MihawkOS

Your Windows games on the TV. A desktop of their own around them.

64-bit and 32-bit Windows programs · Steam, built in · A browser companion for your phone

Download · Get started · Steam · What runs · Known limits

MihawkOS is a passion project, not a piracy project.

It exists so you can play the games you own on the console you own.

• Piracy is not condoned.
• No games, saves, keys, firmware or exploits are included, and they never will be.
• Use only games and programs you have the right to run: your own copies, bought or installed by you.
• Requests for, or links to, games, keys, firmware or exploits are not welcome in this project's issues or discussions.

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Windows programs on a PlayStation 5, started from a desktop of their own.
Pick a game from the launcher, or open the desktop and start it from its shortcut, as on a PC.

MihawkOS is a homebrew title for PS5 consoles that already run homebrew, made by Mihawk. Underneath is a Wine runtime with Proton's graphics stack. On top is Mihawk OS, a Windows-style desktop with a taskbar, Start, File Explorer and a web browser of its own.

Releases are on the Releases page. Each one says what changed and which consoles it was tested on.

Warning

Needs the official payload set, and nothing more. At every start MihawkOS checks for Kstuff Lite 1.11 Beta or later, ShadowMountPlus 1.7beta10 or later, elfldr, websrv and NanoDNS (klog, ftpsrv and pldmgr may also run). It stays on its payload check while one is missing or too old, or while any other payload runs, and says what to load or close. It can see that kstuff runs but not its version: load 1.11 Beta or later yourself. MihawkOS does not ship or change any of them.

Two things that ship together

• A desktop. Mihawk OS is a Windows-style desktop with a taskbar, Start with search and pins, File Explorer, a desktop of shortcuts and MihawkBrowser. A shortcut appears for each game you copy in. Its wallpaper, Bubble Earth, its music and its mark are the project's own.
• A runtime. Wine with Proton's components: DXVK and VKD3D-Proton for Direct3D, Mesa's Zink for OpenGL. It is pinned from GE-Proton and patched so it runs on the console. Each Windows program runs in a process of its own. MihawkOS itself owns the screen, the controller, the sound and the GPU that every program draws through.

A full-screen game takes the screen directly (Game Mode), and the desktop comes back when it ends.

At a glance

Made for your library
Windows games, 64-bit and 32-bit. Direct3D 11 and 12, OpenGL and video, with the DualSense as an Xbox controller.
Steam, built in. Download, install and sign in once with your phone. After that, Big Picture opens from the launcher.
A browser companion. Add games, find their art, make home-screen tiles, back up saves and change settings from a phone or computer.
Guided from the first launch. A setup in ten languages installs the runtime from a USB drive or over FTP.

Explore: Get started · Steam · WebUI · Add games · Controls · What runs · Your files · Known limits · Build

Get started

1. Set up the console's homebrew tools. Load the official payload set: Kstuff Lite 1.11 Beta or later, elfldr, websrv, NanoDNS and ShadowMountPlus 1.7beta10 or later, and no other payload. You set these up yourself, with tools from their own authors; see Every time you play for the tested set. This project does not provide, link to or explain a jailbreak.
2. Install the title. From a release, copy the PPSA99170 folder to /data/homebrew/PPSA99170/, over FTP from a phone or computer, or with a file manager on the console. ShadowMountPlus needs about 45 seconds to register a new title. A refusal in that window is not a crash.
3. Open MihawkOS from the home screen. The guided setup walks you through the rest:
   • choose your language;
   • install the Windows runtime, from a USB drive (the release's …-usb-mihawkos.zip, unzipped to the top of an exFAT drive) or over FTP (every file inside its mihawkos folder copied to /data/ps5proton/install);
   • let it build your Windows drive, about a minute;
   • then Enter Mihawk OS.
4. Add your games. Scan the WebUI's QR code with your phone and follow Add a game, or set up Steam from the launcher.

No games, keys or firmware are included. Use your own copies of the games and programs you run.

