What if Linux ran Windows… and meant it? Meet Loss32
- Reference: 1767719838
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/06/loss32_crazy_or_inspired/
- Source link:
[1]Loss32 is the most gleefully deranged idea for how to put together a Linux OS that we think we have ever read about in three and a half decades… but it's not impossible. Not only could it be done, there could be real advantages to doing it this way.
The idea comes from a blogger and developer known as [2]Hikari no Yume ("Dream of Light" in Japanese) who made it public at the [3]39th Chaos Communication Congress in Germany at the end of December.
[4]
The gist of the idea is to run the whole user environment, desktop and all, inside WINE. So it's something like a bare-metal WINE sitting on top of the Linux kernel, with just enough plumbing to connect them up. This is significantly different from the current way, which is to run a completely Linux-based stack – the kernel, an init, a userland, a Linux display system, and a Linux desktop, and then run Windows programs inside that.
[5]
[6]
Nor is it just "a Linux that can run Windows apps." That's an old idea – it was the concept behind the [7]Lindows distribution some 25 years ago, although the name got the company [8]sued by Microsoft . Lindows became Linspire became Freespire, which is, unexpectedly, [9]still around , and the [10]included Click'n'Run Warehouse was pretty much the first app store on the web. There was also an effort to add direct support for Windows binaries to the Linux kernel, called [11]Longene , over a decade ago.
It's also a profoundly different approach to emulating the entire Windows OS, as the [12]ReactOS project is inching toward . It's been working on that for quite some time now: The Register [13]first mentioned it in 2012, as far as we can see. It also reminds us of the [14]Neptune OS project we covered in 2022, which is still in development.
[15]
It could be made to work. Even ReactOS itself considered a [16]comparable approach . It's even possible to run [17]WINE on Windows itself to restore compatibility with 16-bit Windows binaries, and there are efforts to make that easier such as [18]BoxedWine .
Long before WINE itself was useful, Sun offered WABI – Oracle [19]still has the manual [PDF]. Sun proposed making the Win16 API a [20]formal standard . Later, Caldera offered a [21]Linux version of WABI , and this vulture tried it. It worked remarkably well, and let us successfully install and run MS Office 4.3 under Linux with no VMs – or Windows licenses – involved. You can see some [22]modern screenshots on VirtuallyFun .
Linux in 2026 is better at running Windows apps than it's ever been before, to the extent that there is [23]mass-market consumer hardware sold for this, with an Arch-based distro whose selling point is its [24]ability to run Windows games smoothly and well , and [25]more such hardware is coming soon .
[26]The last supported version of HP-UX is no more
[27]You don't need Linux to run free and open source software
[28]Keeping Windows and macOS alive past their sell-by date
[29]pearOS is a Linux that falls rather close to the Apple tree
Much of this is down to the [30]growing maturity of WINE , but it's not just WINE. Valve is sponsoring a lot of the work, including its [31]Proton layer for running Windows games on Linux. You can check what will work and how well on [32]ProtonDB . The forthcoming Steam Frame headset is Arm64-powered, but is designed to run x86-64 Windows games, thanks to [33]FEX . A notable website aimed at this market, [34]PCGamer.com , went [35]on the record :
I'm brave enough to say it: Linux is good now, and if you want to feel like you actually own your PC, make 2026 the year of Linux on (your) desktop.
There are quite a lot of layers to unpack behind the ideas in the Loss32 proposal. The name is, of course, a pun on the name of the original Windows native API, [36]Win32 . The name "Loss," and the project's logo, also refer to the famed [37]episode of that name from the long-running [38]Ctrl+Alt+Del web comic . This installment itself [39]became a meme .
One of perhaps the less obvious inspirations is a widely discussed blog post from 2022, titled " [40]Win32 is the only stable ABI on Linux ." This is a long-running joke in the Linux world, in the spirit of an ironic commentary on Linux compatibility over time. The kernel ABI itself is highly stable, and Linus Torvalds is [41]notorious for defending this , but when you layer other components on top, it gets a lot more complicated. Even the lowest-level components: in the late 1990s, the transition from libc version 5 to libc 6, known as glibc , was a [42]thorny issue and led to compatibility problems between distros that took about a decade and a half to [43]subside .
