With the upcoming KDE Plasma 6.5 desktop environment series, scheduled for release in late October 2025, the KDE Project will introduce a new tool called KDE Initial System Setup that makes it easier for users to set up their newly installed systems.
Meet KDE Initial System Setup (or KISS for short), an initial system setup wizard mainly designed for OEM installation when you buy a laptop that ships with the KDE Plasma desktop environment. KISS will appear only after a new OEM system installation or when starting up a brand-new computer.
“If you’re the person who installed the OS, the installer did it after you told it what username and password you wanted. But what if someone else ran the installer? Say, the company you bought the computer from. Or the last person who wiped the machine before giving or selling it to you. In this case, no user accounts have been set up, so something needs to do that,” said the KDE Project.
So, for whom is KDE’s Initial System Setup tool designed? Well, it’s not for everyone, that’s for sure, but it’s a welcome addition whenever you buy a laptop that comes with the Plasma desktop preloaded, yet not configured.
KDE Initial System Setup will let you create a user account, select the system language and keyboard layout, set up the time zone, and configure a network connection.
On a KDE Plasma-based Linux distro, such as the famous KDE neon, the system setup is done when you install the system, as the distribution ships with the Calamares universal installer. So there’s no need for the KDE Initial System Setup tool to intervene in this scenario.
When buying a new computer, most Linux users will download a distro and install it manually from a USB flash drive. They don’t care about the OEM system that was preloaded by the manufacturer, except if we’re talking about a Linux vendor that ships an in-house OS, such as TUXEDO Computer with their TUXEDO OS.
While that is great news for boosting Linux adoption, the bad news is that we will have to wait a while for OEMs to preload the KDE Plasma 6.5 desktop environment or later on their computers, so you can enjoy this out-of-the-box experience that greets a user after system installation.
As for the KDE Plasma 6.5 desktop, it will be released on October 21st, 2025. Until then, you will be able to take it for a test drive as part of the beta phase starting September 18th. Some KDE Plasma 6.5 highlights include automatic switching to a different Global Theme at night, printer ink level monitoring, rounded bottom corners on windows, quick toggles in System Settings, and more.
