Show HN: I recreated Windows XP as my portfolio

Posted by mitchivin 9/7/2025

Show HN: I recreated Windows XP as my portfolio(mitchivin.com)

Years ago I stumbled across a basic version of this concept and it stuck with me. I knew if I was ever going to take on such a project, it would need to be flawless, but without coding experience it was just another idea that would never happen. By the end of 2024, as AI coding tools exploded everywhere, I finally had a way to make it real.

I started from zero knowledge and spent months collaborating with AI agents as a learning experience. Every pixel and every function went through me. The AI translated what I asked for into code, but every decision was human. I didn't use existing OS frameworks because the goal was learning how basic coding languages worked while also developing my skills with AI collaboration. Apart from basic libraries like xp.css and paint.js, it's all original code.

The result is a fully functional Windows XP recreation running in your browser. Complete experience with sounds, animations, and working applications. Even works properly on mobile, which required rebuilding everything to maintain the authentic feel without becoming unusable on touchscreens.

This project taught me more about coding and AI collaboration than I ever expected. Would love to hear your thoughts on the execution and any feedback on the technical approach.

1032 points | 323 commentspage 2

ftruzzi 9/7/2025|

This is really nice work, and it does showcase your skills, ability to learn, persistence and attention to detail.

I disagree with others who complain that either the design was copied or a few little details are not exactly the same as the original – I don't think that's the point here.

Congrats!

felarof 9/7/2025||

Wow, this is cool!

You should open source this and let other people contribute and build apps that work inside this sim. I would love to build a version of our browser into this. (https://github.com/browseros-ai/BrowserOS)

_-_-__-_-_- 9/7/2025||

This is wonderful. You should be proud. It's a fun recreation and it was fun to use. Back when I was using XP (2004-2010), I had a 19" black CRT monitor. Once I got a laptop, it became a second monitor. I got whatever the family didn't want and the few things I scrounged from used computer stores. In 2010, I jumped to Windows 7. The theming of Windows XP always reminds me of seeing it for the first time, how colourful and inviting it looked.

mitchivin 9/7/2025|

if they remember the site, they'll remember me :) kinda?

zephyreon 9/7/2025||

This is really good. I’ve seen recreations before but the attention to detail made this delightful to use. Agree with some of the other points that you’re recreating a design that already exists but it’s evident you spent some effort on this even with the help of AI (which was disclosed in the AUTHOR command in command prompt, thank you!)

StarterPro 9/7/2025||

"AI agents " I KNEW something was up with it. Wrap it up.

mitchivin 9/7/2025|

its nice and warm in here, come on.. join us

djshah 9/7/2025||

This is amazing! Really enjoyed the trip down memory lane.

It would be wonderful if you could also share or write a post about your vibe coding journey to put this together!

mitchivin 9/7/2025|

just like the site itself, I'm slowly trying to piece something together in a coherent way when the process itself was the complete opposite. When I do figure it out I'll do a post/series of posts on LinkedIn most likely. there's a few posts already on there about it, but nothing super in-depth

im open to all connections btw :) i'm just getting started!

ctxc 9/8/2025||

Would be nice if you can add your contact details to your profile too :)

Dwedit 9/7/2025||

No right-click menus anywhere. How am I supposed to Lock The Taskbar? (As seen in https://madeupandprobablydoesnotexist.com/taskbar/)

mitchivin 9/7/2025|

i've been putting together a list of things for the right click menu, thanks for that one.

ldbooth 9/7/2025||

I'd love to see that command line working for some Easter eggs.

mitchivin 9/7/2025|

hit me with some idea's. in terms of novelty ideas ive thought maybe unlocking extra songs in the music player, or opening a different version of my projects that looks like it should (internet explorer) showing my wow logs or something lame hahah just some for the ones who would respect it

unop 9/7/2025||

Maybe cmd.exe launch into "your terminal" - styled with starship or whatever, your shell aliases but taking the user into your (code?) projects' directories that they can have a nosey around with (mirroring github repos?)

stevenfoster 9/7/2025||

This made me immediately want to play Age of Empires and drink a Mountain Dew. Well done sir.

mitchivin 9/7/2025|

do it!

merelysounds 9/7/2025|

Feature request, very nitpicky: currently there is a grid overlay that simulates display pixels; but the content behind it is high resolution - as a result one “pixel” consists of multiple colors, which can break the illusion; this is especially visible when scrolling text. Perhaps there’s a way to render actual content in low resolution too, to match the grid resolution? E.g. set the css width&height of an element to 50% and upscale 2x via css scale transform (although filtering could be a problem), or render to a canvas and upscale there, or use html gl, or maybe there’s another way?

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