[44]
Will Loss32 happen? It's too soon to say. Some people love the idea, some hate it, and some [45]feel both , which we totally understand. But the bits are there. You could even boot such a Frankensteinian OS direct from NTFS – [46]that's been possible for half a decade . Should it happen? That's a different question, but now that the challenge has been made, it may just be a matter of time. ®
Get our [47]Tech Resources
[1] https://loss32.org/
[2] https://hikari.noyu.me/
[3] https://events.ccc.de/congress/2025/infos/startpage.html
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aV2UDQikQXIQDYnSZ2DFlAAAAQs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aV2UDQikQXIQDYnSZ2DFlAAAAQs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aV2UDQikQXIQDYnSZ2DFlAAAAQs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2002/09/23/review_lindows_2_0_has/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2002/01/03/ms_trains_legal_guns/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/15/freespire-95-breezes-in/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2003/05/12/lindows_in_the_living_room/
[11] https://github.com/tsuibin/longene
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/25/reactos_drops_release_0415/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2012/10/09/windows_8_hacker_hassle/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/24/neptune_os_sel4_windows/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aV2UDQikQXIQDYnSZ2DFlAAAAQs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://reactos.org/wiki/Arwinss
[17] https://reddragdiva.dreamwidth.org/607714.html
[18] https://www.boxedwine.org/
[19] https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19957-01/802-3253/802-3253.pdf
[20] https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/234999.235003
[21] https://everythinglinux.org/wabi/index.html
[22] https://virtuallyfun.com/2020/11/11/fun-with-caldera-wabi/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/16/steam_deck_portable_gaming_pc/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/27/osseu_steam_os_3/
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/14/valve_steam_kit/
[26] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/05/hpux_end_of_life/
[27] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/25/go_foss_keep_your_os/
[28] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/24/freshen_up_old_os/
[29] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/19/pearos/
[30] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/24/wine_turns_10/
[31] https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton
[32] https://www.protondb.com/
[33] https://fex-emu.com/
[34] https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/
[35] https://www.pcgamer.com/software/linux/im-brave-enough-to-say-it-linux-is-good-now-and-if-you-want-to-feel-like-you-actually-own-your-pc-make-2026-the-year-of-linux-on-your-desktop/
[36] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/desktop-programming
[37] https://cad-comic.com/comic/loss/
[38] https://cad-comic.com/
[39] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/loss
[40] https://blog.hiler.eu/win32-the-only-stable-abi/
[41] https://www.theregister.com/2013/01/04/torvalds_kernel_bug_rage/
[42] https://linuxgazette.net/issue35/tag/libc.html
[43] https://blog.aurel32.net/debian-is-switching-back-to-glibc.html
[44] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aV2UDQikQXIQDYnSZ2DFlAAAAQs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[45] https://lobste.rs/s/htjhdh/loss32_let_s_build_win32_linux#c_rjrfzg
[46] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/22/install_linux_on_ntfs/
[47] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: KILL IT!
nuke it from orbit, it is the only way to be sure.
How ironic that this comes along as Windows applications are increasingly licensed by subscription and/or dependent on somebody else's computer. You still wouldn't own your system.
If you
can install office 365 on a linux box with no glitches, nerfs, bugs, kernel panics, or m$ even realising whats going on, I suspect the mass market could have a winner..........................
Or at least businesses would be able to get away from the clusterfuck windows is becoming.
Re: If you
Can you install office 365 on a windows box with no glitches, nerfs, bugs, ....?
Re: If you
You're giving me flashbacks. Okay, wasn't a Windows box but a Mac, but getting Orifice installed and running was an auto da fé level of an ordeal when helping out an older person I know.
1) Finding a non-subscription version was worse than digging up the free versions of stuff like VMWare Fusion or Nessus.
2) I get it installed, all the registration squared away make sure it's all working, I leave
3) Get a call next day. Apparently, it has become unregistered.
4) Go back over, trash all the ~/Library and prefs, reinstall, reregister. Open it up and close it out a few times just to "be sure", and trash leave again.
5) Next day, another call, same thing. This time, uninstall, trash ~/Library stuff and prefs. Reregister Restart the computer a few times for good measure.
It stopped losing the registration, but it's not like I really know *why* it was behaving like that, nor were any of the various kbase articles or Reddit threads I Googled and skimmed seemed to have any information as to why that was happening, and it's not like I really did all that much different. Or at least nothing that would point to why it was failing, other than Microsoft. I was at the point where if it didn't work I'd have had to call them.
