Download
Download it. See for yourself.
One ISO. Eight distros. ZFS on root. Offline. Two minutes.
kldload 1.3.1 — The Kernel-Loaded Desktop
1.3.1
— Fedora 44 live env, kernel 7.0.12, OpenZFS 2.4.3. CentOS Stream + Rocky now on EL10. Production Kubernetes in under 20 minutes.
8 distros — Fedora 44, RHEL 10, Rocky 10, CentOS Stream 10, Debian 13, Ubuntu, Arch, Alpine. OpenZFS on root, Cilium eBPF Kubernetes, WireGuard mesh, klab multi-distro test platform, Bob AI assistant. Pick your distro, kldload assembles the platform.
↓ Download kldload 1.3.1
BSD-3-Clause ·
Discord · ~8.6 GB · AMD64
Part 1 — distro & profile. Pick a distro (CentOS 10, Fedora 44, Debian 13, Rocky 10, RHEL 10, Ubuntu, Arch, FreeBSD, Windows) — each card flags whether it installs offline or needs the network — then pick a profile:
• KVM Host — full libvirt hypervisor on ZFS zvols (kvm-create/snap/clone)
• Kubernetes — a real multi-node cluster (control-plane + workers) on ZFS instant-clone VMs
• klab — multi-distro golden images + blue-green lab on instant clones
• Desktop / Server / Core, OpenZFS Lab, Storage (NFS/iSCSI), Master Command
Every profile is ZFS-on-root underneath — the profile just decides what gets wired on top.
Part 2 — Platform Options. Localisation, network and ZFS encryption, then mix-and-match capability toggles — leave them all off for a plain workstation, or select all for the full stack:
• NVIDIA GPU — signed akmod driver, Secure-Boot-capable, native resolution
• Secure Boot — MOK enrollment so the signed modules load with SB on
• Auto-start GUI — the :8443 web ops console up on boot (always on for lab profiles)
• Bob AI — local GPU LLM assistant, offline, no data leaves the box
• KVM — libvirt hypervisor (NAT virbr0 + host bridge br0)
• Kubernetes — multi-node cluster on ZFS-clone VMs (Cilium, Hubble, Tetragon)
• Observability — Prometheus / Grafana / Tetragon + the eBPF cockpit
• Build Images — build all the distro golden images at install time, ready for klab and the k8s/KVM clones
Optional image export to qcow2 / VMDK / VHD / OVA / raw, then Install to Disk.
The dashboard — what kldload boots into at https://host:8443: the 1.3.1 release card and what’s-new, a live system overview (hostname, uptime, CPUs, memory, network), Bob AI status, and ZFS pool health.
System Requirements
Each cell is minimum / recommended. kldload builds a full OS with ZFS-on-root, kernel modules and DKMS, so the floor is higher than a stock install.
|
Core |
Server |
Desktop |
| CPU |
4 / 8 cores |
8 / 16 cores |
8 / 16 cores |
| RAM |
8 / 16 GB |
8 / 16 GB |
8 / 16 GB |
| Disk |
40 / 80 GB |
64 / 128 GB |
80 / 256 GB |
| Boot |
UEFI (Secure Boot supported) |
| USB |
8 GB+ USB drive (or VM with ISO attached) |
| Internet |
Not required for Fedora, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, Rocky (offline darksites). RHEL and Arch require internet. |
Lab and infra options push past the recommended tier: KVM, Kubernetes, klab and Build Images run real VMs on ZFS clones — plan on 16 GB+ RAM, 8+ cores and 250 GB+ disk, plus an NVIDIA GPU for Bob AI.
kldload builds a full operating system with ZFS, kernel modules, and DKMS. Expect a large download on first install — RHEL always pulls from CDN. CentOS, Debian, and Ubuntu use the offline darksite when available. Results are cached for future installs.
What’s on the USB
A live Fedora 44 desktop (kernel 7.0.12, OpenZFS 2.4.3) with a web-based installer. Pick your distro, pick your profile, click install.
Thousands of packages for all eight distros baked in as offline RPM/APT darksites — no internet needed for CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, or Rocky. RHEL pulls from CDN, Arch is rolling release, Alpine has a partial apk cache.
Export the installed disk as qcow2, VMDK, VHD, OVA, or raw — deploy anywhere from one install.
Three steps
1
Download
Grab the ISO above
2
Burn to USB
dd, Rufus, or Balena Etcher
3
Boot & install
Pick your distro. 2 minutes.
Write to USB
Linux / macOS
# One-liner: download + burn + eject (replace /dev/sdX)
curl -L -o /tmp/kldload.iso https://dl.kldload.com/kldload-free-latest.iso && \
dd if=/tmp/kldload.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync conv=fsync && \
sync && eject /dev/sdX
Windows
Use Rufus (recommended) or Balena Etcher. Select the ISO, select your USB drive, click Start.
Or boot in a VM
Works in KVM, Proxmox, VMware ESXi, VirtualBox, UTM. Just attach the ISO as a CD-ROM and boot with UEFI.
Or build your own
# Clone and build — same result as the download
git clone https://github.com/kldload/kldload.git
cd kldload
./deploy.sh clean && ./deploy.sh builder-image && PROFILE=desktop ./deploy.sh build
Every script is readable bash. No compiled binaries. No vendor SDK. cat any file and read what it does.