Avalonia86

Avalonia86 is a configuration manager for the 86Box emulator and PCBox emulator.

What's New

v1.5.0 - Linux Platform Upgrade

• Avalonia 12.0 on Linux: Upgraded to Avalonia 12.0 (.NET 10.0) for improved Linux support
• X11/XWayland Support: Runs natively on X11 and via XWayland on Wayland compositors
• Multi-Target Framework:
  • Windows/macOS: .NET 6.0 (Avalonia 11.3.x) for maximum compatibility
  • Linux: .NET 10.0 (Avalonia 12.0) with latest platform improvements
• AppImage Distribution: Easy installation on Linux with AppImage format

Features

• Create/Delete Virtual Machines
• Sort them into categories
• Display machine information and images
• A tray icon so that the Manager window doesn't get in your way
• Supports both 86Box and PCBox executables

Localization

Avalonia86 supports the following languages:

Language	Status
English	Complete
简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)	Complete
繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)	Complete

The UI language is automatically selected based on your system settings. To add a new language, edit Avalonia86/Localization/L.cs.

System requirements

System requirements are the same as for 86Box / PCBox. Additionally, the following is required:

• 86Box 2.0 or later (earlier builds are untested)

Self-contained builds

Starting from this version, official release builds are self-contained — the .NET runtime is bundled inside the application. You do not need to install .NET separately.

Platform	Target Framework	Avalonia Version	Notes
Windows	.NET 6.0	11.3.x	Compatible with Windows 7+
Linux	.NET 10.0	12.0	X11 native, Wayland via XWayland
macOS	.NET 6.0	11.3.x	Compatible with macOS 10.15+

Linux Display Server Support

Avalonia86 uses the X11 backend on Linux. On Wayland compositors, it runs through XWayland automatically.

Display Server	Support	Notes
X11	✅ Native	Full support
XWayland	✅ Automatic	X11 apps run transparently on Wayland via XWayland

Note: Avalonia does not yet have a native Wayland backend (planned for ~12.1). If you experience issues on Wayland, the application is running through XWayland which is included by default on most Wayland compositors.

How to use

1. Download the desired build here.
2. Run Avalonia86.exe.
3. Go to Settings, choose the folder where 86Box.exe or PCBox.exe is located (along with the roms folder) and a folder where your virtual machines will be located (for configs, nvr folders, etc.).
4. Start creating new virtual machines and enjoy.

Using on Windows

You may have to install .net 9.0. In that case, you will get a message like the one above.

If .Net 9.0 fails on Windows 10

KB5058379 is required for .NET 9.0 to function properly. If you're using Windows 10 without this update you can either the Windows 7 release of Avalonia86 or to follow this guide to install the update.

Using on Linux

AppImage (Recommended)

Newer builds are AppImages, same as 86Box. Just remember to set the AppImage executable before running.

# Make the AppImage executable
chmod +x Avalonia-86-for-Linux-x64.AppImage

# Run
./Avalonia-86-for-Linux-x64.AppImage

Display Server Compatibility

The application uses the X11 backend and works on both X11 and Wayland (via XWayland) desktops. No additional configuration is needed — XWayland is included by default on most Wayland compositors (Fedora, Ubuntu 22.04+, etc.).

For older builds, see the Linux Guide.

How to build

1. Clone the repo
2. Open Avalonia86.sln solution file in Visual Studio 2022
3. Make your changes
4. Choose the Release or Debug configuration
5. Build the solution

Multi-Target Framework

The project supports multiple target frameworks:

• net6.0: For Windows and macOS compatibility (Avalonia 11.3.x)
• net10.0: For Linux with latest Avalonia 12.0 platform improvements (Avalonia 12.0)

Building self-contained releases

# Windows x64 (net6.0)
dotnet publish Avalonia86 -r win-x64 -f net6.0 -c Release --self-contained true

# Linux x64 (net10.0)
dotnet publish Avalonia86 -r linux-x64 -f net10.0 -c Release --self-contained true

# macOS ARM64 (net6.0)
dotnet publish Avalonia86 -r osx-arm64 -f net6.0 -c Release --self-contained true

Or use build.sh to build all platforms at once.

Building AppImage

# Build Linux release first
dotnet publish Avalonia86 -r linux-x64 -f net10.0 -c Release --self-contained true -o dist/linux-x64

# Create AppImage (requires appimagetool)
chmod +x /path/to/appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage
/path/to/appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage --no-appstream dist/Avalonia86-x64.AppDir pub/Avalonia-86-for-Linux-x64.AppImage

License

It's released under the MIT license, so it can be freely distributed with 86Box. See the LICENSE file for license information and AUTHORS for a complete list of contributors and authors.