Re: If you
Not quite he same thing but bear with me. I can remember years back when our students would bring on their own laptops for use with the EDUROAM network. Typically this was with Windows 7, 8.x and 10. Now of course, if they hadn't done their Windows updates then often they didn't have the right driver for their WiFi card so they were never going to get a connection. We'd advise them to go home, do all the updates, paying particular attention to drivers for Intel, Atheros, Realtek etc and retry the instruction when next they're back. Of course some still experienced difficulty so we would have them have a paste-able ID in a text file so all they had to manually enter at the credentials demand was their password. Many were not quick at typing and Windows only allowed something like 30 seconds to get everything entered.
Well we would go through setting up the configuration of their WiFi network and quite often it still wouldn't make that first connection. So delete the network, set it all up again, retry and still no connection. Delete the network, restart the device, set it all up again and it would still fail to connect. Delete the network, configure all the settings again and hey presto! Connected! What was done differently? Nothing. Not a thing. Why wouldn't it connect earlier? Because Windows. Because Microsoft. Because I hadn't sacrificed a goat while standing on one leg under a full moon(!)
When we read about the latest screw-up from Micros~1 that's only affecting some installs on the advanced, insider secret-circle it's probably because not enough people at Micros~1 know how it works. Me? I don't give two hoots how it works any more, or when it doesn't. I've been using Linux for more than 20 years and it's been my daily driver at home since they let Windows 10 out.
Re: If you
Yes. Dealing with Microsoft stuff makes me glad I only have to deal with it on other people's systems, since it seems like there's just randomness involved. I'm glad I left them behind 25 years ago. And I've been enjoying at least playing with Linux ever since I threw Yellow Dog on an old G4 and watching it progress.
Still primarily a Mac user, and likely will be for the foreseeable future. Hard for me to really boast about being M$-free. I'd even put up with the frustrations of WINE than dealing with Windows though.
[1] Okay, I'm sure a number would go away if I stopped running rolling distros.
kernel has a stable ABI?
Does it now? can you load drivers from different kernel versions and have them work? I do recall somewhat recently upgrading my kernel and having vmware workstation prompt me to compile new drivers for it. I know at least before 2010 I spent what felt like endless hours making custom boot disks for CentOS/Fedora for installing on bare metal as the drivers for things like the NICs had to be injected into the boot image(the image included drivers but did not support that particular revision(s) of NIC), and if you tried to load (or force load) a driver from a slightly different kernel rev you'd get a nice ugly error.
Last time I recall specifically dealing with hardware that had drivers which required a special kernel version was in 2016 when I got a Lenovo P50 laptop (running Mint 17). I assumed the wifi worked but since I am wired in at home I never tested it. Till I went on a long trip months later, and that first night at a hotel I realized the wifi driver did not work. Intel's website for the drivers specifically cited a requirement of some newer kernel version, which Mint had, though it was not the default. I had to do some trickery downloading the debs and anything else I needed on my phone, then transfer over USB to my computer to get it working.
Unlike most windows at least where the same drivers can be used across a wide range of kernels and in some cases even major versions of windows.
It's this problem IMO that has made the Android ecosystem such a mess from a hardware compatibility standpoint, as the manufacturers have to expend far more effort to support newer android on older hardware due to the fact they can't just plop their older drivers on the newer kernel(I assume at least, no personal experience).
Or maybe it just has a stable ABI in some other part of the kernel. But this driver thing has been an annoyance for me for over 25 years now. I have long since given up any hope(maybe as of 2002) that it will ever get fixed as the developers long ago said they don't really care.
Re: kernel has a stable ABI?
I think you are talking about a different kernel interface. The interface between the user land and the kernel is stable or else Linus hacks off your head with a Rusty knife and shits down your throat, but the interface between the kernel and drivers has never been stable. (There's a school of thought that it shouldn't be, to "encourage" people to make driver code public and avoid tainting the kernel.)
The last thing we want
... is for it to be easier to run Windows applications. We need it to be hard and unpleasant to run Windows applications, so that the whole system withers away.
Re: The last thing we want
Attitudes like this are the Achilles' Heel of the OSS world. Right now, there is a lot of software that either only exists on Windows or has better Windows versions. Every time someone mentions this fact, Linux fanboys will pop up out of the woodwork to say, "Oh yeah? Well whatabout this
Re: The last thing we want
So much this.
To most, Windows is either (a) what they're used to, which isn't Mac, or (b) a platform to run some application they depend on.
Group (a) is gettable if the interface is intuitive, it doesn't require a geek living in the house, and it costs less than the Mac they've already avoided buying.
Group (b) is gettable if they have a functional, realistic choice in platforms and their killer app doesn't "run way better on one than the other."
