8 ms·

ReactOS 0.4.11 Released

160 points by userulluipeste 8y ago

giancarlostoro 8y ago
I've been keeping an eye on this for over 10 years, I still hope for the day I can use it instead of installing a bloated Windows VM that takes up gigs of RAM just to be idle. But also licensing is the other drawback to Windows VMs constantly needing to relicense.
- barrystaes 8y ago
  Why cant you use it yet? I only tried a few XP-era programs, but so far they work fine out of the box. Including a Win32 application i've developed myself.
  - zamadatix 8y ago
    If you managed to get it to boot to a usable state you got farther than ~80% of people here will get. That's before factoring in any apps.
    - jchw 8y ago
      Really? I've been able to do this for pretty much every version I've ever downloaded, at least in a VM but also on my old K7. It's unstable but not that unstable.
      - tracker1 8y ago
        He beats me, but only every other day...
        jchw 8y ago
        I have no idea what this means in context.
        tracker1 8y ago
        "it's unstable, but not that unstable"
        jchw 8y ago
        And that has something to do with justifying domestic abuse?
        tracker1 8y ago
        I'm not saying that instability or domestic abuse is okay.
    - woxe 8y ago
      +1. I couldn't manage to make it boot on vmware for the life of me the last time I tried a few months ago. I think that is terrible. Many people would try it on virtual machines and see what happens, and those people could be potential developers in the future. But the way it's now...
      - jeditobe 8y ago
        please read the manual first (before you try) https://reactos.org/wiki/VMware https://reactos.org/wiki/VMware https://reactos.org/wiki/Installing_ReactOS https://reactos.org/wiki/Installing_ReactOS
        giancarlostoro 8y ago
        I'm wondering what the community could do to make this less hands on and more out of the box friendly. I can install usually any Linux Distro without having to fuzz about too much with the settings, except with VirtualBox if I really want the extras installed, but it's still usually usable.
  - giancarlostoro 8y ago
    As others have noted, setting it up isn't so straight forward. There's even Wikis for installing it on a VM that don't seem as straight forward as just mounting an ISO[0]. Also, getting internet to work / websites to load seems problematic. I want a OS that is as usable as installing any Ubuntu derivative or Debian for that matter! [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19305312 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19305312
- 0815test 8y ago
  If your use case is VM-related, why not just use Wine? The only real advantage to ReactOS over Wine is its support for Windows kernel drivers, which only matters if you're running on native hardware.
  - jacobush 8y ago
    Still, it would be nice to have a Windows drop in, without having to administer a Linux install too.
    - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
      You still have to admin the reactos system. Granted, if you're not used to Linux, that's still better.
d33 8y ago
I tried that yesterday because the ISOs were already up and unfortunately, unless Qemu is an unsupported platform, it's a mess. First, I tried the LiveCD and found that the default qemu's network driver is unsupported. Found the docs, changed the driver and found that I have networking... but explorer.exe can't really visit any page, so all I could think of is to telnet somewhere. Then I tried to install some apps, but found that the "add or remove applications", while being a nice concept, unfortunately doesn't work on the live CD. So I switched to the main iso. Two reboots later I tried to install Firefox... and found that it freezes the machine. A while later I found that this is the way ReactOS handles lack of RAM, so I added some. The scary part is that the freeze actually rendered the system unbootable after restart, which is super weird. Then I was wondering if I could install some old Visual Studio there and while trying to install .NET, first I found that 4.6 is "unsupported on this system" (which is fair, since it's fairly new) and the older .NET crashed the system again, this time because I ran out of disk space. So, if the system runs out of resources, its default response is to bluescreen. At this point I just gave up. I'll probably come back to try it out at the next release, but for now... either I'm doing something wrong, or it's unusable.
- jeditobe 8y ago
  > unless Qemu is an unsupported platform Have you read this? https://reactos.org/wiki/QEMU https://reactos.org/wiki/QEMU https://reactos.org/wiki/Installing_ReactOS https://reactos.org/wiki/Installing_ReactOS >.NET, first I found that 4.6 ReactOS supports only 2.0 and 4.0 versions
  - d33 8y ago
    > Have you read this? Flicked through this. Seems like it does say QEMU is supported. Unless you meant something else by pointing me there?
    - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
      That page discusses particular qemu options that present supported "hardware" to the VM.
jacobush 8y ago
On Virtualbox 5.2.12 with 3 gigs ram and 30 gigs virtual disk, FAT file system, the installer boots up ReactOS, but then on the reboot, it hangs on the ReactOS logo. :-/ Update: rebooted, pressed F12 and selected Debug. Now it works... rebooted in normal (default) boot, works now too. Except that the new hardware wizard fails installing any drivers for audio and ethernet. Could install Virtualbox additions. Though weirdly, the mouse stopped working, so I had to use the keyboard for that. After that, the mouse worked again.
- jeditobe 8y ago
  Virtualbox 5.2.12 is quite old and really buggy version Use VirtualBox 5.2.26 instead https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog-5.2#v26 https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog-5.2#v26 Disable USB in VM settings, use PS/2 mode
  - jacobush 8y ago
    I would if I could. :)
    - jimmy1 8y ago
      If you can't update your virtualization software at work, you are probably running a huge security risk. Do you not have a patching process? If this isn't about work, then curious as to why you can't upgrade?
      - richardwhiuk 8y ago
        5.2.12 was released in May 2018. That's hardly that old. None of the fixes since then sound like security fixes (all of the releases say 'maintenance release').
        gruez 8y ago
        random 0day that was released after may 2018: https://github.com/MorteNoir1/virtualbox_e1000_0day https://github.com/MorteNoir1/virtualbox_e1000_0day
tombert 8y ago
Despite being somewhat of a Unix/Linux junky, I really want ReactOS to be a thing. I would love to get older family members who refuse to upgrade from Windows Vista to something that is still being updated and will work on their older hardware. That said, the last three times I've tried dogfooding ReactOS, I had trouble keeping it stable for more than 20 minutes, which is a complete non-starter for getting non-technical people using it. It seems like the people working on the project are very smart and motivated, so I have to wonder why this is still a huge issue? I know almost nothing of OS/Kernel dev, so is it basically impossible to salvage all the stability work from the Linux kernel?
- yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
  > is it basically impossible to salvage all the stability work from the Linux kernel? Short answer: Yes. Medium answer: That would be a near-complete rewrite of the project, since the ReactOS kernel and Linux have nothing in common. Different architectures, code styles, conventions, APIs, ABIs (which is super important for drivers). Probably the best option would be to port all of the ReactOS userland to run on WINE (which would actually be cool, and might be easy), and possibly write a Linux kernel module that provided a NT-compatible driver ABI (which would probably be hell to write, but if it's even possible then it would be a huge boon to Linux hardware compatibility... probably).
  - slacka 8y ago
    > APIs, ABIs (which is super important for drivers) Yes, only userspace code would be reusable with a linux based kernel. Might as well start from scratch. One more option that's being tried is to split the difference by integrating more of Wine's code. This approach is being testing in the Arwinss branch[1] [1] https://reactos.org/wiki/Arwinss https://reactos.org/wiki/Arwinss
  - poizan42 8y ago
    > and possibly write a Linux kernel module that provided a NT-compatible driver ABI NDISwrapper, Captive NTFS, Linuxant? Sure none of them implement(s|ed) the whole interface, but it shows that it is far from an impossible task.
jamesu 8y ago
I eagerly await the day when I can run this for more than 10 minutes without anything going wrong. Tried out a recent build last week in vmware and... it didn't even boot.
Frenchgeek 8y ago
Still can't install from USB?
- jeditobe 8y ago
  There are experimental builds http://vgal.ru.com http://vgal.ru.com
admin_yaroslav 8y ago
nice!!!!!!
jancsika 8y ago
Does msys2 run on ReactOS?
vkaku 8y ago
Beautiful project. This and Wine are two of the best projects IMO that people can learn and reuse a lot from;
hectorm 8y ago
If someone wants to try this version quickly, I made a Docker image with QEMU and noVNC [1][2]. I don't use it for anything important, just fun. [1]: https://github.com/hectorm/docker-qemu-reactos https://github.com/hectorm/docker-qemu-reactos [2]: https://hub.docker.com/r/hectormolinero/qemu-reactos https://hub.docker.com/r/hectormolinero/qemu-reactos
- jeditobe 8y ago
  You are awesome
mixmastamyk 8y ago
When is the new "kinder and gentler" Microsoft going to support and sponsor this project?
br0ke4 8y ago
I think ReactOS is super useful to run old software. Some day new hardware will not work under Windows XP, but ReactOS will work.

