NeoKylin Operating System

[null_scientist_44]

So I acquired a copy of the NeoKylin OS, it’s accessible to anyone that’s willing to search for it. I myself wanted to find it, I’ve never been able to read Chinese but I fancied a copy because I had heard about it traveling through many a circle on the web and wanted to get a copy for myself.

So I have done this installation via VMWare, so all screens will appear to be as I saw them in the guest OS view.

Also, I've posted the link on the ISO I used at the bottom of this post. I will try to upload the ISO later today.

First to start with, You will need a blank Hard Drive or empty VM hard drive image. Then you can begin the installation process.

This is the first screenshot we see when first loading the OS:
 


Select Install NeoKylin and you will get to this screen, which is the configuration. You will want to select and set up your locale to be English (although it won’t matter unless you’re running root) you will also need to set up and use the gparted link at the bottom of the install.



When you select, you will get the gparted screen:



Then you will install the software, this part can take 10 mins to about an hour (I had to redo the OS as the user accounts blanked out)



Then the OS will boot:



You will then get user creation screen and Locale Screen:



For knowledge while installing this:
First line: Full Name
Second: Username (automatically will be full name)
Third: Password
Fourth: Verify Password

After filling this information out, you will get the location verification page, which will be your country or location. From there you will be logged into your new installation of NeoKylin.
Upon first testing the waters, I noticed that Root will need to have a password reset, complete this First and launch the terminal, you can actually find it under where you would find all programs. The system is very much like the Ubuntu Image it’s based on along with Windows XP, but exe files will not work on this, it’s just a skin, in Chinese.

Note: sudo passwd root for password reset.

NeoKylin comes with its own versions of a few programs, namely Firefox, Office 2007 and Gimp and default SnagIt style print screening.

The link to the ISO that I am using can be found here:
http://yunpan.cn/QaNPNCdBdJLgs (with the code: 73e6)

the MD5 hash is:
5c43726431c7bb7068012e2585be4183

[0E 800]

Nice job - way to follow through. How did you manage to eventually locate the ISO / get the code?
Downloading now. Ill see if I can UL a clean 'english' vmware image.

+1

[null_scientist_44]

Thank you 0E 800, I started by locating it in the deepest darkest jungles of Sri Lanka...Genuinely I just asked the author of the original article where they got it from. The FTP owned by the company which produces it (CS2C) was hack able I'm sure, but I ended up taking the more social route and learning a bit more about the OS.

Although, we were onto the right trail when looking in the first place, it would seem that the link I gave in the article was more well hidden than anticipated, the author, noted that it was given by way of a source.

[iTpHo3NiX]

So what is this OS? What's so special about it?

[null_scientist_44]

Originally I had heard about a Linux/Windows Hybrid OS which existed (many years ago and while very naive about computing) I thought this particular OS was that OS, it is not, but it does show a 'non spying' OS that the Chinese made to avoid US Spying on them, and their Upper class. In reality it's just a skin that sits over the top of Linux making it look like Windows, and having the features of Linux but the feeling of Windows.

Beyond that I guess it's not really anything as special as I had thought it was, but This is the first I've known of it making it's way to the West, other than the Gizmodo and Quizzler articles.

[ptales]

The only thing that might be interesting about this is the office suite - everything I could find was that it's supposed to be "just like MS Office". Can you tell me whether it's in fact really fully MS Office compatible or if it's just essentially LibreOffice (which I myself am perfectly fine with, but there are people who simply need MS Office)?
Thanks for sharing your find!

[0E 800]

I was advised to be careful as the Chinese are sneaky. There could be firmware-level backdoors.

Pretty sure China gov tries to control its populace and no doubt would add monitoring features.

Some reference information for anyone wanting to know the hype:

http://news.thewindowsclub.com/china-creates-operating-system-neokylin-80256/

We understand that the Chinese had first planned to work with the makers of Ubuntu to get the project up and running. At the time, the operating system was called Kylin, but things didn’t pan out, and the job was sent to Shanghai’s China Standard Software and renamed NeoKylin

We should point out that the operating system is based on Linux and not something built from the ground up. Furthermore, we suspect the reason why they chose to mimic Windows XP, is due to the overwhelming popularity of the operating system in the country.

Over 20 percent of Chinese still use Windows XP, including the government. When Microsoft launched Windows 8 and decided to end the life of XP, the Chinese were not happy about it, and as such, banned Windows 8 from government offices.

To make things even more interesting, Dell is selling computers in China with NeoKylin installed. Around 40 percent of the computer units Dell ships in China are powered by NeoKylin, so right away it is clear that Microsoft executives are ripping their own throats out.

Eventually someone in Infosec community is going to do a write-up on this OS.

[null_scientist_44]

@ptales: It looks like it's related to word, here are the formats supported. This seems more like a Version of Word than Open Office, but it does support the LibreOffice formats. EDIT: It's called NEOShine Office



Here's the new page screen:



@0E 800
I haven't seen anything in scans (Symantec "works AV" and Microsoft) and nothing appears from any known Rootkit, or Rootkit behavior after installing it. That being said, I would say it's totally plausible for them to have thrown something sneaky in.

[0E 800]

Have it installed in Vmware. Looks to be Fedora. Uses anaconda as installer. Uses yum as package manager. Right now just trying to get to boot to en_US.UTF8.

[ptales]

@null_scientist_44: I'm pretty sure that's nothing LibreOffice can't handle. Also, searching for NeoShine Office says that it's based on OpenOffice. Thanks for sharing, though.

@0E 800: distrowatch.com says it's based on Red Hat, so you're basically right about it being based on Fedora.