account, no subscription, no ads.
What is it built on?
Fedora's image-based (atomic) system with KDE Plasma, through Universal Blue: a current Linux kernel, quick hardware support, and updates that can always be rolled back.
Why "Fennek"?
It's German for the fennec fox: small, sharp-eared and at home in harsh places. A good mascot for an OS that listens for trouble and runs on little.
Join the caravan
Travel with us while it's built.
Test builds, ask questions, tell us which Windows program you can't live without. The Discord is where Fennek OS gets shaped.