ReactOS 0.4.5 Released | Hacker News Reader

ReactOS 0.4.5 Released

reactos.org

194 pointsma2rten50 comments

I tried installing this on the latest VirtualBox release. It installed cleanly, but the VM would not fully boot. It just hangs on the startup splash screen, with the progress bar about three-quarters of the way across.

I found a wiki page advising VirtualBox users to disable "I/O APIC", and to change the virtual network adapter to "PCnet-FAST III". But this made no difference.

Just to be thorough, I re-installed completely from scratch with these settings. Still no difference.

Just to be crazy thorough, I created a new VM profile that was set for a 32-bit guest. Reinstalled from scratch. Still no difference.

Gave up.

Nothing but respect for the ReactOS folks, and all they've done over the years. But I imagine that the overwhelming majority of people who try this out are doing so in a VirtualBox VM. So if you don't have an up-to-date and accurate list of instructions for installing ReactOS on VirtualBox, prominently displayed near the download page, then you might consider prioritizing that.

VirtualBox is a real piece of crap when it comes to support for small-time operating systems, and even Linux (no KMS, no DRM, etc). I strongly recommend qemu instead.

I just tried it in VMware Workstation, both on Linux and Windows. Looks to be 32-bit only. Did not install. Rebooted to black screen. Also did not detect multiple CPUs. Tried settings for windows NT, 2000, 2003, Windows XP and Windows XP-64-bit. I've booted Windows NT 3.51 in here as well as OS/2 Warp, Solaris, and other less used OSes in here. This is one of the very few that didnt boot. I dont get how Windows NT 5.2 (2003-level) is going to be very useful anymore as the two OSes at that level, Windows XP-64 and Windows 2003 are out of support so while this project is impressive Im not what the point of it is outside of being an interesting science project. It also didnt support NTFS, only FAT during install.

NOTE: Just got it working. Seems to be UP only, 32-bit only, works under "Windows XP Pro" profile with IDE only.

Impressive clone of windows 2003 32-bit, 13-14 years after...

>So if you don't have an up-to-date and accurate list of instructions for installing ReactOS on VirtualBox

They have preinstalled image for VirtualBox.

I had that issue with the boot process hanging 3/4 through on 0.4.3, but it (so far) seems to be fixed for me on 0.4.5. I'm using Parallels Desktop, with a 32-bit VM set to act as Windows 2000.

I installed it literally 2h ago with no problems. Set the OS to Windows Server 2003 32-bit and don't touch anything else. It installed in no time and it works perfectly.

http://i.imgur.com/bBLBWY5.png

I found the Windows Server 2003 thing in their wiki:

https://reactos.org/wiki/VirtualBox

UPDATE your VirtualBox to the latest release FIRST!

"I tried installing this on the latest VirtualBox release."....

There is no such version of VirtualBox named "latest VirtualBox release". So no useful information.

> So if you don't have an up-to-date and accurate list of instructions for installing ReactOS on VirtualBox, prominently displayed near the download page, then you might consider prioritizing that.

If you scroll down while on the downloads page, you'll find preloaded images for QEMU, VMWare, and VirtualBox under the "Advanced Downloads" section header.

First off, I'd like to thank all the developers who have put their time and effort into building this amazing piece of software.

I have been curious: if ReactOS aims to be binary compatible with windows, does this mean it succeptible to windows malware infections? I understand that despite having a similar API, the ReactOS implementation different from microsoft's implementation, so a vulnerability on Windows won't necessarily be present in ReactOS, but let's say a user infects themselves through a malicious word doc macro that downloads a windows malware exe or dll, can that still cause harm to a reactOS system? Or is some sort of sandbox in place to prevent such attacks?

It's a vague question. Bugs in implementation creating security exploits are usually not going to be replicated on both systems. Applications, including malware, using only the documented API functions should behave identically.

In short: WannaCry should work "properly" on ReactOS in that it will use the crypto APIs to encrypt all of the user's files. It shouldn't propagate itself through the same remote network vulnerability that affected Windows.

100% correct answer!

Not any more than FreeBSD suffers from Linux vulnerabilities

Is that really a fair comparison? A vanilla FreeBSD installation isn't going to be able to just run Linux binaries

Seems like a better example is Linux with wine

Actually, FreeBSD does have that ability. https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/linuxemu.html

If you open a virus embedded in an email attachment on ReactOS then, yes, it'll probably work. Viruses are Windows applications like any other.

>yes, it'll probably work. Viruses are Windows applications like any other.

The difference here is documented/support APIs vs other code paths.

This is true so long as the 'application' is using the normal APIs, as soon as an application depends on out-of-contract 'implementation details', which the bugs that are utilized by worms definitely are..., all bets are off.

In short ReactOS is more and more likely to implement the API needed by an app, but that doesn't mean it implements the out-of-API defects that malware depends on. Like anyway software, it probably as its own defects.

> the bugs that are utilized by worms

Which is why I said an email attachment. The average virus relying on user interaction doesn't need bugs.

It doesn't need a code execution bug, but it usually needs some sort of privilege escalation bug.

Simple viruses will just email themselves to all your contacts and steal your banking password, no special privileges are required for that.