Scan to connect

Where	What the QR code opens
The launcher's library, under the side panel	The WebUI, at http://<PS5 address>:6767
Settings → Web UI in the launcher	The same, larger
The guided setup, on its install steps	The step-by-step instructions for preparing a USB drive

Your first launch

The first time you open MihawkOS, it shows a short guided setup, like a new console's.

Step	What it does
Welcome	About ten minutes from here to your desktop. Skip setup if MihawkOS is already set up.
Language	English (US), Français, Español, Deutsch, Italiano, Русский, 简体中文, 日本語, Português (Brasil) and Polski. New Windows drives take this language too, so games default to it.
How to install	A USB drive or FTP. It says so, and offers Continue, when the runtime is already there.
Installing	The size, the speed and the time left. What is already installed is kept if it stops.
Preparing Mihawk OS	Builds your Windows drive, about a minute, with each stage ticked off as it finishes.
Done	Enter Mihawk OS.

Use the D-pad and Cross, or the touchpad as a pointer. Any problem is said in plain words with a way out: a drive the PS5 cannot read, an incomplete folder, too little space. Open the setup again at any time from Settings → Guided setup.

Steam, built in

Choose Steam in the launcher's library. The first time, a guided setup in the same style says what will happen and keeps saying it until you are signed in:

1. Download. Steam's installer comes from Valve's servers, checked before it runs. Nothing of Valve's is in this repository or a release.
2. Install. About half a minute when MihawkOS is already set up; a first install also builds your Windows drive.
3. First start. Steam updates itself, which takes about five minutes. A still screen is normal; the guide shows the download and the time.
4. Sign in once. Open the Steam app on your phone, tap the shield and scan the code. MihawkOS closes Steam as soon as your sign-in is saved.
5. Big Picture. From then on, Steam opens straight into Big Picture, made for the controller.

Big Picture stutters less. Steam's built-in browser runs as one process, and its code budget now grows when it needs to. On a standard PS5 (firmware 13.60) at 120 Hz, the frames that took longer than 20 ms fell from 79 to 38 in the first minute, from 162 to 66 while scrolling and from 74 to 60 in the menus. Separate browser processes drew it more smoothly still (7 slow frames while scrolling), but each process takes part of the console's system page tables, and with them Steam alone left too few for a game to start.

Steam games start in about half the time they used to: Steam's own file check is skipped, and a game's file reads are much cheaper. In the measured run, a 2D game launched from its library entry reached steady play in 66 seconds, down from 120.

Settings → Controller chooses the controller programs see: Xbox 360 (the default), Xbox One or DualSense. Steam then shows that controller's button glyphs.

The guide's words are in all ten languages. It needs an internet connection and the console's clock set right. MihawkOS is not affiliated with Valve.

Your browser companion

While the launcher is on screen, MihawkOS serves a page on port 6767 for a phone or computer on the same network. Scan the QR code, or type http://<PS5 address>:6767. Every page guides one task in plain words; the technical fields stay under a game's Advanced settings. The flag in the header chooses its language.

Page	What you can do
My games	See every game with its picture and whether it is ready to play. Open one to change its name, its program, its picture, and how it plays: Game Mode and controller, for that game alone.
Add a game	Three steps: choose the game's folder on your computer, copy it to the console (a stopped copy carries on), and set it up with its program suggested.
Picture and details	Look the game up in the Steam store by name and keep its art and details, or use your own JPEG or PNG.
Home screen	Make a tile for the PS5 home screen that opens MihawkOS straight into one game, with its icon drawn from the game's art. The tile appears a few seconds after MihawkOS closes.
Saves	Download a game's save folder as a ZIP, and put one back.
Settings	Controller, Game Mode, 120 Hz output, theme and music, mouse buttons and detailed logs, the same as the launcher's.
Help	What to do when something goes wrong, and a bug report ZIP with every address masked.

The page stops when a game or the desktop starts, so it holds no memory while you play. A banner says so, and how to come back.

