Linux in Browser — Ubuntu 24.04 (GUI) Beta

How it works

v86_64 emulates a full x86-64 PC — CPU, BIOS, disk controller and video — in WebAssembly, so a real 64-bit operating system can run inside a web page. On your first visit the browser downloads the small engine (a few MB) and the Ubuntu desktop disk image (~4 GB) — you'll see a live progress meter with the percentage and megabytes. The disk, kernel and initrd are then cached in your browser's local storage, so every visit after that loads instantly with no re-download.

You can also make your changes stick: click Save VM state to write the VM's disk back to your browser, and it will be restored on your next visit. Use Reset to fresh image to discard your saved state and start clean, or Clear cached data to free the storage. The kernel boots, systemd starts, and a graphical session comes up on the emulated screen.

What you can do

This image boots to a graphical desktop with a window manager and a set of common applications pre-installed. Open the terminal from the desktop to run shell commands, or use the serial console below for a text-only fallback. The VM is offline, so apt-get install won't work — everything you need is already on the disk.

Performance notes

v86_64 is a software emulator, so it runs much slower than native Linux. A graphical desktop is especially demanding — expect boot to take several minutes and window interactions to lag noticeably. It's built for learning and exploration, not for real work. A faster machine, more RAM (2–4 GB) and a modern browser (Chrome, Edge or Firefox) help a lot. Prefer a snappier experience? Try the CLI variant, which skips the graphical stack.