diff --git a/cli/pom.xml b/cli/pom.xml
index 113a30ccb..654ca1e75 100644
--- a/cli/pom.xml
+++ b/cli/pom.xml
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
     <mainClass>com.devonfw.tools.ide.cli.Ideasy</mainClass>
     <imageName>ideasy</imageName>
     <releaseName>${project.artifactId}-${os.detected.classifier}-${os.detected.arch}</releaseName>
-    <java.version>17</java.version>
     <native.maven.plugin.version>0.9.28</native.maven.plugin.version>
     <jline.version>3.24.1</jline.version>
     <jansi.version>2.4.0</jansi.version>
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/completion/CompletionCandidateCollector.java b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/completion/CompletionCandidateCollector.java
index 9d1c64f1f..27fd2e709 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/completion/CompletionCandidateCollector.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/completion/CompletionCandidateCollector.java
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ default int addAllMatches(String text, String[] sortedCandidates, Property<?> pr
       index++;
       count++;
     } else {
-      index = -index;
+      index = -index - 1;
     }
     while ((index >= 0) && (index < sortedCandidates.length)) {
       if (sortedCandidates[index].startsWith(text)) {
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/AbstractIdeContext.java b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/AbstractIdeContext.java
index e7e4c1bc9..9ce391150 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/AbstractIdeContext.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/AbstractIdeContext.java
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
-import java.net.InetAddress;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.URLConnection;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -598,7 +599,13 @@ public boolean isOnline() {
     boolean online = false;
     try {
       int timeout = 1000;
-      online = InetAddress.getByName("github.com").isReachable(timeout);
+      //open a connection to github.com and try to retrieve data
+      //getContent fails if there is no connection
+      URLConnection connection = new URL("https://www.github.com").openConnection();
+      connection.setConnectTimeout(timeout);
+      connection.getContent();
+      online = true;
+
     } catch (Exception ignored) {
 
     }
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/IdeContext.java b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/IdeContext.java
index 0a87eb864..361e3a0b2 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/IdeContext.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/context/IdeContext.java
@@ -445,6 +445,19 @@ default String getMavenArgs() {
 
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @return the String value for the variable M2_REPO, or null if called outside an IDEasy installation.
+   */
+  default String getMavenRepoEnvVariable() {
+
+    if (getIdeHome() != null) {
+      Path m2Repo = getConfPath().resolve(Mvn.M2_CONFIG_FOLDER).resolve("repository");
+      return m2Repo.toString();
+    }
+    return null;
+
+  }
+
   /**
    * Updates the current working directory (CWD) and configures the environment paths according to the specified parameters. This method is central to changing
    * the IDE's notion of where it operates, affecting where configurations, workspaces, settings, and other resources are located or loaded from.
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/mvn/Mvn.java b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/mvn/Mvn.java
index 66132d649..607b513fb 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/mvn/Mvn.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/tool/mvn/Mvn.java
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ public class Mvn extends PluginBasedCommandlet {
   /** The name of the settings.xml */
   public static final String SETTINGS_FILE = "settings.xml";
 
-  private static final String M2_CONFIG_FOLDER = ".m2";
+  /** The name of the m2 repository */
+  public static final String M2_CONFIG_FOLDER = ".m2";
 
   private static final String SETTINGS_SECURITY_FILE = "settings-security.xml";
 
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/variable/IdeVariables.java b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/variable/IdeVariables.java
index 396939a53..059f8b9fd 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/variable/IdeVariables.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/variable/IdeVariables.java
@@ -41,9 +41,12 @@ public interface IdeVariables {
   /** {@link VariableDefinition} for version of maven (mvn). */
   VariableDefinitionVersion MVN_VERSION = new VariableDefinitionVersion("MVN_VERSION", "MAVEN_VERSION");
 
-  /** {@link VariableDefinition} arguments for maven to set the m2 repo location. */
+  /** {@link VariableDefinition} arguments for maven to locate the settings file. */
   VariableDefinitionString MAVEN_ARGS = new VariableDefinitionString("MAVEN_ARGS", null, c -> c.getMavenArgs(), false, true);
 
+  /** {@link VariableDefinition} arguments for maven to set the m2 repo location. */
+  VariableDefinitionString M2_REPO = new VariableDefinitionString("M2_REPO", null, c -> c.getMavenRepoEnvVariable(), false, true);
+
   /** {@link VariableDefinition} for {@link com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.IdeContext#getWorkspaceName() WORKSPACE}. */
   VariableDefinitionString DOCKER_EDITION = new VariableDefinitionString("DOCKER_EDITION", null, c -> "rancher");
 
@@ -58,7 +61,7 @@ public interface IdeVariables {
 
   /** A {@link Collection} with all pre-defined {@link VariableDefinition}s. */
   Collection<VariableDefinition<?>> VARIABLES = List.of(PATH, HOME, WORKSPACE_PATH, IDE_HOME, IDE_ROOT, WORKSPACE, IDE_TOOLS, CREATE_START_SCRIPTS,
-      IDE_MIN_VERSION, MVN_VERSION, DOCKER_EDITION, JASYPT_OPTS, MAVEN_ARGS, PROJECT_NAME);
+      IDE_MIN_VERSION, MVN_VERSION, M2_REPO, DOCKER_EDITION, JASYPT_OPTS, MAVEN_ARGS, PROJECT_NAME);
 