The WebUI is a local HTTP service without a login. It refuses requests from other sites and needs a token for every change, but use it on a trusted network and do not forward port 6767 to the internet.

Add your games

The easiest way: the WebUI. Add a game copies the folder and sets it up for you.

The quick way: copy the folder. Put the game's folder in /data/ps5proton/prefixes/mihawk/drive_c/Games/<Name> (that is C:\Games\<Name>) over FTP. If the folder holds one 64-bit or 32-bit .exe at its top, the next Mihawk OS session puts a shortcut named after the folder on the desktop. Uninstallers and crash handlers are not counted.

With an entry. A game whose program sits in a subfolder, a folder with several programs, or a program that needs arguments or settings needs a game.json. The WebUI writes it for you; by hand, it is /data/ps5proton/games/<id>/game.json:

{
  "name": "My Game",
  "detail": "Second line in the library",
  "executable": "C:\\Games\\MyGame\\MyGame.exe",
  "directory": "C:\\Games\\MyGame",
  "prefix": "mihawk"
}

Every key in game.json

Key	Meaning
name, detail	The two lines shown for the entry. Without name, the folder name is used.
executable	Absolute Windows path, C:\... or Z:\.... The launcher checks the file is there.
arguments	One string, split at spaces; double quotes keep words together.
directory	The Start in folder, an absolute Windows path.
prefix	Prefix folder id, up to 64 letters, digits, _ or -. Defaults to mihawk.
env	A list of "NAME=VALUE" strings. A game's own choices: WINE_PS5_GAME_MODE=1 or =0 (Game Mode) and WINE_PS5_CONTROLLER=xbox-360, xbox-one or dualsense (the controller); they also reach the programs the game starts. WINE_PS5_TITLE_PROCESS=<program>.exe runs that one 64-bit program inside MihawkOS's own process, where its memory is not drawn from the console's shared pool. WINE_PS5_OPENGL=1 marks an OpenGL program. Words starting PROTON_ or MIHAWK_ belong to the title and are not applied from the desktop.
desktop	false leaves the program off the desktop.
launcher	false keeps the program out of the launcher's list (the WebUI's "In MihawkOS's game list" unticked). It still opens from the desktop or a home-screen tile.

An entry with a problem gets no shortcut. Its reason is in logs/title-last.log (game <id> (<name>): <reason>), and the WebUI shows it under Why?. Only x86 programs run, 64-bit or 32-bit; a 32-bit one runs through WoW64.

Start a game without the desktop. Choose its entry in the launcher. It starts full screen, and returns to the launcher when it ends.

Controls

The launcher

Button	Does
D-pad, Cross	Choose, then open
Square	Themes: thirty of them. Gloss / Skeuomorphic is the default.
Triangle	Settings: Controls, Game Mode, Controller, 120 Hz output, Music, Guided setup, Logging and Web UI
R1	Next piece of MihawkOS's own music
Circle	Back
Options, held 1 s	Close the launcher

• Controls assigns the left, right and middle mouse clicks to DualSense buttons. The default is left click on the touchpad click.
• Game Mode is on by default. A full-screen game's frames go straight to the screen, and the desktop unloads while it plays. If a game's screen stays black, turn it off for that game: it then shows inside the desktop.
• 120 Hz output applies to every game, from the next launch.

The Mihawk OS desktop

• The touchpad is a trackpad: move to point, click to left-click, click with two fingers to right-click, hold the click and move to drag.
• A USB keyboard and mouse work from the start of a session, through a USB-C hub in the tests. One plugged in later is found within 3 seconds.
• Start → End session returns to the launcher. Use it rather than the PS button: settings are saved every 30 seconds, so a session ended from outside can lose up to 30 seconds of them.
• While a game runs, Options goes to the game.

What runs

Every line here is something a console run showed, on a PS5 Pro (firmware 10.01) or a standard PS5 (firmware 13.40 and 13.60). It is not a compatibility list: each game needs its own run. The proof behind each line is in docs/FEATURES.md, docs/PLAN.md and evidence/.

