Mr Andrew Wong on behalf of Qubes OS team has announced the release of Qubes OS 4.0, the latest stable release of a security-oriented operating system that runs applications in isolation. This release is a result of 2 years of continuous development and testing activities. It brings various fundamental improvements to provide better stability and functionality.

Qubes OS 4.0 banner

What is new in Qubes OS 4.0?

Qubes OS 4.0 is the first most release in Qubes OS 4.x series. It includes various functionality and security enhancements. More features will be introduced in upcoming point releases.

The main highlights of Qubes OS 4.0 include the following

  • The Qubes Admin API, which will allow the select VMs to perform various administrative tasks on Qubes OS.
  • Qubes Core Stack version 3
  • Fully virtualized VMs for enhanced security.
  • Multiple flexible, disposable VM templates
  • A more expressive and user-friendly Qubes RPC system.
  • A powerful new VM volume manager that makes it easy to keep VMs on external drives
  • Enhanced TemplateVM security via split packages and network interface removal
  • More secure backups with script for stronger key derivation and enforced encryption
  • Rewritten command-line tools with new options

In addition to the planned features, there are some additional improvements like migration from HVM to PVH for most of the VMs in response to Meltdown and Spectre issues. A complete list of features and improvements can be read in official release notes for Qubes OS 4.0.

How to get Qubes OS 4.0?

The Qubes OS 4.0 installation image can be downloaded using following links