   /**
    * @param name the name of the requested {@link VariableDefinition}.
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/version/VersionSegment.java b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/version/VersionSegment.java
index fb47384f5..8f067891b 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/version/VersionSegment.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/version/VersionSegment.java
@@ -222,6 +222,12 @@ public VersionComparisonResult compareVersion(VersionSegment other) {
     if (!lettersResult.isEqual()) {
       return lettersResult;
     }
+    if (!"_".equals(this.separator) && "_".equals(other.separator)) {
+      return VersionComparisonResult.GREATER;
+    } else if ("_".equals(this.separator) && !"_".equals(other.separator)) {
+      return VersionComparisonResult.LESS;
+    }
+
     if (this.number < other.number) {
       return VersionComparisonResult.LESS;
     } else if (this.number > other.number) {
diff --git a/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/completion/CompletionCandidateCollectorDefaultTest.java b/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/completion/CompletionCandidateCollectorDefaultTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d0ed48464
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/completion/CompletionCandidateCollectorDefaultTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+package com.devonfw.tools.ide.completion;
+
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.commandlet.Commandlet;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.commandlet.VersionCommandlet;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.AbstractIdeContextTest;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.IdeContext;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.context.IdeTestContextMock;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.property.Property;
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.property.VersionProperty;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+class CompletionCandidateCollectorDefaultTest extends AbstractIdeContextTest {
+
+  /**
+   * Test of {@link CompletionCandidateCollectorDefault#addAllMatches(String, String[], Property, Commandlet)}
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testAddAllMatches() {
+
+    String[] sortedCandidates = { "1", "2.0", "2.1", "3" };
+    String input = "2";
+    String[] expectedCandidates = { "2.0", "2.1" };
+
+    VersionProperty versionProperty = new VersionProperty("", false, "version");
+    IdeContext context = IdeTestContextMock.get();
+    CompletionCandidateCollector collector = new CompletionCandidateCollectorDefault(context);
+
+    int matches = collector.addAllMatches(input, sortedCandidates, versionProperty, new VersionCommandlet(context));
+
+    assertThat(matches).isEqualTo(2);
+    assertThat(collector.getCandidates().stream().map(CompletionCandidate::text)).containsExactly(expectedCandidates);
+
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/version/VersionIdentifierTest.java b/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/version/VersionIdentifierTest.java
index 20fa0ed8d..d25df1c58 100644
--- a/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/version/VersionIdentifierTest.java
+++ b/cli/src/test/java/com/devonfw/tools/ide/version/VersionIdentifierTest.java
@@ -249,4 +249,15 @@ public void testMatchAny() {
     assertThat(pattern.matches(VersionIdentifier.of("17.0-SNAPSHOT"))).isTrue();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testCompareJavaVersions() {
+
+    VersionIdentifier v21_35 = VersionIdentifier.of("21_35");
+    VersionIdentifier v21_0_2_13 = VersionIdentifier.of("21.0.2_13");
+    VersionIdentifier v21_0_3_9 = VersionIdentifier.of("21.0.3_9");
+    assertThat(v21_35).isLessThan(v21_0_2_13);
+    assertThat(v21_0_2_13).isLessThan(v21_0_3_9);
+    assertThat(v21_0_3_9).isGreaterThan(v21_35);
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/gui/pom.xml b/gui/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6cd3b2e15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
+         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+  <parent>
+    <groupId>com.devonfw.tools.IDEasy.dev</groupId>
+    <artifactId>ide</artifactId>
+    <version>dev-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
+  </parent>
+  <groupId>com.devonfw.tools.IDEasy</groupId>
+  <artifactId>gui</artifactId>
+  <version>${revision}</version>
+  <name>gui</name>
+
+  <properties>
+    <mainClass>com.devonfw.ide.gui.AppLauncher</mainClass>
+    <javafx.version>21</javafx.version>
+    <testfx.version>4.0.18</testfx.version>
+    <javafx.maven.plugin.version>0.0.8</javafx.maven.plugin.version>
+  </properties>
+
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>${project.groupId}</groupId>
+      <artifactId>ide-cli</artifactId>
+      <version>${project.version}</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId>
+      <artifactId>javafx-controls</artifactId>
+      <version>${javafx.version}</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId>
+      <artifactId>javafx-fxml</artifactId>
+      <version>${javafx.version}</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.testfx</groupId>
+      <artifactId>testfx-core</artifactId>
+      <version>${testfx.version}</version>
+      <scope>test</scope>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.testfx</groupId>
+      <artifactId>testfx-junit5</artifactId>
+      <version>${testfx.version}</version>
+      <scope>test</scope>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.testfx</groupId>
+      <artifactId>openjfx-monocle</artifactId>
+      <version>17.0.10</version>
+      <scope>test</scope>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId>