Area	What the console has shown
Windows programs	64-bit programs, and 32-bit ones natively through WoW64; up to eight at once, with the programs they start
Graphics	Direct3D 11 through DXVK, Direct3D 12 through VKD3D-Proton, OpenGL through Mesa's Zink, and video through Media Foundation; Game Mode hands a full-screen game the screen; a large 3D game on Direct3D 12 held about 117 frames a second
Steam	Installed, signed in by phone and opened in Big Picture on the standard PS5; its install and sign-in window inside the PS5 Pro's memory limit
Input and sound	The DualSense as an Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller or as itself, the touchpad as a pointer, USB keyboard and mouse; sound through the title's mixer
Network	Name lookups, HTTP and strict HTTPS from Windows programs
Desktop	Taskbar, Start with search and pins, File Explorer, a desktop folder view, MihawkBrowser
When things go wrong	PS5 notifications during a session, repeated in the launcher afterwards; a notice when the console's memory is getting full; a memory guard that closes a runaway program before the console stalls

What changed since the third alpha

• Memory. A game can be set to run inside MihawkOS's own process, which takes it off the console's shared pool. Each helper's converted code is held to a budget: 64 MiB to start, raised only when code it let go keeps coming back, for games, Steam and the launchers alike. Steam's web helper went from 234-250 MiB to 173-193 MiB, and each helper starts about 8 MiB lighter.
• A memory notice that knows the console. "The PS5's memory is getting full" now appears at the point where each firmware starts to swap, not at one figure for all.
• Helpers start the same way on every firmware. They load Wine's modules with MihawkOS's own loader, so they no longer depend on the jailbreak's support for fake-signed programs. That support was the cause of the "errno 92" stop testers reported on firmwares such as 11.00, 12.40 and 13.x.
• Wine's own tests, on the console. Wine's conformance suite runs on the console, each test file compared with the same file on a PC: 1,337 of 1,708 test files match (docs/CONFORMANCE.md).
• Fixes found that way, for every program: Windows file attributes (hidden, read-only, system) kept on a disk that has none; symbolic links and junctions; programs told about folder changes at once; each 4 KiB page's protection honoured; programs that debug the programs they start; a 32-bit video demuxer; the directory reparse tag; block ciphers started without an IV; crash dumps of a live process; and guards that keep MihawkOS running when one program misbehaves.
• Fonts. Chinese text in its right weight, and games that bring their own fonts.
• OpenGL. SwapBuffers with no current context, copies between windows, and a context deleted while another thread still uses it, all now answered as Windows answers them.
• Privileged processor instructions. Programs that use SGDT, SIDT, SLDT, SMSW or STR in their start-up code no longer crash on the PS5: MihawkOS answers them the way Linux does on a PC.
• Vulkan. A program that asks for the "immediate" or "mailbox" present mode gets its window, presented in step with the display, instead of a refusal. A Vulkan window reports its own drawing area, not the whole screen.
• Start-up. USB keyboard and mouse support loads first, which fixed a tester's console where neither worked.
• Looks. The Frutiger Aero loading screen and the Bubble Earth wallpaper.

Your files

C: in Mihawk OS is prefixes/mihawk/drive_c, and Z: is the console's root, so /data/... is also Z:\data\.... Over FTP, everything lives under /data:

/data
├── homebrew/
│   ├── dev.conf                        two lines for the /data access service
│   ├── PPSA99170/                      the MihawkOS title
│   └── PPSA99300…PPSA99399/            home-screen tiles the WebUI made, one game each
└── ps5proton/
    ├── runtime/ge11-7/                 the Wine runtime
    ├── install/                        where the FTP install step reads the runtime from
    ├── prefixes/
    │   └── mihawk/                     Mihawk OS: the desktop and every program
    │       └── drive_c/Games/<Name>/   your games, C:\Games\<Name>
    ├── games/<id>/game.json            the library, one entry per game
    ├── covers/                         art the WebUI saved
    ├── logs/                           every log the title and Wine write
    ├── caches/                         shader caches
    └── *.txt                           your choices: controls, Game Mode, controller, 120 Hz, logging

Warning

prefixes/mihawk holds every game in C:\Games, everything installed in it, Steam, and your saves. Deleting it deletes all of them. Back up your saves from the WebUI before you remove anything.