I've been keeping an eye on this for over 10 years, I still hope for the day I can use it instead of installing a bloated Windows VM that takes up gigs of RAM just to be idle. But also licensing is the other drawback to Windows VMs constantly needing to relicense.

barrystaes 8y ago
Why cant you use it yet? I only tried a few XP-era programs, but so far they work fine out of the box. Including a Win32 application i've developed myself.
- zamadatix 8y ago
  If you managed to get it to boot to a usable state you got farther than ~80% of people here will get. That's before factoring in any apps.
  - jchw 8y ago
    Really? I've been able to do this for pretty much every version I've ever downloaded, at least in a VM but also on my old K7. It's unstable but not that unstable.
    - tracker1 8y ago
      He beats me, but only every other day...
      - jchw 8y ago
        I have no idea what this means in context.
        tracker1 8y ago
        "it's unstable, but not that unstable"
        jchw 8y ago
        And that has something to do with justifying domestic abuse?
        tracker1 8y ago
        I'm not saying that instability or domestic abuse is okay.
  - woxe 8y ago
    +1. I couldn't manage to make it boot on vmware for the life of me the last time I tried a few months ago. I think that is terrible. Many people would try it on virtual machines and see what happens, and those people could be potential developers in the future. But the way it's now...
    - jeditobe 8y ago
      please read the manual first (before you try) https://reactos.org/wiki/VMware https://reactos.org/wiki/VMware https://reactos.org/wiki/Installing_ReactOS https://reactos.org/wiki/Installing_ReactOS
      - giancarlostoro 8y ago
        I'm wondering what the community could do to make this less hands on and more out of the box friendly. I can install usually any Linux Distro without having to fuzz about too much with the settings, except with VirtualBox if I really want the extras installed, but it's still usually usable.
- giancarlostoro 8y ago
  As others have noted, setting it up isn't so straight forward. There's even Wikis for installing it on a VM that don't seem as straight forward as just mounting an ISO[0]. Also, getting internet to work / websites to load seems problematic. I want a OS that is as usable as installing any Ubuntu derivative or Debian for that matter! [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19305312 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19305312
0815test 8y ago
If your use case is VM-related, why not just use Wine? The only real advantage to ReactOS over Wine is its support for Windows kernel drivers, which only matters if you're running on native hardware.
- jacobush 8y ago
  Still, it would be nice to have a Windows drop in, without having to administer a Linux install too.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
    You still have to admin the reactos system. Granted, if you're not used to Linux, that's still better.

d33 8y ago

I tried that yesterday because the ISOs were already up and unfortunately, unless Qemu is an unsupported platform, it's a mess. First, I tried the LiveCD and found that the default qemu's network driver is unsupported. Found the docs, changed the driver and found that I have networking... but explorer.exe can't really visit any page, so all I could think of is to telnet somewhere. Then I tried to install some apps, but found that the "add or remove applications", while being a nice concept, unfortunately doesn't work on the live CD. So I switched to the main iso. Two reboots later I tried to install Firefox... and found that it freezes the machine. A while later I found that this is the way ReactOS handles lack of RAM, so I added some. The scary part is that the freeze actually rendered the system unbootable after restart, which is super weird. Then I was wondering if I could install some old Visual Studio there and while trying to install .NET, first I found that 4.6 is "unsupported on this system" (which is fair, since it's fairly new) and the older .NET crashed the system again, this time because I ran out of disk space. So, if the system runs out of resources, its default response is to bluescreen. At this point I just gave up. I'll probably come back to try it out at the next release, but for now... either I'm doing something wrong, or it's unusable.

jeditobe 8y ago
> unless Qemu is an unsupported platform Have you read this? https://reactos.org/wiki/QEMU https://reactos.org/wiki/QEMU https://reactos.org/wiki/Installing_ReactOS https://reactos.org/wiki/Installing_ReactOS >.NET, first I found that 4.6 ReactOS supports only 2.0 and 4.0 versions
- d33 8y ago
  > Have you read this? Flicked through this. Seems like it does say QEMU is supported. Unless you meant something else by pointing me there?
  - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
    That page discusses particular qemu options that present supported "hardware" to the VM.

