DejaVu Desktop

🇫🇷 Version française

A Linux desktop that looks and feels like Windows — familiar taskbar, Start menu, theme, and keyboard shortcuts. You already know this screen.

Made for: people switching from Windows to Linux who want to keep their bearings from day one.

What it looks like

Family Edition (KDE) — a full Windows 11-style desktop:

The Start menu, with search and pinned apps:

Two editions

Edition	Script	Base	Who it's for
Family (KDE)	./install-kde.sh	Ubuntu/Kubuntu + KDE Plasma	Full daily use (settings, Wi-Fi, printers built in)
Lite (Openbox)	./install.sh	Minimal Debian/Ubuntu + Openbox/tint2/jgmenu	Old PCs, end-of-support Windows 10 machines (~300 MB RAM)

The Family Edition turns Plasma into a near-Windows 11 (validated on Ubuntu 24.04 Plasma 5 and 26.04 Plasma 6):

• Win11OS global theme + Win11 icons (yeyushengfan258) + Bloom wallpaper
• Windows 11 Start menu (OnzeMenu plasmoid: search, pinned/recommended apps)
• centered taskbar with pinned apps (file manager, Firefox, LibreOffice, settings)
• Win11 window decorations, double-click to open, themed login and lock screens
• office essentials included: LibreOffice, Okular (PDF), Gwenview (photos), Ark (archives), Kate, calculator
• automatic updates: Discover (tray notifications, Windows Update-style) + unattended security upgrades
• familiar names: Dolphin becomes "File Explorer", Konsole "Terminal", Kate "Notepad", KCalc "Calculator", Okular "PDF Reader", Gwenview "Photos", Ark "Archives" (French labels by default)

System requirements

	Family Edition (KDE)	Lite Edition (Openbox)
Processor	64-bit (x86_64), dual-core	64-bit (x86_64)
RAM	4 GB minimum, 8 GB comfortable	2 GB (~300 MB used at idle)
Disk space	30 GB	10 GB
Other	Internet connection during install	Internet connection during install

Any PC that ran Windows 10 meets the Lite Edition requirements; most PCs from 2012 onwards handle the Family Edition.

Install from scratch (starting from a Windows PC)

1. Back up your files (USB drive or cloud) — the installation can erase the disk.

2. Download an Ubuntu 26.04 LTS ISO from ubuntu.com/download.

3. Create a bootable USB stick (8 GB+) with balenaEtcher or Rufus: pick the ISO, pick the USB stick, write.

4. Boot the PC on the USB stick: restart and press the boot-menu key (usually F12, F9, Esc, or F2 depending on the brand), then choose the USB drive.

5. Install Ubuntu: follow the wizard — language, keyboard, then "Erase disk and install Ubuntu" (or install alongside Windows if you want to keep it). Create your user account and let it finish, then reboot.

6. Install DejaVu Desktop: once on the Ubuntu desktop, open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run:

   sudo apt install -y git
   git clone https://github.com/Courouge/dejavu-desktop.git
   cd dejavu-desktop
   ./install-kde.sh          # installs KDE, office apps, updates (10-20 min)

7. Switch to the Plasma session: log out, click the session icon on the login screen, pick "Plasma (X11)", and log back in.

8. Apply the Windows look: run ./install-kde.sh once more from the new session. Done — the desktop now looks like the screenshots above.

Already on Debian 12+/Ubuntu 22.04+? Skip to step 6. For the Lite Edition on an old PC, run ./install.sh instead and pick the "Openbox" session.

Keyboard shortcuts (same as Windows)

Shortcut	Action
Super	Start menu
Super + E	File explorer
Super + D	Show desktop
Super + L	Lock screen
Super + ←/→	Snap window left/right
Alt + Tab	Switch windows
Alt + F4	Close window

Lite Edition: components and customization

Role	Tool
Window manager	Openbox
Taskbar (+ system tray, clock)	tint2
Start menu	jgmenu
Effects (shadows, transparency)	picom
Wallpaper	feh
GTK theme + icons	B00merang Windows-10
File manager	Thunar
Network / volume / notifications	nm-applet, volumeicon, dunst

• Taskbar: ~/.config/tint2/tint2rc — Menu: ~/.config/jgmenu/jgmenurc
• Shortcuts / windows: ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml
• Wallpaper: drop an image at ~/.config/dejavu/wallpaper.jpg
• GTK appearance: run lxappearance

VM / hardware notes

• In a VM without GPU: switch picom to the xrender backend (Lite Edition).
• Debian/Ubuntu cloud images ship a trimmed kernel without DRM drivers: install linux-generic (Ubuntu) or linux-image-amd64 (Debian) for virtio/qxl display.
• Prefer a display manager (LightDM/SDDM) over startx launched from systemd.

Uninstall

./uninstall.sh

Restores the backed-up configurations (*.dejavu-backup).

Trademarks

Independent project, not affiliated with Microsoft. No proprietary assets (Windows icons, fonts, logos) are distributed: only free themes with a similar look are used.

License

MIT - see LICENSE.