FAQ
I keep this curated by re-reviewing it at each W release. Where a question needs detail, the answer links to a guide or a recovery page instead of duplicating it.
General
What is W?
An Arch Linux distribution with a ready Hyprland/Quickshell desktop, W's own
w-* tools for the parts a desktop needs (updates, themes, network, security,
recovery), and automatic snapshots. See w-info for the tool list.
Where are the configuration files?
W-managed ones live in /usr/share/w/defaults (vendor), /etc/w (machine),
~/.config/w (user). Overriding to taste is normal — resetting to the W
defaults is one command per area: see w-reset.
How do I find what a w-* command does?
w-info lists them; w-<tool> help prints each tool's help; the command
reference of this documentation has a page per tool.
Updates and recovery
An update broke my system. How do I roll back? Reboot, pick the pre-upgrade snapshot in the boot menu, and follow Recovery (a copy is on disk). Snapper keeps the last few transactions.
Why does an update say "reboot pending"?
The running kernel differs from the installed one. The reboot offered by
w-update closes windows gracefully first — cancel a save dialog and the
reboot is called off.
What is w-sync / the "edge" channel?
W updates its packages with w-update and its own configuration with the
edge channel (w-sync). The stable channel is planned but not live yet.
Desktop
My screen is black / a monitor died after I changed display settings.
W guards against losing the last enabled output, and if something slips
through, w-monitor reset --all from a text console (Ctrl+Alt+F2) puts sane
defaults back. Details in
the displays guide
and Recovery.
The fingerprint reader stopped unlocking.
Re-enroll the finger with w-fingerprint (or Hub → Input → Fingerprint);
the traditional password always works as the fallback.
A window I closed keeps coming back after I log in. That is session restore, on by default. Turn it off or exclude the app in Hub → System → Session; see the desktop guide.
Why does my laptop suspend later than the time I set? The three idle timers are a chain, not three stopwatches: the screen goes off so long after the lock, and suspend so long after the screen goes off. Each row in Hub → Power shows the resulting absolute time underneath it — see the power guide.
Software
How do I install something not in my list?
yay covers the repositories and the AUR; sandboxed third-party apps come from
Flatpak/Bazaar, which is the optional flatpak bundle (sudo w-pack install flatpak). Anything installed this way snapshots like an update does.
A pack says it is on the machine but not set up for me.
A pack has a machine half (packages, installed once, needs an administrator) and
a per-account half that is deliberately not done for everybody automatically.
Press Set up in Hub → Packs, or run w-pack setup <name> — no password
needed. See the packs guide.
Is the AI assistant required, and does it need a paid account? Neither. Nothing in W depends on it, and it does nothing until you give it a model in Hub → AI. That can be a subscription you already have, an API key, or a model running locally on your own machine — see the AI guide.
Where did ~/go go? Why are ~/.cache/uv and ~/.cache/go not plain folders?
W keeps toolchain caches in XDG places and out of home snapshots. Go's module
and build caches live in ~/.cache/go, GOPATH is ~/.local/share/go, and
go install puts binaries in ~/.local/bin (on PATH). Such cache folders are
nested btrfs subvolumes, so a rollback of your home never drags gigabytes of
recoverable downloads along. A ~/go left from before is stale — delete it if
you like. The values come from /etc/profile.d/w-go.sh and apply at the next
login; your own shell profile can override them.
Is AUR safe? It is third-party packaging, reviewed by you at the PKGBUILD prompt the same way any Arch user reviews it. W keeps boot-critical packages out of AUR where it matters.