The Virtual OS Museum is an emulation download library built over years by OS historian Andrew Warkentin, offering over 1,700 installations spanning more than 600 operating systems for more than 250 platforms. The catch: it can be massive—127GB zipped for the
You don’t stumble on the past. You install it.
The Virtual OS Museum is not a building you visit—it’s a download you run. Inside is a collection of over 1,700 distinct installations of more than 600 operating systems, built for more than 250 platforms, letting you emulate and relive those systems right on your computer.
The project mostly traces back to one person. Andrew Warkentin. an OS historian and developer who has been slowly assembling these images since 2003. The collection reaches back far beyond modern desktop life. It stretches nearly the entire history of computing. from 1948’s Manchester Baby—the first stored computer program—through early Android builds from 2011.
For people who love the edges of tech history, the library doesn’t play it safe. There are countless DOS variants, MOS for the Acorn BBC Master, and hobby operating systems such as NitrOS-9, which brings a host of modern features to the ’80s Tandy Radio Shack CoCo line.
What you get with each image tends to match what the operating system would have included originally. The images generally aren’t packaged with extra software beyond things that would have come with the OS. like calculators. file managers. and text editors. That limitation can be frustrating if you’re hunting for specific application experiences—getting your hands on programs for CTSS might prove difficult.
But if your goal is to step into familiar nostalgia, the museum can deliver. For example, it’s positioned as a solid bet if you want to relive the glory days of Windows 95.
Still, the museum comes with a practical warning label: it’s big. The full version with all images included is 127GB when zipped. Even the Lite edition, which downloads images as needed instead of pulling everything at once, weighs in at 14GB.
Virtual OS Museum operating systems emulation Andrew Warkentin OS history Windows 95 DOS variants CTSS NitrOS-9 Manchester Baby