Installing NOX on Windows

// short version: the blue warning is expected and safe — click More info → Run anyway
✅ This build is code-signed. Every NOX installer is signed with an SSL.com Individual Validation (IV) certificate. You can verify this yourself: right-click the downloaded NOX-Setup.exe → Properties → Digital Signatures tab. The signature proves the file came from us and hasn't been tampered with in transit.
Why you might still see a warning: Microsoft SmartScreen runs on top of the digital signature check. IV certificates require SmartScreen to build a separate reputation record before the warning stops, and that record grows with installs, not overnight. Until the threshold is reached, SmartScreen still shows “Windows protected your PC” on a freshly downloaded installer — even though the file IS signed and verified. That warning means “not enough people have installed this yet,” not “this is malicious.”

1. How to install

  1. Download NOX Setup <version>.exe from the home page.
  2. Double-click the file.
  3. A blue dialog appears: “Windows protected your PC”.
  4. Click the small More info link on the left side of the dialog.
  5. A new button appears at the bottom: Run anyway. Click it.
  6. The NOX installer wizard launches. Default settings are fine.
  7. Launch NOX from the Start menu or desktop shortcut.

After the first install, NOX updates itself silently — no more warnings.

2. If your browser also warned

Before SmartScreen even runs, Edge or Chrome may say “This file isn’t commonly downloaded” and hide the Save button:

3. If your antivirus flags it

Electron apps get false-positive-flagged by aggressive AV engines (Kaspersky, Avast, some corporate endpoint tools). The installer contains only Chromium + Node.js + NOX app code, nothing else. Options:

4. Verify the file yourself (optional)

Every release has a SHA-256 checksum in the release notes. In PowerShell, after downloading:

Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\NOX Setup*.exe"

Compare the Hash value to the one listed in the release notes. If they match bit-for-bit, the file was not tampered with in transit.

5. The warnings go away

SmartScreen’s trust model is reputation-based: after enough people install a binary from the same publisher, Windows stops warning. NOX releases are already signed with an SSL.com Individual Validation certificate, so the reputation clock is ticking — every install adds to it. Once the threshold is reached, new downloads stop seeing the blue dialog at all.

6. Still not convinced? Good.

Don’t install things you don’t trust. NOX is:

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