Updates keep your prefix, your games and your settings. The first session of a new prefix is MihawkOS's own: the guided setup ends it once your Windows drive is built. A game started in a brand-new prefix's first session did not get the DualSense; in later sessions it did.

Every time you play

1. Cold-boot the console. Never use rest mode: it unloads the payloads, and only a real restart brings them back.
2. Load Kstuff Lite 1.11 Beta or later, then elfldr, websrv, NanoDNS and ShadowMountPlus 1.7beta10 or later. Keep elfldr loaded while you play: MihawkOS starts its /data access service and every Windows helper through it.
3. Open MihawkOS. Its payload check lists each payload. If one is missing it says which to load; press CROSS to check again. If one is too old or an extra payload runs, restart the PS5 and load only the set above.

What the tested consoles ran alongside MihawkOS. This repository ships none of them; each comes from its own project.

Payload	Required	Minimum	Seen on the base PS5, 2026-10-29	Port	Needed for
Kstuff Lite	Yes	1.11 Beta	7.7 MiB	–	Everything
elfldr	Yes	–	22.8 MiB	through websrv	Always
websrv	Yes	–	v0.34, 8.2 MiB	8080	Always
NanoDNS	Yes	–	4.1 MiB	–	The official set
ShadowMountPlus	Yes	1.7beta10	1.7beta10, 25.2 MiB	10101	Starting from the home screen, WebUI tiles
ftpsrv	Optional	–	4.1 MiB	2121	Copying the title, the runtime or games over FTP
klogsrv	Optional	–	3.9 MiB	3232	The PC tools, and the kernel log in Settings → Logging
pldmgr	Optional	–	12.3 MiB	–	Loading the payloads

Any other payload keeps MihawkOS on its payload check, etaHEN among them: each one holds memory games need. The set above held 88 MiB on the base PS5 (evidence/payloads-base-2026-10-29-01.json).

Warning

Never load OnionHEN. The PC setup tool stops if the kernel log mentions it. Restart without it.

MihawkOS starts the /data access service (the Lapy daemon) itself. Never start a second copy.

Compatibility and known limits

MihawkOS was tested on a PS5 Pro on firmware 10.01 and a standard PS5 on firmware 13.40 and 13.60. Other models and firmwares are reported by testers, not proven here.

• Pipe memory runs out after very many program starts. Each boot, the console's kernel has a fixed budget of pipe memory, and every Windows program start uses some that is never given back. After very many starts, programs stop starting and MihawkOS says Restart the PS5. A restart is the only cure.
• The PS5 Pro has less memory for Windows programs. Its memory guard steps in at about 870 MiB, against about 1,800 MiB on the standard PS5. Steam and the tested games fit; a launcher with a heavy built-in browser can be closed by the memory guard during its start.
• Translations still need a native speaker's review. All ten languages are complete, written with machine help. Mihawk OS's own desktop and the launcher around the setup stay in English.
• The per-boot setup is yours to do. The payload set after every cold boot, as above. Rest mode needs a full restart.
• ShadowMountPlus quirks. Before 1.7beta6, another homebrew could refuse to start after MihawkOS closed (0x80940033); 1.7beta6 and later keep ShellCore's launch hook in memory, the fix MihawkOS asks for by requiring 1.7beta10 (docs/LAUNCH_AFTER_EXIT.md). It installs and removes nothing while MihawkOS runs, which is why a new home-screen tile appears only after MihawkOS closes.
• Some games stop at an error of their own at start-up, the same one they show under Proton on a PC.
• Not supported: kernel drivers and anti-cheat. Rumble is not proven. The desktop's focus does not follow the D-pad.
• The setup's Internet install is not available in this release: use a USB drive or FTP.

