Arjun-Ingole/hop

hop is a single Windows application for setting up a Linux installation next to an existing Windows install without preparing USB media. It is aimed at people who want a dual-boot system and are willing to follow the Linux installer's choices, rather than at users who want a fully automated multi-distribution installer.

What it does

The app downloads an ISO from the distribution's own server and verifies its checksum where the project publishes one; you can also point it at an ISO you already have. You choose a distribution and drag to allocate disk space, then click Install. hop lists the exact choices to make in the Linux installer, so the guided step happens inside the distribution's own setup rather than in a custom installer. If the machine boots back into Windows, reopening hop explains why and can restart into the BIOS. An undo action returns the allocated space to Windows and can remove another Linux already on the drive.

How it works

Rather than writing a USB drive, hop reproduces the layout of a FAT32 installer on the internal disk: it makes room after C: (using free space first and shrinking C: only when needed), copies the ISO's files into a small FAT32 partition and checks each file, then adds a boot entry using the ISO's signed boot loader for the next restart only. After the reboot, the Linux installer runs and installs into the prepared space. The project's architecture document describes the sequence in more detail.

Requirements and limits

• Platform: Windows 10 (1803 or newer) or 11, on a UEFI PC with a GPT disk. The app asks for administrator access.
• Distributions: elementary OS, Ubuntu and its flavours (Budgie, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Cinnamon, Unity, Edubuntu, Studio), Linux Mint and Pop!_OS are listed; other Ubuntu-based ISOs should work. Kubuntu, Fedora and Arch are explicitly unsupported (README).
• Signing: the build is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may warn and the documented path is More info → Run anyway.
• Scope of safety: the README says the PC is checked and that nothing on the disk changes until those checks pass. The Linux installer still handles the final partition layout and boot setup, so the documented recovery path is the troubleshooting guide, including the BIOS restart and undo described above.
• Building: the source builds with the .NET SDK on any OS (Contributing). This is separate from running the app, which is Windows-only.

License

The project is MIT-licensed (LICENSE); bundled font and distribution logos carry their own terms listed in the repository.