jacobush 8y ago

On Virtualbox 5.2.12 with 3 gigs ram and 30 gigs virtual disk, FAT file system, the installer boots up ReactOS, but then on the reboot, it hangs on the ReactOS logo. :-/ Update: rebooted, pressed F12 and selected Debug. Now it works... rebooted in normal (default) boot, works now too. Except that the new hardware wizard fails installing any drivers for audio and ethernet. Could install Virtualbox additions. Though weirdly, the mouse stopped working, so I had to use the keyboard for that. After that, the mouse worked again.

jeditobe 8y ago
Virtualbox 5.2.12 is quite old and really buggy version Use VirtualBox 5.2.26 instead https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog-5.2#v26 https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog-5.2#v26 Disable USB in VM settings, use PS/2 mode
- jacobush 8y ago
  I would if I could. :)
  - jimmy1 8y ago
    If you can't update your virtualization software at work, you are probably running a huge security risk. Do you not have a patching process? If this isn't about work, then curious as to why you can't upgrade?
    - richardwhiuk 8y ago
      5.2.12 was released in May 2018. That's hardly that old. None of the fixes since then sound like security fixes (all of the releases say 'maintenance release').
      - gruez 8y ago
        random 0day that was released after may 2018: https://github.com/MorteNoir1/virtualbox_e1000_0day https://github.com/MorteNoir1/virtualbox_e1000_0day

tombert 8y ago

Despite being somewhat of a Unix/Linux junky, I really want ReactOS to be a thing. I would love to get older family members who refuse to upgrade from Windows Vista to something that is still being updated and will work on their older hardware. That said, the last three times I've tried dogfooding ReactOS, I had trouble keeping it stable for more than 20 minutes, which is a complete non-starter for getting non-technical people using it. It seems like the people working on the project are very smart and motivated, so I have to wonder why this is still a huge issue? I know almost nothing of OS/Kernel dev, so is it basically impossible to salvage all the stability work from the Linux kernel?

yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
> is it basically impossible to salvage all the stability work from the Linux kernel? Short answer: Yes. Medium answer: That would be a near-complete rewrite of the project, since the ReactOS kernel and Linux have nothing in common. Different architectures, code styles, conventions, APIs, ABIs (which is super important for drivers). Probably the best option would be to port all of the ReactOS userland to run on WINE (which would actually be cool, and might be easy), and possibly write a Linux kernel module that provided a NT-compatible driver ABI (which would probably be hell to write, but if it's even possible then it would be a huge boon to Linux hardware compatibility... probably).
- slacka 8y ago
  > APIs, ABIs (which is super important for drivers) Yes, only userspace code would be reusable with a linux based kernel. Might as well start from scratch. One more option that's being tried is to split the difference by integrating more of Wine's code. This approach is being testing in the Arwinss branch[1] [1] https://reactos.org/wiki/Arwinss https://reactos.org/wiki/Arwinss
- poizan42 8y ago
  > and possibly write a Linux kernel module that provided a NT-compatible driver ABI NDISwrapper, Captive NTFS, Linuxant? Sure none of them implement(s|ed) the whole interface, but it shows that it is far from an impossible task.

jamesu 8y ago

I eagerly await the day when I can run this for more than 10 minutes without anything going wrong. Tried out a recent build last week in vmware and... it didn't even boot.

Frenchgeek 8y ago

Still can't install from USB?

jeditobe 8y ago
There are experimental builds http://vgal.ru.com http://vgal.ru.com

admin_yaroslav 8y ago

nice!!!!!!

jancsika 8y ago

Does msys2 run on ReactOS?

vkaku 8y ago

Beautiful project. This and Wine are two of the best projects IMO that people can learn and reuse a lot from;

hectorm 8y ago

If someone wants to try this version quickly, I made a Docker image with QEMU and noVNC [1][2]. I don't use it for anything important, just fun. [1]: https://github.com/hectorm/docker-qemu-reactos https://github.com/hectorm/docker-qemu-reactos [2]: https://hub.docker.com/r/hectormolinero/qemu-reactos https://hub.docker.com/r/hectormolinero/qemu-reactos

jeditobe 8y ago
You are awesome

mixmastamyk 8y ago

When is the new "kinder and gentler" Microsoft going to support and sponsor this project?

br0ke4 8y ago

I think ReactOS is super useful to run old software. Some day new hardware will not work under Windows XP, but ReactOS will work.