Will This Free Windows Clone Work For You?

I commend the ReactOS team for their efforts, but I can't see many use cases in which this would be the best solution. I tell most people with older hardware that they have two choices: upgrade to a newer system (not necessarily "new"), or for those with minor user needs and a decent level of ability, run one of the easier versions of Linux.

This looks like it could be kind of fun to play with. Can it run 16 bit programs?

This is interesting; I think a good way to try this out would be in a Virtual Machine in something like Windows Hyper-V or Oracle's Virtualbox. I wonder if there are .iso files with already configured installations available that have some applications already installed to facilitate setup as virtual machines.

I have a motherboard here that will only run Windows 10 (and Linux!). I really miss my Win 7.

I believe Microsoft leaned upon Intel (make of the chipset) not to provide any drivers for any Microsoft OS except 10.

Think this ReactOS would run?

Wasn't it the Borg collective who said "All your base are belong to us"?
IMHO there is no competition to Windows-OS; when it comes to respect-for and compatibility-with legacy hardware/software, in addition to providing all of the bleeding-edge technologies that other desktop/mobile OS platforms offer today (less 5G)!

I was going to give this OS a try! I've tried three times now & the download fails every time just before it completes! Any advice?

have and run XP,win98,vista, win 7, 2000, win me, all the old DOS love them have no worries do what want, some things only run on the old systems and computers will as long as can keep them running am 72 now hope for a lot more years

I downloaded ChaletOS and put it on an old laptop. I could not believe it, that old girl rocks. I do not understand the open source stuff but haven't spent a lot of time with it. Lots of software works with it and it looks just like Windows but doesn't act like windows. It is a fun little project to have an old pc that you can use still. I started computing with ms-dos and was blown away with Windows 3. Since then it has grown and become a bigger pain every version.

"...there is no anti-virus software available for ReactOS...."

That's a show stopper for me. Anyone running any machine with an internet connection, and without some sort of anti-virus protection, is just asking for it. I'm a bit surprised that you would even call attention to it Bob.

To Brian B: This OS was written from scratch that means to infect it, a hacker has to know this OS pretty good, but since it's a product alhpa stage and also not popular and unlikely will be, what the point to hack into it? Hacking now is a business and as a business it has to pay back and cover financially all the efforts. How many viruses for Windows and for MacOS and for Linux? As many as popular those OSes. This is why so many viruses for Windows, way less for MacOS (don't be fooled that there is no viruses for Macs - there is no point to waste time for 5-10% of computers, when there is a big fat chunk of 90% Windows PCs). Linux/UNIX is a little more complicated, since it holds over 70% of webservers.

So if you install some exotic OS at your computer, you can easily and safely live without any antivirus. By the way, you unlikely can find any antivirus that could run under that exotic OS. I bet there are problems to run any antivirus under that ReactOS as well. Strictly speaking, even in a popular OS, like Windows you don't need any antivirus, if you know what you're doing - don't open strange emails, don't visit dangerous sites, etc. Also you can evaluate how financially attractive you can be to be hacked. Like I already said, hacking now is a business and has to pay back all time and efforts to get access to your information. Just answer for yourself - now much money they can steal from you, having full access for your computer. The time they spent on you and risk to be caught has to be really well rewarded. Be real. Nobody cares about you, as a target for this type of robbery. Relax.

Interesting to read. It's nice to see someone trying to write something to use Windows-compatible software without making us all beholden to MS. As for anti-virus, it doesn't worry me that much, unlike BrianB above. Viruses are written to hook into flaws in Windows - if ReactOS is different code, then surely they won't work? I'm inclined to try it on an old Vista laptop whose hard drive died - complete with the recovery partition... It's currently running Linux Mint, so another 'experimental' OS won't harm for playing with.

First time I tried it, on a old XP system, it booted to a BSOD. Couldn't find a way to bypass it. Most recently, I was trying to install it on an old Acer laptop (original Vista). I can boot of a live CD/USB but installer will not run at all.

There is also another alternative, but it's not free--its basically os2 warp, but modernized.

Personally, if I'm trying to run an older system, I pull out 98se or win2k and be done with it. Even xp is light enough for most systems, but you'll need to use steadystate to have protection there.