# AnduinOS 2.0.5 Release Notes

AnduinOS 2.0.5 improves installation, desktop customization, and everyday reliability. Highlights include optional coding-agent setup in Welcome Center, a new GNOME appearance profile, Fluent styling on the unlock screen, shrinking existing ext4 partitions, and keyboard selection before Wi-Fi setup. It also extends the new boot stack to ARM64 and fixes persistent Live startup, hidden GNOME Dash refresh errors, Firewall startup without a translation, misleading Secure Boot status, and several interface layout problems.

Live-media and installer changes require newly built 2.0.5 or newer installation media. Existing AnduinOS 2 installations can receive applicable package updates through APT; updating an installed system does not rewrite an older USB installer.

New AMD64 and ARM64 installations also introduce an AnduinOS-maintained boot stack and unified local signing certificates. **Existing installations do not need to migrate bootloaders or enroll a new certificate merely to receive 2.0.5 updates.** Disk-encryption installation and TPM automatic unlocking are not part of this release.

!!! warning "Stay on the supported Ubuntu base"

    Normal AnduinOS 2.0 updates are not a distribution upgrade. Do not use `do-release-upgrade` or change APT suites to switch to Ubuntu 26.10; wait for an AnduinOS-supported upgrade procedure. Ubuntu's 26.10 signed GRUB drops Btrfs `/boot` support, which affects AnduinOS's default layout. See the [boot-stack upgrade guidance](../Install/Secure-Boot-Signing-Architecture.md).

## New Features

* **Optional Coding Agents in Welcome Center:** A new **Control Your Computer with Natural Language** page follows the application recommendations, with logo cards showing installation status. Mainland Simplified Chinese users see Kimi Code, DeepSeek Harness, GLM through OpenCode, MiniMax Code, and Qwen Code; other languages see Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Antigravity, and OpenCode. Installation requires a third-party software risk confirmation, shows progress and expandable command/output logs, and supports retry on failure. Successful installations add an application-menu shortcut with the agent's logo, so you can find and launch it from the Start menu or pin it to the taskbar. Installed tools open in a new terminal window. DeepSeek can prepare the latest Node.js through user-local nvm when needed, with this step disclosed before installation. The page is localized in 28 languages and can be skipped. Provider accounts, API keys, and charges remain separate. See [coding-agent setup](../Applications/System/Welcome-Center/Welcome-Center.md#control-your-computer-with-natural-language).

* **Chinese Shuangpin Input:** AnduinOS Rime now includes Natural Code (自然码双拼), Microsoft (微软双拼), and Xiaohe (小鹤双拼) layouts alongside the default full Pinyin scheme. With **Chinese (Rime)** selected and a text field focused, press **F4** to open the Rime scheme menu and choose a layout. The Welcome app also introduces this shortcut when the current language is Simplified Chinese. See [switching between full Pinyin and Shuangpin](../Install/Use-Rime-Chinese-Input.md#switch-between-full-pinyin-and-shuangpin).

* **AnduinOS Boot Stack for New AMD64 and ARM64 Installations:** New Resolute installations use `anduinos-grub` and `anduinos-shim-signed`. The installed bootloader is signed with the computer's local certificate; shim retains Ubuntu's official EFI signature. The Live USB uses a separate official boot path, so it can start on a Secure Boot machine before that certificate exists. The installed payload is included on the medium for offline installation. Legacy BIOS support remains AMD64-only.
* **Unified Bootloader and Driver Signing:** Fresh installations create a machine-local certificate suitable for both GRUB and kernel-module signing. Driver Center reports certificate permissions, MOK enrollment, driver signing, and the AnduinOS bootloader's signature/trust state, with actions for certificate preparation and optional bootloader migration. Successful enrollment no longer requires a separate manual **Use** action. GRUB package updates prepare and verify a signed image before deployment; keeping the same enrolled certificate avoids another enrollment for each update. See the [boot-stack and signing guide](../Install/Secure-Boot-Signing-Architecture.md).

* **Flathub Source Selection in Control Panel:** Software Source adds a **Flatpak** tab alongside **Automatic** and **Advanced**. It displays the current system Flathub address and offers official Flathub or USTC with an Apply button. Switching retains installed applications and signing keys; missing remotes are initialized from the official repository descriptor. Per-user and unrelated remotes are left untouched. See [Software sources](../Applications/System/Control-Panel/Control-Panel.md#software-sources-and-updates).

