Chapter 5. Download and install the latest ReactOS ISO-CD image

Abstract

Where to get the latest ReactOS ISO-CD image and how to install it.

Where to download from

ReactOS ISO-CD images are physically stored on ReactOS' SourceForge development site. You can download an image directly from the SourceForge site, but some users may prefer to go via ReactOS.com.

Obtaining the latest images via reactos.com

Visit reactos.com which is the ReactOS portal site. This site will always point to the latest binaries.
Click on the link, on the opening page of reactos.com that points to the latest "ISO-CD Image".
On the Latest Release page, click on the "Download ReactOS x.x.xx ISO-CD Image" (eg. "Download ReactOS 0.1.0 ISO-CD Image") link.

Obtaining the latest binaries via SourceForge

Visit sourceforge.net/projects/reactos which is ReactOS' development site, hosted by SourceForge.
Scroll down to the "Latest File Releases"
Click on the "Download" link for the reactos package.
Scroll down to the reactos package (should be hilighted purple) and click on the xxxx_iso.zip (eg. 010_iso.zip) link to download the binaries.

Creating the ReactOS-CD

Use your favourite zip utility to open the downloaded image file.
Extract the CD-Image "reactos.iso" into a temporary directory.
Use your favorite CD writing software (WinOnCD, Nero burning ROM, etc.) to write the "reactos.iso" image file onto a CD-R or CD-RW.

Note: Have a look at the documentation of your CD writing software if you do not know how to write ISO-Images onto a CD-R.

Supported hardware and Setup limitations

ReactOS does not support all available hardware. It can only be booted from IDE CD-Drives and IDE Harddisks. USB-, Firewire- and SCSI-Drives or non-standard IDE controllers (eg. IDE-RAID controllers)are not supported yet.

The setup utility is also limited in several ways:

Disk partition can not be created, deleted or modified.
Disk partitions can not be formatted.
ReactOS can only be installed on FAT16 or FAT32 partitions.
The active partition must be a FAT16 or FAT32 partitions.
Filesystem integrity can not be checked.
It does not stop the user from doing stupid things.

Installing ReactOS from the CD

Insert the ReactOS-CD into a CD-Drive and reboot your computer. ReactOS will boot from the CD and enter its setup program.
Follow the instructions on the screen to install ReactOS on your computer.
After the installation has finished, remove the CD from the CD-Drive and press "Return" to reboot your computer. Now, you can start ReactOS by selecting it from the boot menu.

Note: Have a look at the documentation of computers motherboard if your computer does not boot from the CD. Search the BIOS settings for "boot sequence" and change it to "CDROM A: C:".

What happens to the Harddisk, especially the Bootsector?

If the Windows NT/2000/XP boot manager NTLDR (and BOOT.INI) is found on the active partition nothing will happen to the bootsector of the partition. The FreeLoader-Bootcode is written to the file "BOOTSECT.ROS" and an entry is added to "BOOT.INI" which points to "BOOTSECT.ROS". FreeLoader becomes a secondary Boot-Manager.
To remove FreeLoader you will only have to delete the files FREELDR.SYS, FREELDR.INI, BOOTSECT.ROS and remove the "ReactOS" entry from the hidden "BOOT.INI" file.
If MS-DOS or Windows 9x is found on the active partition (MSDOS.SYS and IO.SYS) the original bootsector will be saved to the file "BOOTSECT.DOS". The FreeLoader-Bootcode will then be written to the Partiton-Bootsector and FreeLoader becomes the primary Boot-Manager. Finally a "DOS/Win9x"-Entry will be added to "FREELDR.INI" which points to "BOOTSECT.DOS".
To remove FreeLoader you will have to boot DOS from a floppy disk and run "SYS C:" to replace the FreeLoader-Bootcode by the original DOS-Bootcode.
If none of the Operating-Systems mentioned above is found on the active partition the original Bootsector is written to the file "BOOTSECT.OLD". The FreeLoader-Bootcode will then be written to the Partition-Bootsector. FreeLoader becomes the primary Boot-Manager. If you are using another Boot-Manager you will have to add "BOOSECT.OLD" to the boot menu in "FREELDR.INI".
To remove FreeLoader you will have to write "BOOTSECT.OLD" back to the bootsector. You can use "dd" to do this on Linux and other *nix-compatible Operating-Systems.

Note: If the active partition uses a FAT32 filesystem the bootcode does not fit into a single sector but occupies two sectors. Microsoft uses Sector 0 (bootsector) and Sector 12. FreeLoader uses sector 0 and Sector 14. So, there should not be any conflicts with existing implementations.

Note: The implementation for non-Microsoft Operating-Systems is not as good as it should be. It will become more flexible in the future.