When picking operating systems for a closer look here in the Daily Drivers series, the aim has not been to merely pick the next well-known Linux distro off the pile, but to try out the interesting, esoteric or minority OS. The need remains to use it as a daily driver though, so each one we try has to have at least some chance of being a useful everyday environment in which a Hackaday piece could be written. With some of them such as the then-current BSD or Slackware versions we tried for interest’s sake a while back that’s not a surprising achievement, but for the minority operating systems it’s quite a thing. Today’s choice, ReactOS 0.4.15, is among the closest we’ve come so far to that ideal.
For The N’th Time In The Last 20 Years, I download A ReactOS ISO
ReactOS is an open-source clone of a Windows operating system from the early 2000s, having a lot on common with Windows XP. It started in the late 1990s and has slowly progressed ever since, making periodic releases that, bit-by-bit, have grown into a usable whole. I last looked at it for Hackaday with version 0.4.13 in 2020, so have five years made any difference? Time to download that ISO and give it a go.
Installing ReactOS has that bright blue and yellow screen feeling of a Windows install from around the millennium, but I found it to be surprisingly quick and pain free despite a few messages about unidentified hardware. The display driver it chose was a VESA one but since it supported all my monitor’s resolutions and colour depths that’s not the hardship it might once have been.
Once installed, the feeling is completely of a Windows desktop from that era except for the little ReactOS logo on the Start menu. I chose the classic Windows 95 style theme as I never liked the blue of Windows XP. Everything sits where you remember it and has the familiar names, and if you used a Microsoft computer in those days you’re immediately at home. There’s even a web browser, but since it’s the WINE version of Internet Explorer and dates from the Ark, we’re guessing you’ll want to replace it.
Most Of The Old Software You Might Need…
There’s a package manager to download and run open-source software, something which naturally Windows never had. Back in 2020 I found this to be the Achilies’ heel of the OS, with very little able to install and run without crashing, so i was very pleased to note that this situation has changed. Much of the software is out of date due to needing Windows XP compatibility, but I found it to be much more usable and stable. There’s a choice of web browsers but the Firefox and Chromium versions are too old to be useful, but I found its K-Meleon version to be the most recent of the bunch. Adding GIMP to my installed list, I was ready to try this OS as my daily driver.
I am very pleased to report that using K-Meleon and GIMP on ReactOS 0.4.15, I could do my work as a Hackaday writer and editor. This piece was in part written using it, and Hackaday’s WordPress backend is just the same as in Firefox on my everyday Manjaro Linux machine. There however the good news ends, because I’m sorry to report that the experience was at times a little slow and painful. Perhaps that’s the non-up-to-date hardware I’d installed it on, but it’s evident that 2025 tasks are a little taxing for an OS with its roots in 2003. That said it remained a usable experience, and I could just about do my job were I marooned on a desert island with my creaking old laptop and ReactOS.
… And It Works, Too!
So ReactOS 0.4.15 is a palpable hit, an OS that can indeed be a Daily Driver. It’s been a long time, but at last ReactOS seems mature enough to use. I have to admit that I won’t be making the switch though, but who should be thinking about it? I think perhaps back in 2020 I got it right, in suggesting that as a pretty good facsimile of Windows XP it is best thought of as an OS for people who need XP bur for whom the venerable OS is now less convenient. It’s more than just a retrocomputing platform, instead it’s a supported alternative to the abandonware original for anyone with hardware or software from that era which still needs to run. Just like FreeDOS is now the go-to place for people who need DOS, so if they continue on this trajectory, should ReactOS become for those needing a classic Windows. Given the still-installed rump of software and computer controlled machinery which runs XP, that could I think become a really useful niche to occupy.
Is it out of alpha yet? I’ve been waiting nearly 20 years for a beta.
That graphic reminds of a BYTE cover. But yeah ReactOS for that E-waste argument that’s the current fashion.
Daily driver this, daily driver that yet your user agent shows Windows / Firefox combo 😂
i periodically try to run it on my old rigs, but it never does. best ive been able to do is run it in a vm, poorly. if there was a time for reactos to drop beta, now would be it. with windows being unusable and so many people reluctant to open the linux can of worms. but it seems late to the party. linux is also doing a really good job at bringing over the gamers. i admit the only reason i havent switched are a couple of pieces of pro software ive not been able to use on linux even with wine/proton/etc.
i like the idea of reactos but the glacial development and aiming for low end hardware (does it even do 64-bit? gpu drivers work?) kinda kills it for someone who builds a new rig every few years. i always joke that by the time the os hits beta, it will be good enough to use for the control system on fusion reactors.
Hi, yes. A 64-Bit build does exist, I vaguely remember. But it doesn’t have WoW64 yet.
32-Bit ReactOS runs Win32 applications, 64-Bit ReactOS runs Win64 applications.
Not sure about Win16 support, though. DOS applications run in an NTVDM substitute based on DOSBox, I think.
What I think is nice about ReactOS is that it’s free like FreeDOS.
It also doesn’t do phone home like Windows does, so no headaches here.
Thus, it’s nice to have around.
It’s like a free Windows 2000 that belongs to those Windows fans
who like the good, “old” Windows experience of the 90s and 2000s.
Back then when Windows itself still was relevant as an operating system and not just a “software as a service”.
It’s also cool that it can be modified as needed, since it’s source code is available.
So new types of hardware could be supported in the future.
Things like USB 5 or a succesor to UEFI, which a real old Windows couldn’t handle without much hacking.
I know, that sounds hopelessly optimistic,
but “down to earth” things like ReactOS help to keep your sanity in this crazy IT life of today.
Because, I think, the Windows 2000 used as a role model was very clean, very logical by design.
It was the peak of Windows NT line from a professional point of view.
(Windows XP to 7 were cool, too, but 2k was rock-solid and serious.)
Thanks Jenny, I regularly think about giving ReactOS “another” go as well, but generally assume it just won’t cut it and I’m too lazy to try it and then have to reinstall Windows. So glad that you did the legwork and report that it’s getting… well, maybe not there, but closer I suppose.
Sadly still a waste of time I suspect to try to install directly on real hardware. I tried to do that at the latest version a few months ago and it didn’t work.
So instead I’m keeping Windows 10 32bit running with network disabled, to run a Yamaha SW1000XG sound card in a Fractal case. It’s a MIDI sound module that just so happens to run Windows as its OS.
You’ve got to really be putting in some serious hours each day to daily drive all of these jalopies! Always fun to see what you dig up though