* **Optional Factory Snapshot-History Deletion:** Factory Reset adds **Delete all snapshot history**, which also restores Home to its initial state. After System and Home recovery is confirmed, it deletes managed non-factory snapshots, including pinned and safety snapshots, and cleans up replaced subvolumes. Both New OS factory recovery points remain available for future resets. Interrupted cleanup retries without reporting completion prematurely. This option does not securely erase disks or clear data outside the managed System/Home recovery scope. The confirmation shows a short deletion warning when this option is selected and keeps the safety-snapshot notice otherwise. See [Factory reset](../Applications/System/Disk-Snapshots-Manager/Disk-Snapshots-Manager.md#factory-reset).

* **GNOME Appearance Profile:** AnduinOS Appearance adds **GNOME** alongside **Classic**, **Separated**, and **Centered**. Selecting GNOME disables Dash to Panel, ArcMenu, and Blur my Shell to restore GNOME's standard panel and overview; selecting an AnduinOS layout configures its settings and enables those three extensions again. Unrelated extensions and theme settings are preserved. Taskbar position and behavior controls are unavailable in GNOME mode. Switching between GNOME and an AnduinOS layout shows a progress window while the extensions change, with guidance if the transition fails. Switching between already-enabled AnduinOS layouts remains a lightweight settings change.
* **Shrink Existing ext4 Partitions:** Advanced manual partitioning can now shrink a supported, unmounted ext4 partition to make room for another installation, alongside the existing plain-NTFS shrink support. Choose **Change Size**, select a size within the checked range, and acknowledge the backup warning. The proposed resize remains a plan until installation is confirmed and can be removed with **Undo Planned Resize**. The installer checks the filesystem before and after shrinking it, then shortens the partition without moving its start. This first version supports ordinary ext4 filesystems with 4 KiB blocks and an internal journal; Btrfs shrinking, encrypted volumes, LVM/RAID, and mounted, unclean, or unsupported ext4 filesystems are not supported. Back up important data before resizing.
* **Console Compatibility Startup:** The Live boot menu adds **Advanced Options... → Try or Install AnduinOS (Console Compatibility)** below **Safe Graphics**. It selects the on-screen kernel console with `console=tty0` while retaining normal graphics initialization and attempting to start the graphical Live desktop. This provides a workaround for certain splash-screen freezes or `plymouthd` crashes, verified on an ARM64 NVIDIA DGX Spark. The affected device range and frequency remain unknown. Ordinary startup and Safe Graphics retain their existing behavior; this option does not claim to fix every startup freeze. See [Installation diagnostics](../Install/Installation-Diagnostics.md#plymouth-startup).
* **Skip Media Check Startup:** A third advanced startup choice, **Try or Install AnduinOS (Skip Media Check)**, enters the Live environment without running the startup media check. It appears below **Console Compatibility** and uses ordinary graphical startup. Installation still verifies its source medium before changing partitions and blocks installation if verification fails. See [skipping the startup check](../Install/Installation-Diagnostics.md#skip-media-check).

## Behavior Changes

* **Fewer Voice Typing Performance Tests:** Automatic backend selection now keeps a usable saved selection across restarts, sign-outs, updates, and model, language, or thread-setting changes. A CPU fallback is also saved when measurement fails. A missing or unusable cache, or an explicit **Retest** or performance **Restore defaults** action, can still trigger a test. See [Voice Typing setup and caching](../Applications/System/Control-Panel/Control-Panel.md#voice-typing).

* **VMware Guest Integration on Both Architectures:** New AMD64 and ARM64 installation media include `open-vm-tools-desktop`. The installer retains it for VMware guests and applies its existing cleanup on other machines. The desktop metapackage also suggests it on both architectures; an ordinary desktop update does not automatically install suggested packages.

* **No Automatic Bootloader Migration for Existing Users:** `anduinos-core-system` suggests the new shim package rather than requiring it; the shim package depends on AnduinOS GRUB. Ordinary updates under default APT policy retain an existing Ubuntu boot stack. Existing trusted driver certificates are not automatically removed. Users do not need to replace a working bootloader or re-enroll merely to receive 2.0.5 fixes. A deliberate migration is a separate Driver Center workflow, not part of unattended package upgrades.

