pptx-open

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Open .pptx files with real Microsoft PowerPoint on Linux — the same engine, the same fonts, the same rendering as Windows — inside a disposable Windows VM. No Wine, no LibreOffice, no fidelity compromise.

Run it locally: Quick start.

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Contents

• Why real PowerPoint (and not Wine)
• How it works
• Requirements
• Quick start
• Usage
• Configuration
• Licensing & activation
• Fidelity gate
• Project structure
• Status & roadmap
• Documentation
• Inspired by & built with
• License

Why real PowerPoint (and not Wine)

Office under Wine is historically unstable: it breaks on every Click-to-Run update, and the parts that matter most for fidelity — SmartArt, animations, transitions, font substitution — are exactly the weak spots of the emulated GDI/Direct2D/DirectWrite layer. There is no maintained public "Wine + Office 365" image.

This project takes the boring, reliable route: a real Windows VM, running real Office, kept in a container and driven from Linux. Rendering fidelity is not emulated — it is inherited.

How it works

dockur/windows runs Windows 11 LTSC in QEMU/KVM inside a Docker container. Office is installed automatically with Microsoft's official Office Deployment Tool (ODT). By default the wrapper launches PowerPoint as a seamless window over RDP RemoteApp and opens the file in place through a redirected drive, so saves land directly on the host. A full RDP desktop (--desktop) and a web-VNC mode (--vnc, files exchanged through the shared folder Z:\) are also available.

flowchart LR
  subgraph HOST["Linux host"]
    CLI["pptx-open CLI"]
    BR["Browser - noVNC :8006"]
    SH["deploy/shared - Z: (bidirectional)"]
  end
  subgraph CONT["Docker / dockur-windows / QEMU-KVM"]
    WIN["Windows 11 LTSC"]
    PP["Microsoft PowerPoint"]
  end
  CLI -- "docker compose" --> WIN
  CLI -- "RDP - seamless / desktop" --> WIN
  BR -- "VNC" --> WIN
  SH -- "files" --> WIN
  WIN --> PP

Loading

Everything is configured from a single local file, deploy/.env (git-ignored): credentials, resources, network and licenses. No secrets are ever committed.

Requirements

• Linux with KVM (/dev/kvm present and writable)
• Docker (or Docker Desktop / Podman with KVM support) plus Compose
• FreeRDP 3 (xfreerdp3) for the seamless and desktop modes
• A display server: X11, or Wayland with XWayland. Without a local display, use the web-VNC mode from a browser
• ~8 GB RAM and ~40 GB free disk
• A Microsoft 365 trial or a product key for Office activation (see below)

scripts/setup.sh checks all of the above and installs only what is missing.

Quick start

Bring up the environment:

git clone https://github.com/dexRand/365alFly.git
cd 365alFly

scripts/setup.sh              # 1. host prerequisites (installs only what is missing)
scripts/pptx-deploy.sh init   # 2. create deploy/.env with a random password
scripts/pptx-deploy.sh up     # 3. start the VM
scripts/pptx-deploy.sh url    # 4. open the printed URL: http://127.0.0.1:8006/

The first up downloads Windows (~4.7 GB) and installs Office (~2 GB): about 30-60 minutes. Every later start is ~40 seconds; the installed system lives in a Docker volume and boots from disk.

Once it is up, open the URL from step 4 in your browser: you get the Windows desktop and can launch PowerPoint from the Start menu. To open a .pptx directly as a native window instead, see Command line below.

Handy commands:

scripts/pptx-deploy.sh status        # is the VM running?
scripts/pptx-deploy.sh logs          # follow boot/provisioning output
scripts/pptx-deploy.sh down          # stop the VM (data is kept)
scripts/pptx-deploy.sh redeploy --yes   # destroy and recreate from scratch (resets the Office trial)
scripts/pptx-deploy.sh reset --yes      # destroy the VM entirely (disposable)

init (and setup.sh) accept --web-port PORT to change the web UI port; the default is 8006.

setup.sh detects the distribution (Arch, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora) and skips packages that are already installed; it is safe to run more than once.

Usage

GUI (web-VNC)

Open http://127.0.0.1:8006/ — you get the Windows desktop. Launch PowerPoint from the Start menu and work normally. The UI is bound to loopback and needs no login by default (WEB_PROTECT=N).

Command line

# once: put the wrapper on your PATH
ln -s "$PWD/wrapper/pptx-open" ~/.local/bin/pptx-open

pptx-open presentazione.pptx   # seamless PowerPoint window, file edited in place
pptx-open --desktop deck.pptx  # full Windows desktop over RDP
pptx-open --vnc deck.pptx      # web-VNC mode, syncs the saved file back
pptx-open --kill deck.pptx     # open, then stop the VM when done
pptx-open --status             # VM state + shared folder

Exchanging files

Drop anything into deploy/shared/ and it appears in Windows under Z:\ (and the Shared desktop folder). Changes made in Office are written back to the same folder — it is bidirectional.

