Over 1,700 pre-installed operating systems spanning 1948 to today, in a single Linux VM. Bundled QEMU, VirtualBox, and UTM. One-click launchers for Windows and Linux.
Andrew spent over 20 years collecting and configuring more than 1,700 operating system installations, from 1948’s Manchester Baby to early mobile OSes, and packaged them into one ready-to-run VM.
It’s genuinely impressive how much obscure and historically important software is made runnable here. At a time when a lot of what we interact with is generated and smoothed over, there’s a certain appeal in being able to touch these older, rougher systems directly :)
I’ve always been fascinated by IT history—this is a wonderful resource for those of us who don’t have the space and/or money to hoard old systems!
This is a great idea! I never had the chance to try the old OS (born too late for that ahah), so this is a great opportunity!
This is such a fun idea. I like that it's not just screenshots or nostalgia but actually running the old systems and seeing how they felt to use. A browser version would be amazing later but even as a VM it feels like a real archive people can explore instead of just read abt
This is one of those projects I would open “for five minutes” and then lose the rest of the afternoon.
The best part is that it is not just screenshots or nostalgia content. Being able to actually poke around old operating systems makes the history feel real: weird menus, slow workflows, forgotten UI ideas, all of it.
I’d love to see some guided paths too, like “early GUIs,” “forgotten mobile OSes,” or “systems that influenced modern desktop design.”
Are these full emulated environments where you can actually install software and poke around, or more curated snapshots that show the UI without real interactivity?
Anyway that's awesome! Congrats!
Funny timing. I was wanting to put this to actual use. We've got a track coming out called Nostalgi (I make music) and I wanted that degraded VHS look for the Instagram Reels, without it feeling like the same one-click filter everyone's already scrolled past. This models the signal instead of faking it, so it should hold up. Bookmarking the browser version.
About The Virtual OS Museum on Product Hunt
“Relive vintage operating systems right on your desktop”
The Virtual OS Museum launched on Product Hunt on June 8th, 2026 and earned 168 upvotes and 10 comments, placing #5 on the daily leaderboard. Over 1,700 pre-installed operating systems spanning 1948 to today, in a single Linux VM. Bundled QEMU, VirtualBox, and UTM. One-click launchers for Windows and Linux.
The Virtual OS Museum was featured in Open Source (68.5k followers) and Software Engineering (42.5k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 19.1k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted The Virtual OS Museum?
The Virtual OS Museum was hunted by Zac Zuo. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
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Zac Zuo
Hi everyone!
Andrew spent over 20 years collecting and configuring more than 1,700 operating system installations, from 1948’s Manchester Baby to early mobile OSes, and packaged them into one ready-to-run VM.
It’s genuinely impressive how much obscure and historically important software is made runnable here. At a time when a lot of what we interact with is generated and smoothed over, there’s a certain appeal in being able to touch these older, rougher systems directly :)