* **Confirmed AnduinOS EFI Replacement:** Reusing an EFI System Partition that already contains `EFI/AnduinOS` is no longer unconditionally blocked. The installer explains that replacing these boot files can prevent the previous installation from starting through that ESP and requires explicit confirmation. It verifies a backup before replacement and saves recovery files under `/var/backups/anduinos-installer/` in the new installation. Other EFI directories are preserved; this is a boot-file backup, not a whole-system rollback. Use a separate ESP when both AnduinOS installations need independent boot files. This replaces the stricter behavior introduced in 2.0.4 and addresses [installer feedback #28](https://github.com/AiursoftWeb/AnduinOS-2/issues/28).
* **Explicit Startup Verification:** The startup checker runs only when the kernel command line includes `rd.anduinos.media-check=1`. Ordinary language entries, Safe Graphics, Console Compatibility, and AnduinOS To Go explicitly include this parameter, so they continue checking media by default. The Skip Media Check entry omits it. An absent parameter or a value other than `1` skips the startup check and records the result as skipped, not passed. This does not change the installer's required verification.

## Bug Fixes

* **External-Drive Installation:** Fixed UEFI whole-disk installations to external drives stopping before partitioning with `Storage graph operations drifted`, reported in [AnduinOS-2 #31](https://github.com/AiursoftWeb/AnduinOS-2/issues/31). This installer fix requires newly built installation media.
* **Persistent Live USB Startup:** Fixed an AnduinOS To Go startup failure that could report **could not reload the persistent-media GPT** after expanding the backup partition table. Startup no longer performs a redundant whole-disk partition-table reread that could race with device discovery. Creation of the persistent overlay still updates the kernel's partition information. This fix applies to both architectures and requires newly built installation media.
* **Hidden GNOME Dash Refresh:** Fixed a GNOME Shell JavaScript error when the stock Dash refreshes while hidden by Dash to Panel. Its icons are now initialized before GNOME measures them, avoiding the `firstIcon.icon is null` error without changing the sizing algorithm. The original behavior is restored when the extension is disabled.
* **Bootloader Architecture Status:** Driver Center no longer treats an EFI boot entry pointing to the other architecture's shim as a correctly deployed AnduinOS bootloader. It reports that deployment still needs attention.
* **Welcome and Driver Center Text:** Clarified that automatic sleep in Welcome applies when the computer is idle, and completed missing translations for the Rime introduction and Driver Center bootloader status messages.

* **Installer Confirmation Page:** Fixed long disk identifiers pushing the installation confirmation page beyond the window and hiding the **Install** button. Long identifiers now wrap within the summary, keeping the full identifier readable and the navigation buttons visible, including on smaller displays.
* **YubiKey SSH Agent Status:** Security Center now treats an SSH agent with no loaded identities as available. Previously `ssh-add -L` could report this state on standard output with exit status 1, which the app misread as an unavailable agent and hid **Load all**. After inspecting a resident key, **Load all** can load it with `ssh-add -K`; inspection itself only reads the YubiKey. See [Resident SSH keys](../Applications/System/YubiKey-Security-Center/YubiKey-Security-Center.md#use-resident-ssh-keys).
* **IBus Restart Requests and Notifications:** Customize IBus no longer replays an empty or previously saved restart request when the extension starts or is enabled again. Settings synchronization and resets no longer trigger a restart by themselves, while new manual restart requests still work and are processed once. Restart notifications use the current time instead of the stored request token, fixing incorrect dates such as 1970. Disabling the extension also disconnects its restart-request binding. This is delivered through the updated `gnome-shell-extension-customize-ibus` package.
* **Driver Center After Hardware Scans:** Fixed Driver Center showing a blank window after a hardware scan or refresh. The hardware-page navigation now finishes building and restores the selected page, including the Secure Boot summary.

