Show HN: Linux installer .exe without pendrives (secure-boot compatible) https://ift.tt/SLsBOF4

Show HN: Linux installer .exe without pendrives (secure-boot compatible) It is fairly simple, but useful for non-power users: a statically-linked Qt app that gracefully edits Windows Boot Manager to do a reboot-once into GRUB, which in turn launches ZorinOS live/installer from disk loopback. I needed to make a custom initramfs with dislocker in it, and to squeeze it a little (default Windows EFI partition is not so big). Currently my biggest issue is that systemd is unable to shut down gracefully when rootfs is mounted from such a deep loop stack. The other is that installing to full disk crashes right after it successfully damages the partition table. I think I could solve both by copying the ISO contents to ramdisk before systemd takes over (initramfs needs to stay slim as I mentioned before) - maybe opportunistically if there is enough RAM (3,5G is not so unreasonable to expect). I decided to make it paid for now (maybe not eligible for show? if so, sorry, I've been mostly a HN reader so far), but I am still considering if my project brought more good by being free of charge. It is free as in GPL3+ though, so although I can politely ask you not to exercise it too hard until I turn Bad™, you (will) have several ways to obtain it without paying anyway. The website itself (especially payments) is also an interesting story, I can share it too some day. What do you think? https://ift.tt/sJqGgQU April 22, 2026 at 03:03AM