Meet Slax

What is Slax?

Slax is a small, fast, portable Linux operating system. It runs from a USB drive, CD/DVD or virtual machine without a permanent installation. Take your own desktop, applications, files and settings from one compatible computer to another.

The system is kept in a /slax/ directory, with a lightweight Fluxbox desktop, a searchable application launcher, grouped window previews and four workspaces. A browser, file manager, text editor, terminal and calculator are ready for everyday tasks. Partition Manager is included for working with disks, and Slax AI Assistant can help investigate problems and carry out tasks using plain-language requests.

More applications can be installed with one click from the launcher or with apt. Optional downloads and the assistant’s online service need an internet connection. The everyday use guide explains the desktop and its tools.

Keep your changes, or start fresh

Persistent sessions keep your installed apps, settings and files for the next boot. Give sessions names for different purposes, choose one at startup, or duplicate a session before trying something new. A session can live on another writable drive, even when you boot Slax from read-only media.

Start without persistence and changes to the live system stay in memory, disappearing at shutdown. Copy-to-RAM also lets Slax release its boot medium. Files you deliberately save to other drives still remain there. The boot guide explains how to select these modes.

Modular by nature

Slax modules are compressed .sb files. Slax mounts them at boot and uses OverlayFS to combine their contents with a writable layer. There is no need to unpack every module into a second full copy before using it.

Put additional modules in /slax/modules/ to include them at the next boot. You can also save your changes as a module or create a personalized ISO. See Customize & modules for the complete workflow.

System requirements

You need a 64-bit Intel or AMD computer (x86-64), or a compatible virtual machine, with a way to boot from USB or an ISO/CD/DVD. A USB-C connector alone does not make an ARM device compatible.

The ISO is approximately 512 MiB. Allow additional RAM for the running desktop and the applications you want to use; a modern browser needs considerably more working memory than the base image. Copy-to-RAM needs room for the system image as well. A USB drive should have space for Slax and any sessions you intend to keep.

Slax supports BIOS and UEFI boot, with a signed UEFI bootloader and kernel for Secure Boot. Use the graphical installer to prepare a USB drive or add Slax alongside your existing operating system. Booting and storing a session are separate choices: native Linux filesystems can store session files directly, while FAT-backed sessions use a dynamically allocated virtual Linux filesystem.

Source code and license

Slax is free software. Its GPL-licensed code can be redistributed and modified under the GNU General Public License. Included applications and other components have their own free and open-source licenses. The software comes without warranty.

Slax is built using Linux Live Kit. The source and build recipes are public, and package source is available from the corresponding repositories. The internals guide explains how the boot process, modules, OverlayFS and DynFileFS fit together.