For a bug report, turn on Settings → Logging, reproduce the problem, open MihawkOS again and download the bug report from the WebUI's Help page. It masks addresses, but check it before you share it, and never post your console's address.

Troubleshooting

You see	Do this
No access to /data: …	The line says why: websrv not answering, dev.conf missing, or the access service not answering. Check elfldr and websrv are loaded, then reopen. After rest mode, restart the PS5.
The Wine runtime is not installed …	Run the guided setup again (Settings → Guided setup), or re-run the PC setup tool.
A notification, MihawkOS: A program could not start … with Restart the PS5	The boot's pipe memory is used up. Restart the console.
A notification, The PS5's memory is getting full …	Games may slow down while the console swaps. Close what you do not need.
A notification, The PS5's memory is nearly full …	The memory guard asked the program using the most to close, or ended it, before the console stalled.
A notification, A program stopped: the GPU did not answer it	That program's helper waited 15 s for the GPU and was ended. logs/sessions/0/ has which.
A folder has no shortcut	It holds more than one .exe at its top. Set its program in the WebUI, or write a game.json.
The home-screen tile refuses to start right after install	ShadowMountPlus needs about 45 seconds to register a new title. Wait and try again.
A game's screen stays black	Turn Game Mode off for that game in the WebUI, or in Settings, and start it again.
A game sees no controller	Settings → Controller: choose Xbox 360. DualSense shows the pad only to programs made for it.
The last session … did not end normally	It crashed, froze or lost power. Copy logs/title-last.log and logs/wine-last.log off before the next session moves them.
The console hangs	Wait at least 3 minutes before cutting power.

Logs are in /data/ps5proton/logs/: title-last.log, wine-last.log, and sessions/0, 1, 2 for the last three sessions.

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Build from source

Build requirements and commands

Read AGENTS.md first: the rules, the commit gate and the sibling repositories the build expects. The owner builds on CachyOS (Arch Linux) on an x86_64 PC; other distributions are untested. A first build downloads well over 1 GB and builds Wine for hours.

Host tools

• clang, clang++, lld and LLVM 23.1.3 (llvm-ar, llvm-ranlib, llvm-objcopy, llvm-config). The version matters: the Lapy daemon the title ships is pinned by SHA-256, and another compiler gives another file, which tools/build-production.sh refuses. If your system has a numbered llvm-config-*, set LLVM_CONFIG to the 23.1.3 one.
• Build tools: git, curl, wget, unzip, tar, xz, zstd, patch, make, cmake, ninja, meson, pkg-config, autoconf, bison, flex, perl, glslang, a C compiler named cc, the zlib headers and the FreeType development files.
• Python 3.12 or later with Pillow, pefile, fontTools, numpy, mako, MarkupSafe, PyYAML, packaging and cryptography.
• ImageMagick 7.1.2-32 Q16-HDRI with librsvg, for the desktop's icons. tools/fetch-all.sh unpacks Arch Linux's package of that release on Arch-based hosts; elsewhere, put a build of that exact release on PATH.
• Not needed on the system: the Windows cross compiler and Wine; tools/fetch-all.sh puts the pinned ones in .deps/.

Sources, cloned next to each other:

workspace/
├── PS5_MihawkOS/         this repository
├── PS5_Vulkan/           RADV's link recipe and the console tools; holds .env
├── PS5_Mesa/             Mesa, for RADV and Zink
├── PS5_PayloadSDK/       the payload SDK fork and its platform layer
└── PS5-Lapy-JB-Daemon/   the /data access daemon

git clone https://github.com/mihawk-99/PS5_MihawkOS.git
git clone https://github.com/mihawk-99/PS5_Vulkan.git
git clone https://github.com/mihawk-99/PS5_Mesa.git
git clone https://github.com/mihawk-99/PS5_PayloadSDK.git
git clone https://github.com/mpereiraesaa/PS5-Lapy-JB-Daemon.git

The build reads PS5_Mesa, PS5_PayloadSDK and the Lapy daemon at their pinned revisions with git archive, so a plain clone of each is enough. PS5_Vulkan's working tree must stay at its pin (tools/setup-graphics-foundation.sh names it), because the PC tools import its tools/; build its runtime/libc.prx and build/host/ps5-native-tool there with its own tools/setup-native-dependencies.sh and make. PS5_VKHomebrewUI, the launcher's UI kit, is read from beside them or fetched at its pin.

