Rick’s Rants and Raves

Installing ReactOS on VirtualBox couldn’t be easier, and really couldn’t be much faster.

1. Grab a copy of the ReactOS Install CD ISO. Unzip it to your favorite location.
2. Launch VirtualBox, and create a new virtual machine. The name of the new vm is up to you. Set the OS Type to Windows XP.
3. I used 256MB for base memory.
4. Create a new Boot Hard Disk, dynamically expanding, with as much space as you want. The final install size for ReactOS v 0.3.4 is only 94MB. I chose 2GB.
5. Add the Install CD ISO to the vm.
6. Start your new vm and begin the ReactOS install process.
7. Choose your language.
8. Choose your hardware settings (PC or multi-processor PC, display, keyboard, keyboard layout).
9. Partition your disk (or just use the whole disk, since its virtual, after all!)
10. Choose to format your disk FAT (not quick)
11. Choose your install directory, or just leave the default \ReactOS.
12. Since you’re doing a virtual machine, install the bootloader on the hard disk.
13. Reboot the machine.
14. When the machine boots, it will automatically run the ReactOS Setup Wizard.
15. Acknowledge the license and “shoulders”.
16. Give it your name and organization
17. Specify the computer name, and administrator password. The password, at this point, is optional.
18. Change the system locale settings if you want. Change the keyboard layout if you want.
19. Change the date and time if you need to, as well as the timezone.
20. One more reboot, and your ReactOS VirtualBox is DONE!
21. When mine first came up, it wanted to install a driver for “System Device”. When I chose to install it automatically, it failed to find the driver. It didn’t seem to be a big deal.

Clearly, this is still a very early release. It is “still under heavy development”. But I must say that it is promising so far. I could see this going a long way to capture much of the hobbyist and embedded device market.