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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 5
replwoacause 9/7/2025|
Looks great on mobile! I think it’s awesome. But I’d change the avatar to something more XP like and less Simpson-esque that has a less obvious GPT designed feel to it.
mitchivin 9/7/2025|
haha yeah I’ll get around to it eventually, it’s clearly a pain point for many - it’s really just not a huge deal for me
billdybas 9/7/2025||
Really cool! Added to my collection of personal websites @ https://personal.network/
aforty 9/7/2025||
Really cool.

Only bug I noticed was that the command line output doesn’t scroll. This was on my iPhone with the keyboard up as I was typing commands and press return.

mitchivin 9/7/2025|
Oh interesting, that’s not intentional but it might be something I just hadn’t considered - does it scroll again after the keyboard is hidden?
Joel_Mckay 9/7/2025||
Where is the doom demo launcher?

https://github.com/cloudflare/doom-wasm

=3

nothrowaways 9/7/2025||
I love the 'recently used' in the start menu.
mitchivin 9/7/2025|
thanks!
allendale 9/7/2025||
Skip the scanlines, makes everything blurry on my sharp display.

https://windows96.net

vpShane 9/7/2025||
If you enjoyed making this then I enjoy it. For the love of tinkering, technology, learning new things. I would suggest a multi-player OS, where web apps can be launched inside the OS, think: multiplayer paint, saving files, and JS web apps with its own 'app submission' where apps can be run and show up on everybody's screens.

Vibe coding is fun, glad you could do this!

MintPaw 9/7/2025||
Windows didn't fade in and out in Windows XP.
m_2018 9/9/2025||
Congrats on this milestone. can it run games. what if yo host games remotely and launch them using this application?
supermatt 9/7/2025|
Looks great, but you probably don't want to be serving copyrighted music mp3s directly from your site: e.g. https://mitchivin.com/assets/apps/musicPlayer/audio/song2.mp...
supermatt 9/7/2025||
Any reason I get downvoted for this?
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