Cloud PCs on Your Office Hardware, or in Virtual Machines
In Nodekeeper, a cloud PC is a centrally stored system disk that a user logs in to. Office PCs can network-boot it and run it on their own hardware. Desktops can also run as virtual machines that Nodekeeper manages.
The two paths work differently and are at different stages. This page shows what each one does today, what it needs, and what it does not do.
Two ways to run a desktop
Office PCs: network boot, central disk
The PC runs Windows or Linux on its own CPU, memory and graphics card. Its system disk lives in distributed storage that Nodekeeper manages.
- Starts from PXE or from boot media (USB stick or ISO), BIOS or UEFI. Secure Boot must be off.
- Windows 10 and 11 boot over iSCSI from a site node. Debian 13 and Ubuntu 24.04 map their disk from distributed storage directly.
- One shared template version, a separate writable clone per PC, snapshots and rollback.
- PCs boot from storage at their own site. Several offices are managed from one panel.
- Windows needs a one-time warm-up per network card model, and your own Windows licences.
Desktops in virtual machines
The operating system runs in a virtual machine on your servers. Two things exist today:
- A VM as the terminal (Business). A virtual machine can network-boot a cloud PC disk the same way a physical PC does. Windows UEFI clones were tested this way on KVM virtual machines.
- Managed Windows and Linux VMs (Pro and up). Create, install and run VMs on KVM, Proxmox VE or VMware ESXi with a browser console and snapshots. Capabilities differ per platform — see the per-platform table on Infrastructure.
- VMs on distributed storage (Business). VM HA restarts supported VMs (KVM, PVE) on another host with the same IP and MAC; measured 65 s (PVE) to about 4–8.5 min (KVM) in tests. This is a cold restart, not live migration.
Not included: Nodekeeper has no packaged VM desktop product and no streaming or remote-desktop protocol of its own. Users reach a VM through the browser console or through remote access you set up.
Side by side
| Office PC (network boot) | Desktop in a VM | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the OS runs | On the PC's own CPU, memory and graphics | On a host server |
| Where the disk lives | Distributed storage: one writable clone per PC, from a shared template version | The VM's disk, local or on distributed storage depending on the setup |
| How it starts | PXE or boot media, signed iPXE, NK boot login | Started by Nodekeeper on the host, or network-booted like an office PC |
| How users get in | Cloud PC password (plus a one-time code if 2FA is on) at the PC | Browser console, or remote access you set up |
| Recovery points | Manual or scheduled snapshots, rollback with the PC off and 2FA | VM snapshots, per platform |
| When hardware fails | Log in on another compatible PC; unsaved work on the old one is lost. The Windows boot site node has no automatic failover yet. | VM HA restarts supported VMs on distributed storage on another host (KVM, Proxmox VE) |
| Plan | Business | Pro for VM management; Business for distributed storage and VM HA |
What "cloud PC" means here
It is
- Central system disks, logins, templates and recovery points for PCs and servers you run yourself.
- Managed from the same Nodekeeper panel as your sites, VMs, storage and network.
It is not
- A hosted desktop service such as Windows 365, or a remote-desktop or game-streaming product.
- Compute or storage that we provide. The hardware, the storage and the Windows licences are yours.
Tested so far, and not available yet
Tested on real hardware
- An AMD desktop: Windows booting with BIOS and with UEFI, and Debian.
- An office PC connected through a USB network adapter.
- KVM virtual machines as terminals for Windows UEFI clones.
- Joint test, 30 October 2026: saving a Windows PC as a new template version (BIOS and UEFI), clones completing Windows setup, C: extending to the full disk, the network working right after first login, and a run-once script at first boot.
- First available in the November 2026 release, in Business and Enterprise builds.
Not available yet
- ARM terminals (such as RK3588 boards) and Android signage.
- Linux templates other than Debian and Ubuntu, and booting your own Linux kernel.
- Windows Server as a cloud PC template.
- Booting office PCs from storage in another office.
- Automatic failover for the site node that serves Windows PCs.
- Published performance figures and tests with many PCs booting at once.
Plans
Office PCs, distributed storage, snapshots and VM HA. Licensing is per machine that runs Nodekeeper; office PCs that network-boot do not run it. Ask us how site nodes and distributed storage hosts are counted before you buy.
Virtual machine management on KVM, Proxmox VE and ESXi. No cloud PC or distributed storage features.
Enterprise: contact sales.