+        <artifactId>javafx-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>${javafx.maven.plugin.version}</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <configuration>
+              <mainClass>${mainClass}</mainClass>
+              <launcher>app</launcher>
+              <jlinkZipName>app</jlinkZipName>
+              <jlinkImageName>app</jlinkImageName>
+              <noManPages>true</noManPages>
+              <stripDebug>true</stripDebug>
+              <noHeaderFiles>true</noHeaderFiles>
+            </configuration>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+</project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/gui/src/main/java/com/devonfw/ide/gui/App.java b/gui/src/main/java/com/devonfw/ide/gui/App.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7e875256e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/src/main/java/com/devonfw/ide/gui/App.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package com.devonfw.ide.gui;
+
+import com.devonfw.tools.ide.version.IdeVersion;
+import javafx.application.Application;
+import javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader;
+import javafx.geometry.Rectangle2D;
+import javafx.scene.Parent;
+import javafx.scene.Scene;
+import javafx.stage.Screen;
+import javafx.stage.Stage;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/**
+ * GUI Application for IDEasy
+ */
+public class App extends Application {
+
+  Parent root;
+
+  @Override
+  public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws IOException {
+
+    root = FXMLLoader.load(App.class.getResource("main-view.fxml"));
+
+    Rectangle2D bounds = Screen.getPrimary().getVisualBounds();
+    Scene scene = new Scene(root, bounds.getWidth() / 2, bounds.getHeight() / 2);
+
+    primaryStage.setTitle("IDEasy - version " + IdeVersion.get());
+    primaryStage.setScene(scene);
+    primaryStage.show();
+  }
+
+  public static void main(String[] args) {
+
+    launch(args);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/gui/src/main/java/com/devonfw/ide/gui/AppLauncher.java b/gui/src/main/java/com/devonfw/ide/gui/AppLauncher.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3a3a78d6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/src/main/java/com/devonfw/ide/gui/AppLauncher.java
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+package com.devonfw.ide.gui;
+
+/**
+ * Launcher class for the App. 
+ * Workaround for "Error: JavaFX runtime components are missing, and are required to run this application." 
+ * Inspired by
+ * <ahref=https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56894627/how-to-fix-error-javafx-runtime-components-are-missing-and-are-required-to-ru>StackOverflow</a>
+ */
+public class AppLauncher {
+  public static void main(final String[] args) {
+
+    App.main(args);
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/gui/src/main/resources/com/devonfw/ide/gui/main-view.fxml b/gui/src/main/resources/com/devonfw/ide/gui/main-view.fxml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ab0800c57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/src/main/resources/com/devonfw/ide/gui/main-view.fxml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<?import javafx.geometry.Insets?>
+<?import javafx.scene.control.Label?>
+<?import javafx.scene.layout.VBox?>
+<VBox alignment="CENTER" spacing="20.0" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml">
+  <padding>
+    <Insets bottom="20.0" left="20.0" right="20.0" top="20.0"/>
+  </padding>
+
+  <Label text="welcome to IDEasy" fx:id="hellomessage"/>
+  <!--Button text="Hello!" onAction="#onHelloButtonClick"/-->
+</VBox>
diff --git a/gui/src/test/java/com/devonfw/ide/gui/AppBaseTest.java b/gui/src/test/java/com/devonfw/ide/gui/AppBaseTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1de30246f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/src/test/java/com/devonfw/ide/gui/AppBaseTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+package com.devonfw.ide.gui;
+
+import javafx.stage.Stage;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.testfx.framework.junit5.ApplicationTest;
+import org.testfx.matcher.base.NodeMatchers;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import static org.testfx.api.FxAssert.verifyThat;
+
+/**
+ * Base Test
+ */
+public class AppBaseTest extends ApplicationTest {
+
+  @Override
+  public void start(Stage stage) throws IOException {
+
+    new App().start(stage);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Set up headless testing
+   *
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  @BeforeAll
+  public static void setupHeadlessMode() {
+
+    //Enable headless testing. Should be moved as a system property "-Dheadless=true" into workflows to only affect CI
+    System.setProperty("headless", "true");
+
+    if (Boolean.getBoolean("headless")) {
+      System.setProperty("testfx.robot", "glass");
+      System.setProperty("glass.platform", "Monocle");
+      System.setProperty("testfx.headless", "true");
+      System.setProperty("prism.order", "sw");
+      System.setProperty("java.awt.headless", "true");
+    }
+
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Test if welcome message is shown when GUI is started
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void ensureHelloMessageIsShownOnStartUp() {
+
+    verifyThat("#hellomessage", NodeMatchers.isNotNull());
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index cf21be915..217d4a590 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
   <properties>
     <github.repository>IDEasy</github.repository>
     <ide_version>${revision}</ide_version>
+    <java.version>17</java.version>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@
   <modules>
     <module>documentation</module>
     <module>cli</module>
+    <module>gui</module>
   </modules>
 
   <build>