Re: The last thing we want
I'm in group b). Yes, the Windoze OS now is crapware but there are programs that run on it that are very good. Everytime I look at the supported windows programs in WINE, etc. mine aren't in the list and there are no direct Linux alternatives. I haven't had time to experiment if they would run or learn a different Linux version of what I use so I hold my nose, soldier on with my locked down (no updates) Windows 10 and wait.
Re: The last thing we want
So what you're suggesting (assuming I've read it right) is that you need a "Windows application in a container".
Re: The last thing we want
>” Perhaps if OSS fanatics took a moment to understand what works well on Windows (and no, it's not just a question of inertia, habit, or lock-in), Linux could be made into a more appealing alternative to Windows.”
Unlikely to happen, too many fanatics prefer talking the talk rather than walking the talk, as that requires them to actually contribute rather than just spectate.
Re: The last thing we want
And those fanatics need to stop trying to "reeducate" the users to do things their own holy, righteous way. If desktop Linux wants to take off it has to meet users where they are and respond to their needs.
Almost as bad as the people who push their favorite style of mouse, IPv6, or The One True Editor™.
Quote: "....to restore compatibility with 16-bit Windows binaries..."
WINE 10.20 will run a Windows 3.1 application like a champ (Multimedia Viewer, mviewer2.exe dated 1/10/93).
What part of "restore" don't I understand?????
Windows 11, however, will not run Win16 apps originally written for Windows 3.1.
The BoxedWine project runs WINE on Windows to fix this.
No 64 Bit Windows will run 16 bit applications. None of them. Since Server 2003 64 Bit / Windows XP 64 bit (there never was an official 64 bit Win2k). However, there are some alternative emulation layers around, like [1]https://github.com/otya128/winevdm . But most simply run a 32 bit Windows in a VM, like last Windows 10 32 bit build, and run the old stuff from there, or similar other VM approaches.
Side note: True Windows NT (3.5x and higher) applications often work since they are "win32", but how well depends on a lot of things. Sometimes the installer is 16 bit, even though the installed program is fully 32 bit...
[1] https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
The art of the journalist...
" Loss32 is the most gleefully deranged idea for how to put together a Linux OS that we think we have ever read about in three and a half decades…
Now I've recovered from the fit induced by the idea of breeding as OS like that......I'd like to award @Liam my award for 'Best journalistic sentence of the year (so far)'. That's extremely well crafted, sir.
Re: The art of the journalist...
We aren't very far into the year, mind you. :-D
But thank you very much indeed!
Re: The art of the journalist...
Finally! Someone for whom fiscal years are meaningless, just like they're supposed to be.
The only important question is...
...it faster than Windows 11?
Re: The only important question is...
I'm assuming its acceleration is 0 while the competing Windows 11 box clocks in at -9.81 m/s^2.
Re: The only important question is...
That says nothing about the end speed before crashing though...
I am a bit confused here, having been out of the Windows world so long. The Loss 32 is only a pun, right?
The intent is to, within possibilities, run all/as many as possible of the current Windows (64 bit) binaries unmodified via WINE shims?
Sounds appealing enough, if it avoids what seems to be a fairly epic mess with Windows 11 and if it brings the quality of use I see when running Windows-only AAA games on Steam/Proton. That works a lot more often than it doesn't. Games are fairly demanding so if they work that bodes well for a lot of system-level capability, although games have a vested interest in smoothing down hard edges in where they can run, whereas corporate software tends to be big on certification and interop with other apps (which themselves may not work).
p.s. What I would do though, if I were packaging the distro, is to leave open a WSL-on-Windows-on-Linux mechanism to serve as a gateway drug to trying out Linux proper.
Loss32 subsystem for Linux (L32SL) would be just a (possibly chrooted or containerised) GNU-like userland, wouldn't it?
Say, if Loss32 were based on the most minimal Ubuntu, to get L32SL, one would just apt install the "ubuntu-minimal" package, and run a bash in a terminal (which itself could be a Win32 program, to keep with the theme). Then one could just apt install other stuff, like perl and gcc as needed.
> Loss32 is only a pun, right?
Well, it _could_ be a jab at the way 64-bit Windows still uses a folder called `SYSTEM32` because some unknown pillock hardcoded the bit width of NT into a permanent pathname...
So the API is still sometimes known as Win32, even on 64-bit systems.
KILL IT!
KILL IT WITH FIRE!
AAAaaaAaAaAarrrrrggghhhhh!