--- title: AnduinOS is Windows without the frustration, and it just... description: AnduinOS, a Linux distro designed to ease the Windows-to-Linux transition, has climbed to 11th place in DistroWatch's 12-month popularity rankings. It offers a... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/anduinos-is-windows-without-the-frustration-and-it-just-cracked-the-top-15-distros-yxrueozsi twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: AnduinOS is Windows without the frustration, and it just cracked the top 15 distros | daily.dev og:description: AnduinOS, a Linux distro designed to ease the Windows-to-Linux transition, has climbed to 11th place in DistroWatch's 12-month popularity rankings. It offers a... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/anduinos-is-windows-without-the-frustration-and-it-just-cracked-the-top-15-distros-yxrueozsi og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/YXRUeozSi.png og:image:alt: AnduinOS is Windows without the frustration, and it just cracked the top 15 distros og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AnduinOS is Windows without the frustration, and it just cracked the top 15 distros **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 4 min read · 2 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary AnduinOS, a Linux distro designed to ease the Windows-to-Linux transition, has climbed to 11th place in DistroWatch's 12-month popularity rankings. It offers a Windows-like setup experience, taskbar customization, Xbox controller driver support, and Bottles for running Windows apps via Wine. The reviewer found it stable overall, with minor hurdles installing Steam, and notes the project appears more sustainable and polished than a year ago, addressing earlier concerns about long-term viability. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is AnduinOS and how does it help Windows users switch to Linux AnduinOS is a Linux distribution built to ease the Windows-to-Linux transition, ranking 11th most popular distro on DistroWatch over the past 12 months. It offers a Windows 11-style or classic taskbar, an ArcMenu-based Start menu built on GNOME extensions, bundled Bottles for running Windows apps via containerized Wine, and a driver for Xbox Wireless Controllers called xpadneo. _Anyone weighing a Windows to Linux migration can find more distro comparisons like this on daily.dev._ ### Does Steam work properly on AnduinOS out of the box The official Steam download had missing dependencies and did not work out of the box on AnduinOS, requiring installation via Flatpak instead, which also took a while to launch the first time. After that initial hurdle, Steam ran as expected. Bluetooth, internet, and audio worked without issues on the tested machine. _Developers troubleshooting Linux gaming setups can track similar distro quirks on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@vasefanten** · 0 upvotes > >It offers a Windows-like setup experience > > Ouch ... ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I tried this Linux distro that looks like Windows, is made by a Microsoft engineer, and is based on Ubuntu](https://daily.dev/posts/i-tried-this-linux-distro-that-looks-like-windows-is-made-by-a-microsoft-engineer-and-is-based-on--tdjgfbb0n) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [AnduinOS 2.0 Released: A Declarative Rebuild of the Linux Desktop](https://daily.dev/posts/anduinos-2-0-released-a-declarative-rebuild-of-the-linux-desktop-hd8mljdwh) · AnduinOS · 9 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/anduinos-is-windows-without-the-frustration-and-it-just-cracked-the-top-15-distros-yxrueozsi) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"AnduinOS is Windows without the frustration, and it just cracked the top 15 distros","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/anduinos-is-windows-without-the-frustration-and-it-just-cracked-the-top-15-distros-yxrueozsi","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/anduinos-is-windows-without-the-frustration-and-it-just-cracked-the-top-15-distros-yxrueozsi"},"datePublished":"2026-08-17T17:33:42.938Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:54:52.348Z","description":"AnduinOS, a Linux distro designed to ease the Windows-to-Linux transition, has climbed to 11th place in DistroWatch's 12-month popularity rankings. 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