Build, test, deploy:

bash tools/fetch-all.sh                         # once: every pinned input, checked by SHA-256 (hours: host Wine)
bash tools/fetch-all.sh --check                 # changes nothing: each pin's hash and its URL
bash tools/build-production.sh --jobs 8         # the title in dist/PPSA99170/, the runtime in .deps/staged/
bash tools/host-tests.sh                        # host tests
python3 tools/console-setup.py --check          # read only: what the console is missing
python3 tools/console-setup.py                  # deploy the title and runtime, and read every file back
python3 tools/gate.py run --name <unique-run>   # the console battery, before a code commit
python3 tools/publication-check.py all          # no addresses, secrets, game data or game names

The console's address goes in ../PS5_Vulkan/.env as PS5_HOST, git-ignored; the tools mask it in what they print. Title builds are reproducible: the same sources give the same files, and the deploy sends every program whose code changed, even when its size did not. PS5_PROTON_CACHE=/path/to/folder reuses downloads you already have when their name and SHA-256 match.

The hooks (git config core.hooksPath tools/git-hooks) refuse a code commit the console battery did not pass on exactly that build, and run the privacy guard on every commit.

Runtime switches for builders, set in an entry's env: WINE_PS5_CODE_BUDGET_MIB overrides a helper's code budget (0 turns it off); WINE_PS5_PRX_LOADER=0 asks the kernel to load Wine's modules instead of MihawkOS's loader, for an A/B.

Where to read next: docs/ARCHITECTURE.md (who owns what, how a program starts), docs/PLAN.md (what is being built and what is proven), docs/WINDOWS_PROCESSES.md, docs/FLEXIBLE_MEMORY.md, docs/STEAM.md, docs/WEBUI.md, docs/GUIDED_SETUP.md, docs/CONFORMANCE.md and docs/MIHAWK_OS.md.

Authors and acknowledgements

MihawkOS stands on other people's work. Every upstream is pinned by revision or hash and keeps its own licence; the full list, with every pin, is NOTICE.md, and where the platform knowledge came from is docs/PROVENANCE.md.

