Impossible OS Docs
Getting Started
Setup guides and emulator configuration for running Impossible OS.
Documents
| Document | Topics |
|---|---|
| QEMU | QEMU setup, OVMF firmware, AHCI disk, serial output |
| VirtualBox | VirtualBox VM creation, EFI settings, VDI format |
Picking the right artifact
Once you have built the OS (bash scripts/build.sh), choose the artifact format that matches your platform:
| You want to ... | Use this format | Recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Boot in QEMU on Linux / WSL2 | raw .img |
Raw disk image |
| Write to a USB stick and boot bare metal | usb (raw .img) |
USB-bootable image |
| Boot in Hyper-V | vhdx | VHD / VHDX |
| Boot in VirtualBox | vdi | VDI |
| Burn / image-mount as a bootable CD | iso | Hybrid ISO |
Full per-format recipes, verification flows (bootimg inspect), Secure Boot setup, and troubleshooting are in Boot Artifacts: Build, Verify, Write.
Boot protocol
Impossible OS boots UEFI/GPT/ESP only. Multiboot2 / GRUB / Limine / legacy BIOS / Linux x86 boot protocol / EFI stub direct boot / kexec are explicit non-goals. The Multiboot2 parser was deleted (policy committed to unsupported); the BUILD_ALT_BOOT Makefile variable is retained as a knob (default off) for a hypothetical future flip. Full policy contract, decision-flip criteria, and security trade-offs are in Alternate Boot Protocol Policy.
See Also
- Boot Artifacts: Build, Verify, Write -- per-format build, write, verify, troubleshoot
- Alternate Boot Protocol Policy -- UEFI-only stance + non-goals +
BUILD_ALT_BOOTpolicy - Infrastructure → Development Tooling -- build system and
build.sh run - CI Boot Matrix for Every Artifact -- owns the Hyper-V/WHPX VHDX boot-test runner blocker