![]() Nowadays more and more people try to install ReactOS from removable
drives (e.g. USB sticks) onto fixed HDDs, or try to install it into
USB sticks too.
Both fixed and removable drives, as well as partitions on these, are
represented in NT using the same device name format:
\Device\HarddiskM\PartitionN ,
with an increasing disk number M. Using this number for building the
corresponding firmware-specific ARC multi(x)disk(y)rdisk(z) path used
by the NT/ROS loader (FreeLdr, ...) is then prone to error since there
may have been removable drives inserted and accounted for in the
calculation of the disk number. These drives must be correctly
subtracted in order to generate the correct ARC path, valid once all
the removable drives have been ejected (which should also be the
situation seen from the BIOS when booting up, except of course if you
boot on a USB stick).
This problem is now solved. Note that it matters only for the disks
that have also been enumerated by the firmware (BIOS; Int 13h). We
don't have to care about the other drives, since the ARC path will be
of a different format and will not use the disk number (instead, the
SCSI coordinates are used).
We also try to enumerate all the disks found in all the possible disk
adapters and controllers enumerated in the Hardware registry tree
(and that are visible by FreeLdr) in order to cover all.
Finally, we detect whether a disk reports as a "super-floppy", i.e.
an unpartitioned disk with a valid VBR. This is indeed how a standard
floppy disk looks like, or how USB sticks are partitioned on Windows.
Such disk is reported has having only one single partition starting at
the beginning of the disk, with partition number == 0, its type being
FAT16 non-bootable.
This allows us to forbid creating any new partitions on such disks.
Note that accessing either \Device\HarddiskN\Partition0 or Partition1
on such a disk returns the same data.
Note also that on the contrary, regular MBR-partitioned disks would
report at least four partitions entries, instead of just one.
The other improvements are:
- Do *NOT* write any MBR on a disk partitioned as "super-floppy".
CORE-13703
- Fix the computed disk identifier, of format: %08x-%08x-%c .
The numbers are respectively the checksum of the first sector, and
the disk signature. The terminating letter is A or X, depending
whether the first sector ends with 0x55AA/0xAA55 or not (see also
commit
|
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.github | ||
base | ||
boot | ||
dll | ||
drivers | ||
hal | ||
media | ||
modules | ||
ntoskrnl | ||
sdk | ||
subsystems | ||
win32ss | ||
.gitattributes | ||
.gitignore | ||
.gitmessage | ||
.travis.yml | ||
apistatus.lst | ||
appveyor.yml | ||
CMakeLists.txt | ||
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md | ||
configure.cmd | ||
configure.sh | ||
CONTRIBUTING.md | ||
COPYING | ||
COPYING.ARM | ||
COPYING.LIB | ||
COPYING3 | ||
COPYING3.LIB | ||
CREDITS | ||
Doxyfile | ||
INSTALL | ||
MAINTAINERS | ||
overrides-gcc.cmake | ||
overrides-msvc.cmake | ||
PreLoad.cmake | ||
PULL_REQUEST_MANAGEMENT.md | ||
README.md | ||
toolchain-clang.cmake | ||
toolchain-gcc.cmake | ||
toolchain-msvc.cmake |
Quick Links
What is ReactOS?
ReactOS™ is an Open Source effort to develop a quality operating system that is compatible with applications and drivers written for the Microsoft® Windows™ NT family of operating systems (NT4, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Seven).
The ReactOS project, although currently focused on Windows Server 2003 compatibility, is always keeping an eye toward compatibility with Windows Vista and future Windows NT releases.
The code of ReactOS is licensed under GNU GPL 2.0.
Building
To build the system it is strongly advised to use the ReactOS Build Environment (RosBE). Up-to-date versions for Windows and for Unix/GNU-Linux are available from our download page at: "Build Environment".
Alternatively one can use Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) version 2010+. Building with MSVC is covered here: "Visual Studio or Microsoft Visual C++".
Binaries
To build ReactOS you must run the configure
script in the directory you want to have your build files. Choose configure.cmd
or configure.sh
depending on your system. Then run ninja <modulename>
to build a module you want or just ninja
to build all modules.
Bootable images
To build a bootable CD image run ninja bootcd
from the
build directory. This will create a CD image with a filename bootcd.iso
.
See "Building ReactOS" for more details.
You can always download fresh binary builds of bootable images from the "Daily builds" page.
Installing
By default, ReactOS currently can only be installed on a machine that has a FAT16 or FAT32 partition as the active (bootable) partition. The partition on which ReactOS is to be installed (which may or may not be the bootable partition) must also be formatted as FAT16 or FAT32. ReactOS Setup can format the partitions if needed.
Starting 0.4.10, ReactOS can be installed using the BtrFS file system. But consider this as an experimental feature and thus regressions not triggered on FAT setup may be observed.
To install ReactOS from the bootable CD distribution, extract the archive contents. Then burn the CD image, boot from it, and follow the instructions.
See "Installing ReactOS" Wiki page or INSTALL for more details.
Testing
If you discover a bug in ReactOS search on JIRA first - it might be reported already. If not report the bug providing logs and as much information as possible.
See "File Bugs" for a guide.
NOTE: The bug tracker is not for discussions. Please use #reactos
Freenode IRC channel or our forum.
Contributing ![prwelcome.badge](https://img.shields.io/badge/PR-welcome-0688CB.svg)
We are always looking for developers! Check how to contribute if you are willing to participate.
You can also support ReactOS by donating! We rely on our backers to maintain our servers and accelerate development by hiring full-time devs.
More information
ReactOS is a Free and Open Source operating system based on the Windows architecture, providing support for existing applications and drivers, and an alternative to the current dominant consumer operating system.
It is not another wrapper built on Linux, like WINE. It does not attempt or plan to compete with WINE; in fact, the user-mode part of ReactOS is almost entirely WINE-based and our two teams have cooperated closely in the past.
ReactOS is also not "yet another OS". It does not attempt to be a third player like any other alternative OS out there. People are not meant to uninstall Linux and use ReactOS instead; ReactOS is a replacement for Windows users who want a Windows replacement that behaves just like Windows.
More information is available at: reactos.org.
Also see the media/doc subdirectory for some sparse notes.
Who is responsible
Active devs are listed as members of GitHub organization. See also the CREDITS file for others.
Code mirrors
The main development is done on GitHub. We have an alternative mirror in case GitHub is down.
There is also an obsolete SVN archive repository that is kept for historical purposes.