Configuration

All settings live in deploy/.env (created by init, git-ignored, chmod 600).

Variable	Purpose
VM_USER / VM_PASSWORD	Windows account, used by VNC and RDP
WINDOWS_KEY	Windows product key (optional)
OFFICE_EDITION	auto | ltsc2024 | ltsc2021 | 2019 | o365
OFFICE_KEY	Office product key (25 chars)
OFFICE_LANGUAGE, OFFICE_EXCLUDE	Office language / apps to skip
WINDOWS_VERSION, VM_RAM, VM_CPU, VM_DISK	VM resources
BIND_ADDR, WEB_PORT, RDP_PORT, VNC_PORT, WEB_PROTECT	networking
SHARED_DIR	folder shared with the VM (Z:\)

Edit the file and re-run scripts/pptx-deploy.sh up to apply.

Licensing & activation

This project does not ship or automate any piracy tool (no MAS, no KMS emulator). Activation follows Microsoft's own mechanisms:

• Product key — put OFFICE_KEY=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx in deploy/.env; OFFICE_EDITION=auto then installs Office LTSC 2024 (Volume) and activates it automatically. No Microsoft account required.
• Microsoft 365 trial — with no key, o365 is installed; sign in once in the VM to start the trial.
• Unactivated — Office still opens and renders .pptx files (read-only after the grace period), which is enough for the fidelity gate.

The unattended "Sign in to set up Office" prompt is auto-dismissed by a small watcher (deploy/oem/nagkiller.vbs) so a fresh install drops you straight into PowerPoint. That is UI convenience, not activation.

Fidelity gate

A feature is not done when "PowerPoint opens" — it is done when the rendering is indistinguishable from PowerPoint on Windows. The test suite renders 13 tricky decks from the VM and compares them pixel-by-pixel against native references:

21 / 25 slides byte-identical; the remaining 4 differ only in text anti-aliasing (no layout, geometry or content differences). Verdict: docs/TEST_MATRIX.md.

Project structure

deploy/                 compose + .env + OEM provisioning (dockur/windows)
scripts/setup.sh        host setup: checks and installs missing prerequisites
scripts/pptx-deploy.sh  environment CLI: init / doctor / office-config / up / down / reset
scripts/lib/            shared helpers (safe .env parser)
scripts/e2e-explode.sh  end-to-end "explode" test (open / edit / save / close)
wrapper/pptx-open       open a .pptx in real PowerPoint (seamless RDP / desktop / VNC)
wrapper/vm/             in-VM helper (open-file.bat)
tests/ + wrapper/tests/ bats test suites
winapps-baseline/       test decks, native reference PNGs, fonts
docs/                   deploy guide, wrapper guide, TEST_MATRIX, ADRs

Status & roadmap

Area	Status
Windows + Office environment (container, VNC/RDP)	working
Auto-provisioning (trusted folder, session, Office, prompt killer)	working
Fidelity gate (13 decks / 25 slides)	21 byte-identical, 4 AA-only
pptx-open CLI wrapper	seamless RDP (default) + desktop + VNC, 45 tests green
Seamless RAIL integration (FreeRDP RemoteApp)	implemented (default mode)
End-to-end "explode" test (real VM)	scripts/e2e-explode.sh green
CI (shellcheck + bats)	workflow committed (.github/workflows/ci.yml)
Wine exploration	optional, not pursued

Documentation

• docs/deploy.md — environment guide & configuration
• CHANGELOG.md — release history
• docs/wrapper.md — pptx-open CLI contract & mechanism
• docs/TEST_MATRIX.md — fidelity matrix & verdict
• docs/adr/ — architecture decisions
• docs/winapps-manual.md — historical WinApps/RAIL notes
• AGENT_PLAN.md · tasks/ — roadmap and task tracking

Inspired by & built with

This project stands on the shoulders of others. In rough order of importance:

Project	What we took from it
dockur/windows	The Windows-in-Docker container (QEMU/KVM) that is our backend, and the OEM/install.bat provisioning hook.
WinApps	The idea of running real Windows applications on Linux over FreeRDP; our phase-1 baseline and the seamless roadmap.
qemus/qemu	The QEMU-in-Docker layer that dockur/windows builds upon.
FreeRDP	The RDP client used for seamless RemoteApp integration and full-desktop access.
noVNC	The web VNC viewer served on port 8006.
Microsoft Office Deployment Tool	The official, supported way to install Office unattended.

Deliberately not used, because they don't meet the fidelity bar: Wine, LibreOffice, OnlyOffice. Related projects worth knowing if you want full desktop integration: WinBoat and WinPodX.

All product names, logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners. This project is not affiliated with Microsoft.

License

MIT.