--- title: China accelerates removal of Windows 10 from state... description: China's Ministry of State Security is telling state-linked entities to uninstall a customized Windows 10 build (from the Microsoft/CETC joint venture CMIT)... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/china-accelerates-removal-of-windows-10-from-state-agencies-shifts-to-domestic-linux-qxfdq9smg twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: China accelerates removal of Windows 10 from state agencies, shifts to domestic Linux | daily.dev og:description: China's Ministry of State Security is telling state-linked entities to uninstall a customized Windows 10 build (from the Microsoft/CETC joint venture CMIT)... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/china-accelerates-removal-of-windows-10-from-state-agencies-shifts-to-domestic-linux-qxfdq9smg og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/qxFDq9SMg.png og:image:alt: China accelerates removal of Windows 10 from state agencies, shifts to domestic Linux 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. # China accelerates removal of Windows 10 from state agencies, shifts to domestic Linux **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 2 min read · 4 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary China's Ministry of State Security is telling state-linked entities to uninstall a customized Windows 10 build (from the Microsoft/CETC joint venture CMIT) earlier than the originally planned February 2027 retirement. The replacements are domestic Linux distributions Kylin OS (FreeBSD-derived) and Unity Operating System (built on Deepin, a Debian derivative). Microsoft says no security incident triggered the move; it's framed as a policy decision tied to China's broader push to reduce foreign tech dependency in sensitive sectors. France made a similar move away from Windows previously. Microsoft's AI and cloud partnerships in China, including with ByteDance, remain unaffected, suggesting a targeted retreat rather than a full breakup. ## Content China is pulling Windows 10 out of government agencies faster than planned, and the replacement is homegrown Linux. The Ministry of State Security has told some state-linked entities to uninstall a customized build of Windows 10 that was originally scheduled for retirement in February 2027. That build came from CMIT, a joint venture between Microsoft and China Electronics Technology Group, tailored specifically to meet Beijing's security requirements. Microsoft says it hasn't seen any security incident tied to the software, so this isn't a response to a breach. It's a policy call. And it fits a pattern. China has spent the past few years pushing to replace foreign hardware and software across sensitive sectors, chips and PCs included. Windows was always going to be part of that eventually. The timing just moved up. What replaces it: Kylin OS, which grew out of FreeBSD, and Unity Operating System, built on Deepin (itself a Debian derivative). Both are domestic Linux distributions designed to meet the same government requirements without the foreign dependency. This isn't happening in isolation, either. France made a similar move away from Windows over data security concerns, and now China is following a comparable path. Two very different governments arriving at the same conclusion says something about where things are headed globally: fewer countries want their state infrastructure running on software they don't control end to end. A few things worth watching here. This could meaningfully fragment desktop OS market share if other governments follow, and it's likely to pump funding and real-world adoption into Linux distributions that have mostly lived in developer and enthusiast circles. Meanwhile, Microsoft's broader business in China isn't collapsing, its AI and cloud partnerships with companies like ByteDance are still growing. So this reads less like a full breakup and more like a targeted retreat from the parts of the relationship that touch national security. ## Questions this post answers ### What Linux distributions is China using to replace Windows 10 in government agencies? China is replacing Windows 10 in state agencies with two domestic Linux distributions: Kylin OS, which grew out of FreeBSD, and Unity Operating System, built on Deepin, itself a Debian derivative. Both were designed to meet government security requirements without relying on foreign software, and their adoption is being accelerated ahead of the original February 2027 retirement date for the customized Windows 10 build they replace. _daily.dev surfaces developments like this for teams tracking Linux adoption trends and OS market shifts._ ### Why is China removing the CMIT customized version of Windows 10 from government systems? China's Ministry of State Security ordered the removal as a policy decision, not in response to any known security breach; Microsoft has stated it hasn't seen a security incident tied to the software. CMIT was a joint venture between Microsoft and China Electronics Technology Group that built a Windows 10 version tailored to Chinese government security requirements, originally slated for retirement in February 2027. _engineers weighing vendor lock-in risk can follow how governments handle software sovereignty on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Microsoft told Google it was overreacting in 2010. It has spent five years quietly leaving China](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-told-google-it-was-overreacting-in-2010-it-has-spent-five-years-quietly-leaving-china-o0h2uycjf) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Linux in 2026: Why Millions Are Switching Away from Windows for Good](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-in-2026-why-millions-are-switching-away-from-windows-for-good-ms78bw6xm) · Medium · 3 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#microsoft](https://daily.dev/tags/microsoft), [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/china-accelerates-removal-of-windows-10-from-state-agencies-shifts-to-domestic-linux-qxfdq9smg) ```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":"China accelerates removal of Windows 10 from state agencies, shifts to domestic Linux","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/china-accelerates-removal-of-windows-10-from-state-agencies-shifts-to-domestic-linux-qxfdq9smg","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/china-accelerates-removal-of-windows-10-from-state-agencies-shifts-to-domestic-linux-qxfdq9smg"},"datePublished":"2026-08-18T19:19:45.131Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T19:47:57.908Z","description":"China's Ministry of State Security is telling state-linked entities to uninstall a customized Windows 10 build (from the Microsoft/CETC joint venture CMIT)...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/67a9c00377ae87ec8fa0a15c49b3584f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/67a9c00377ae87ec8fa0a15c49b3584f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Collections","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Collections","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fk_6ycEi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996001/logos/collections?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/china-accelerates-removal-of-windows-10-from-state-agencies-shifts-to-domestic-linux-qxfdq9smg","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux,microsoft,windows","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collections","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"China accelerates removal of Windows 10 from state agencies, shifts to domestic Linux"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/china-accelerates-removal-of-windows-10-from-state-agencies-shifts-to-domestic-linux-qxfdq9smg#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What Linux distributions is China using to replace Windows 10 in government agencies?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"China is replacing Windows 10 in state agencies with two domestic Linux distributions: Kylin OS, which grew out of FreeBSD, and Unity Operating System, built on Deepin, itself a Debian derivative. 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