Part	Project	Licence
This title, its runtime integration and desktop	Mihawk: PS5_MihawkOS, PS5_Vulkan, PS5_Mesa, PS5_PayloadSDK, PS5_VKHomebrewUI	GPL-3.0-or-later; the forks keep their upstreams'
PS5 Wine patch series and platform knowledge	prospero-win by mpereiraesaa	LGPL-2.1-or-later
Wine	ValveSoftware/wine and wine-staging, pinned from GE-Proton11-7 through mihawk-99/proton-ge-custom, a fork of GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom	LGPL-2.1-or-later
Unicode data and default fonts	GE-Proton11-7's ICU 68 Windows DLLs and font collection (Liberation, Source Han Sans, Noto, Ume and Wine's own)	Unicode/ICU licence; OFL-1.1; GPL-2.0 with font exception; Ume's licence; Apache-2.0
Direct3D 8 to 11	DXVK by Philip Rebohle and contributors	zlib
Direct3D 12	VKD3D-Proton	LGPL-2.1-or-later
Vulkan driver and OpenGL	Mesa's RADV and Zink, through PS5_Vulkan and PS5_Mesa	MIT
Title-side OpenGL	PS5 OpenGL SDK 1.0.2 by BlackBearReloaded (mirror; the original repository is gone)	GPL-3.0-or-later
Media playback	FFmpeg 8.1.3, built without GPL or non-free parts, and GE-Proton's winedmo rework	LGPL-2.1-or-later
TLS	GnuTLS with Nettle for Windows programs; Mbed TLS for the title's own downloads	LGPL-2.1-or-later; LGPL-3.0-or-later or GPL-2.0-or-later; Apache-2.0
Name lookups	c-ares 1.34.8	MIT
MihawkBrowser's engine	Chromium Embedded Framework 150, unmodified	BSD-3-Clause, with its CREDITS.html
.NET and HTML for Windows programs	Wine Mono and Wine Gecko	MIT with component notices; MPL-2.0
Title foundation	PS5_VulkanTemplate, from SaschaWillems/Vulkan	MIT
Launcher themes, components and sounds	BlackBearReloaded's ps5-homebrew-ui, through PS5_VKHomebrewUI; Inter and Montserrat faces	GPL-3.0-or-later; OFL-1.1 and Bitstream Vera
Platform layer and PRX tools	PS5_PayloadSDK, from ps5-payload-dev/sdk by John Törnblom, and ps5-native-app-boilerplate by BlackBearReloaded	GPL-3.0-or-later
/data access	PS5-Lapy-JB-Daemon by Arksama / Team PHU and contributors	MIT
The WebUI and home-screen tiles	Designed after PS5_RetroArch's WebUI and forwarders; served by GNU libmicrohttpd 1.0.10	GPL-3.0-or-later; LGPL-2.1-or-later
Updates and runtime install	Monocypher (signature checks) and Zstandard (decompression)	BSD-2-Clause; BSD-3-Clause
Store client backend, JSON and QR codes	Aurelia 0.1.40 (pinned, unmodified), jsmn, QR Code generator by Nayuki	GPL-3.0; MIT; MIT
The setup's flags and CJK faces	flag-icons; Noto Sans SC and JP from google/fonts	MIT; OFL-1.1
Desktop type and glyphs	Proton UI, derived from Selawik; Fluent System Icons; Cascadia Mono	OFL-1.1; MIT; OFL-1.1
Desktop theme	Mihawk Light, derived from Wine Light by Zhiyi Zhang for CodeWeavers and Wine contributors	LGPL-2.1-or-later

Pictures and details the WebUI saves come from the Steam store at your request and stay on your own console; the artwork remains its publishers'. This README's banner, dividers and heading orbs (docs/media/readme/) are drawn for the project, around the desktop's own original icons (themes/windows11/icons/original/) and the Mihawk mark.

License and third-party terms

MihawkOS itself is free software under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later (LICENSE, LICENSING.md). The few files that keep another licence are named there: the files carrying imported upstream code, the Wine theme, the original icons, the Mihawk mark and the wallpapers (LGPL-2.1-or-later), the template files that say MIT, and one OFL-1.1 file. Patches to an upstream project keep that project's licence: the Wine patch series is LGPL-2.1-or-later, like Wine.

Every upstream keeps its own licence and notices, and its licence text ships beside the binaries: the runtime's share/licenses/ and the title's licenses/. A binary release comes with its corresponding source: this repository at the same revision, its patch series and the pins that rebuild every input. Windows programs and games are not covered by any of these licences; running a program on the layer is use, and its own terms apply.

No games, saves, keys, firmware or exploits are included, and piracy is not condoned. You are responsible for having the right to the programs you run, and for whether modifying your console is lawful where you live. The full notes are in LEGAL.md.

This is an independent homebrew project, not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Microsoft, Valve or any game publisher. PlayStation, PS5 and DualSense are trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.; Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation; Steam and Proton are trademarks of Valve Corporation. Other names belong to their owners and are used only to say what the project runs on and works with.

Mihawk OS is not Windows. It contains no proprietary Microsoft code, fonts, icons, wallpapers or sounds, and no Windows logo: the Start button shows the project's own Mihawk mark. Its look follows Windows 11 from public references, and the open-source Microsoft assets it uses are credited above. The name "Mihawk" is the author's handle.

made by Mihawk · Built on the work of the Wine, Proton and PS5 homebrew communities.