But that bug doesn't have to be in Windows. If you can get privilege escalation in a Windows app that the user trusts (hello, Office), then you're in. ReactOS is based on Windows circa XP and doesn't implement UAC, so that vulnerability is wide open.

BTW, Qubes OS is considering to add ReactOS as an official template VM.

https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/2809

A definite improvement over 0.4.3. I just tried it with a Windows graphics program I make, and while it isn't perfect, it works and is usable. Looks like you can actually run Photoshop plug-ins on ReactOS now.

I know this is such a little nitpick for a huge project like this one, but every time I see ReactOS screenshots I notice that the taskbar looks off. Comparing this [1] screenshot from the article to this [2] random Win98 screenshot, the start button and app buttons seem to have different margins, padding and dimensions.

Again, it's such a small thing, but I (and I guess other people do as well) tend to focus on this kind of graphical details. I wonder if it's easy to fix...

[1] https://reactos.org/sites/default/files/imagepicker/23908/Ex...

[2] http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/desktop/firstrun/wi...

I don't think it's supposed to look like Windows 98.

Here's Windows XP's 'Classic' theme, for reference: https://i.stack.imgur.com/lZp4Q.png

Yep, it indeed looks more like XP classic.

XP has consistent paddings though. In reactos padding on top of the Start button is smaller then on the bottom. Taskbar buttons (for apps) are smaller than start, and do not have padding in between them.

That might be some copyright issues here, you can't make a 1:1 copy of the original Windows shell I guess.

Actually, they already have these tasks in their JIRA, so might get it right eventually.

They seem to be targeting NT 5.2, which is indeed Windows XP, so it makes sense to also target that graphical experience in a sense.

5.2 is windows 2003 / xp-64-bit. XP is 5.1. 64-bit XP was based off of Windows 2003 code base. All are out of support at this point. Doesnt seem like MP or 64-bit is supported per https://reactos.org/wiki/AMD64.

I don't see it, but even if it was their goal isn't at all to make the UI look like Windows at any version. It's just similar.

What is needed for Xen or KVM to be "recommended" for ReactOS, https://reactos.org/wiki/Virtualization_software?

KVM is QEMU. QEMU is already listed there.

Qemu provides device emulation for KVM, but there is other code that could affect Windows/ReactOS compatibility, including guest drivers for net/disk IO.

Virtio drivers should already work. The emulated SATA and E1000 ones also work as they are the same as for QEMU, which works. Audio HDA also works. (a bit better than in Windows if you pick pulseaudio backend)

You need to:

1. Shoot a video and upload it on youtube 'how it works'.

2. Edit\create article in ReactOS wiki with this video.

I haven't really looked into ReactOS, but I just read some more about it [1], and I'm starting to get interested. There's still not a lot of software for Linux, but there's a ton of software for Windows. I also don't really care about the price of the Windows license, but I really like that the source code is available, and that I would be able to fix any bugs and submit a pull request. Having said that, I don't recall ever noticing a single bug in Windows, and I used it for more than 10 years. Definitely a lot of security holes though (i.e. viruses.)

Unfortunately, I don't think I will ever have a practical reason to use this or contribute to it. I use Windows 10 to develop apps, and sometimes to play a couple of games on Steam, so I think I'll always need to be running the latest version of Windows.

[1] https://www.reactos.org/wiki/ReactOS

I wonder how practical ReactOS could be as a small business server?

With Microsoft's changes in Licensing, it seems there's a demand for an OS as straightforward as Windows, obviously with some degree of compatibility, but without all of the telemetry garbage. Could ReactOS (or a distribution derived from it) plug this gap?

What apps/workloads would such a server run?

I was thinking conventional small business type stuff, a bit like SBS in the old days. I guess what it'd need to do is:

* Provide a directory service (a la AD, could be done with OpenLDAP and Kerberos)

* Handle Mail with a webmail and mobile service

* Remote Desktop via RDP

* Act as a backup server with a backup client (e.g. crashplan over a fileshare)

* Network reimaging and install server over PXE/TFTP etc. (Clonezilla across network).

I-want-a-pony-options:

* Wiki

* Chat

* VPN

If you're looking for AD, samba4 can do it on Linux.

I think the two main things such a thing could bring to the table is graphical "familiar" (for the windows admin) administration. Something that abstracts the files.

That and a free RDP interface would be nice.

Are there any long uptime reports from reactos users?

Yeah, I'd like to know what the experience is for people who use it regularly.

Didn't Microsoft release the .NET API and also Wine can be used?

https://www.winehq.org/

I am really impressed with what ReactOS is doing, but what is the practical reason for it? I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) they're cloning Windows XP, which happens to be my favorite Windows operating system.

Its attempting to make a fully open source OS that is binary-compatible with Windows Server 2003. A massive feat, if achieved.

Wine and .NET only cover the userland. There are a huge number of Windows installations out there that are stuck on XP because some specialized device (e.g. a lab probe or a CNC mill or a dialysis machine) only has drivers for XP. If we could get these on ReactOS, it could decrease the impact of the next WannaCry.

For a moment I thought this was based on React...

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