* **Fluent Unlock Screen:** The session now includes a dedicated unlock-only theme extension that reuses the selected Fluent Shell theme, including its light, dark, and accent variants. This addresses the stock-looking unlock screen reported after suspend in [AnduinOS-2 #26](https://github.com/AiursoftWeb/AnduinOS-2/issues/26). A readability overlay improves the username and password prompt over bright wallpapers. High contrast, missing or non-Fluent themes, disabled User Themes, and theme-loading failures retain the native unlock appearance. Authentication and GDM resources are unchanged. The extension is enabled in the defaults after logging in again; existing accounts with customized extension lists retain their choices and can enable `unlock-theme@anduinos.com` explicitly after relogin.
* **Appearance Extension Switches:** Panel Widgets now reads effective GSettings values, including system defaults, rather than only explicit dconf overrides. A fresh Live session therefore correctly shows Desktop Icons as enabled when its icons are visible. Switches also update when extension settings change outside Appearance or are reset to their defaults.
* **Firewall Without a Translation:** Firewall no longer aborts when the current language has no translation catalog, such as Croatian, fixing [AnduinOS-Packages #15](https://github.com/AiursoftWeb/AnduinOS-Packages/issues/15). Failed translation initialization falls back to the original English strings instead of panicking.
* **Secure Boot Readiness:** Driver Center and the shared Secure Boot page distinguish **AnduinOS is ready, but Secure Boot is disabled** from a configuration that still needs repair. Enrolled certificates and trusted drivers no longer produce a misleading preparation warning merely because firmware enforcement is off. Setup Mode has separate guidance for configuring firmware platform keys, rather than treating it as another MOK enrollment problem. Unknown or unsupported firmware states remain explicit, and unsigned modules or broken automatic DKMS signing still require attention.
* **Secure Boot Actions on Trusted Systems:** Removed the redundant **Prepare AnduinOS for Secure Boot** button when Secure Boot is already active and enrollment is complete, even if the bootloader cannot be positively identified as shim. The conservative boot-chain preparation check remains in place before enabling Secure Boot; genuine enrollment and signing problems still expose the relevant repair actions.
* **Clearer Secure Boot Layout:** Driver Center uses a wider page and a compact heading to give the six status checks more room. At most one recommended action appears below the checks, replacing repeated row buttons. Hover over a warning icon for an explanation, or click it to view details and an available repair or prerequisite action. Existing confirmation and execution checks still apply.
* **Welcome Center Page Boundaries:** Fixed neighboring setup pages showing through at the left or right of the current page, particularly when a page contained little content. Each carousel page now fills its viewport while keeping its content width constrained, including the final **All Set** page and backward navigation.
* **Rounded List and Card Edges:** The installer's timezone list now clips selected rows and scrollbars to its rounded boundary. Swap Control's recommendation and stress-test warning cards likewise keep their colored accents inside the rounded edges.
* **Keyboard Layout Throughout Installation:** Keyboard selection now comes before Wi-Fi setup, so network passwords can be entered with the correct layout. Selecting a layout and variant applies them to the actual Live desktop session. The keyboard test field and subsequent username and password fields therefore use the selected layout rather than merely displaying its name. Testing and continuing are enabled only after the layout becomes active; failures offer a retry. Returning to change the installer language preserves a keyboard choice already confirmed by the user. The Live session keeps that layout after leaving the installer. This addresses [keyboard and Wi-Fi setup issue (AnduinOS-2 #27)](https://github.com/AiursoftWeb/AnduinOS-2/issues/27).
* **Installation Completion Instructions:** Removed duplicate MOK enrollment instructions from the completion message, also reported in [AnduinOS-2 #28](https://github.com/AiursoftWeb/AnduinOS-2/issues/28). Secure Boot installations retain their dedicated enrollment notice.
* **Menu Appearance After Updates and Reset:** AnduinOS now explicitly disables Blur my Shell's popup blur by default, preserving Fluent backgrounds and corners in the start menu and Quick Settings. This fixes unexpected transparency and rectangular blur edges introduced by newer extension defaults, including their return after resetting desktop appearance. Taskbar and overview blur settings are retained. Users can still enable popup blur themselves; resetting desktop appearance returns it to the AnduinOS default.

## Documentation

* **Boot Stack and Secure Boot Signing:** The [standalone architecture guide](../Install/Secure-Boot-Signing-Architecture.md) explains package ownership, the separate Live and installed boot paths, local signing, update/reinstall behavior, maintenance, and why existing users need no migration. The [first-boot guide](../Install/First-Boot-For-Secure-Boot.md) now makes enrollment mandatory for booting a new locally signed GRUB with Secure Boot enabled.

* **Installation Diagnostics FAQ:** A new [installation diagnostics guide](../Install/Installation-Diagnostics.md) covers Live black screens, Plymouth startup failures, media verification, Secure Boot detection errors, driver dependency conflicts, disk selection, and first-boot problems. Its media-check guidance complements the earlier [Live USB troubleshooting discussion #452](https://github.com/Anduin2017/AnduinOS/discussions/452); the automatic media check itself was introduced in 2.0.4, not this release. The guide also includes a manual `console=tty0` workaround for older installation images and explains which startup options are available from 2.0.5.