User:Oldman/A layman's guide/ReactOS installation stages
Posts like this "I tried installing ReactOS and it froze; help me please" are too frequently seen in the forums from new forum members. So this page was created to help such people communicate to other people, where a failure occurs in the operating system, when installing, so that other people may be able to help them.
Stage one
This stage is the initial installation, where ReactOS is installed to the hard drive and some basic configuration is done.
Booting from the installation medium
When the bios has handed control to freeloader (ReactOS's bootloader) you will see this at the top of the screen (see next image), which times out, if you fail to press a key.
Stage one (Start Screen) Choose to boot from the medium or not
When you press the Enter key at the above prompt, ReactOS starts to load itself into memory. You will then see what is being loaded in the following order.
Booting order:
Stage one (BootScreen-1) Loading ReactOS Setup
Stage one (BootScreen-2) Loading system hive
Stage one (BootScreen-3) Detecting hardware
Stage one (BootScreen-4) Loading ntoskrnl.exe
Stage one (BootScreen-5) Loading hal.dll
Stage one (BootScreen-6) Loading kdcom
Stage one (BootScreen-7) Loading boot drivers.
From this point, debug information starts to output to the serial port (com1). It can now be captured through a null modem serial cable and a second computer running a terminal, such as putty. For how to do that, see this guide and to show debug information to screen from this point, refer to this section.
Pre-install configuration
When ReactOS as loaded itself into memory, it starts the installation process and you will come to this next screen, where it initializes.
Stage one (Bluescreen-1)
You are then presented with the first of the interactive screens.
Stage one (Bluescreen-2)
Stage one (Bluescreen-3)
Stage one (Bluescreen-4)
Stage one (Bluescreen-5)
Stage one (Bluescreen-6)
Stage one (Bluescreen-7)
Stage one (Bluescreen-8)
Stage one (Bluescreen-9)
Stage one (Bluescreen-10)
Stage one (Bluescreen-11) Format progress screen (this was too fast to capture).
Stage one (Bluescreen-12)
The actual installation
Stage one (Installation-1) Preparing to install
Stage one (Installation-2) Installation progress bar
Stage one (Installation-3) Updating the system configuration
Stage one (Installation-4) Boot loader installation
Stage one (Installation-5) Reboot timer
The operating system now goes down for the first reboot.
Stage two
After the installation stage is completed, it then reboots into this stage, where you configure ReactOS.
Booting the newly installed OS
Stage two (Boot choice)
From the above screen it boots up into the second stage. The booting screen is the same as in stage one, but will show 2 less items.
Booting order (2nd stage installation):
Stage two (BootScreen-1) Loading system hive
Stage two (BootScreen-2) Detecting hardware
Stage two (BootScreen-3) Loading ntoskrnl.exe
Stage two (BootScreen-4) Loading hal.dll
Stage two (BootScreen-5) Loading boot drivers.
Stage two (logo booting screen)
After ReactOS has booted, you will see this next window in the middle of the screen.
Stage two (Installing devices)
Information
Stage two (Setup Wizard window)
Stage two (Acknowledgements window)
Configuring the newly installed OS
Stage two (Config-1) Product Options
Stage two (Config-2) Regional settings
Stage two (Config-3) Personalize your Software
Stage two (Config-4) Computer Name and Administrator Password
Stage two (Config-5) Date and Time
Stage two (Config-6) Appearance
Stage two (Config-7) Network Settings
Stage two (Config-8) Workgroup or Network Domain
Stage two (Config-9) Registering Components
Stage two (Config-10) Wine Gecko Installer
If you choose to install Wine Gecko, it will download and install it, then it goes to the next screen and will reboot. Otherwise if you select Cancel, it will straight away go to the next screen and will reboot.
Stage two (Config-11)
And now it goes down for the final reboot.
Stage three
This is the final stage where ReactOS boots into the desktop for the first time. This is also what you will see every time you boot a fully installed system from the Boot choice screen, with ReactOS selected; some other options will boot showing different screens.
Booting into the desktop for the first time
Stage three (Boot choice)
From the above screen it boots up into the second stage. The booting screen is the same as in stage one, but will show 2 less items.
Booting order (3rd stage installation):
Stage three (BootScreen-1) Loading system hive
Stage three (BootScreen-2) Detecting hardware
Stage three (BootScreen-3) Loading ntoskrnl.exe
Stage three (BootScreen-4) Loading hal.dll
Stage three (BootScreen-5) Loading boot drivers.
You will then see the next screen, as it finishes the final stage of booting the system.
Stage three (logo booting screen)
When you reach the desktop for the first time, you will be presented with the New Hardware Wizard.
After using the Wizard or cancelling it, you will have a fully installed operating system.
How to make use of this page
Look through the stages shown above and find the place where the installation failed for you. Then you can make a request for help, by stating exactly where in the installation process failure occurred. You can do that by quoting this guide and then the stage, section and the screen where the failure occurred.
Example:
See https://reactos.org/wiki/User:Oldman/A_layman's_guide/ReactOS_installation_stages#Booting_from_the_installation_medium, the installation froze at BootScreen-7 - loading the system into memory.
NOTE: When making a request for help, always give as much information as you can, and include the following:
- If using real hardware or a virtual machine.
- The specification of the hardware or the name and version of the virtual machine.
- The revision of ReactOS that you are trying to install.
