ReactOS, an open source operating system intended to recreate Windows NT, has reached a milestone by booting on ARM64. The ARM64 build is experimental and primarily serves as a proof of concept, with limited practical functionality beyond reaching a familiar Windows desktop. The project targets compatibility with Windows Server 2003 and aims to recreate the NT kernel from scratch, including driver support, rather than layering Windows applications on top of another OS. Booting on ARM64 requires a UEFI ARM64 system with GICv2 or v3 enabled and support for ARMv8-A boards, with Raspberry Pi 5 requiring special handling. A contributor spent eight months getting the code working, and early attempts on Raspberry Pi 5 can be challenging and unstable.
"ReactOS, the open source project aiming to recreate Windows NT, has reached a new milestone: booting on ARM64. The ReactOS team cautioned that the build was "still in an experimental state," while encouraging users to try it. Screenshots show the project running on ARM64 (via QEMU) and on a Raspberry Pi 5."
"Unlike WINE, which layers Windows applications support onto Linux, ReactOS recreates the NT kernel from scratch, right down to driver support. The ARM64 port is very much a proof of concept - there's precious little that you can actually do with it yet. But watching that familiar Windows desktop appear on the hardware is genuinely joyful, and dismissing it as an "it boots" milestone would be a disservice."
"Getting ReactOS to boot on ARM64 is no small feat; a ReactOS contributor spent eight months getting the code working. It requires a UEFI ARM64 system with GICv2 or v3 enabled, supports boards from ARMv8-A onwards, with the Raspberry Pi 5 being a special case."
"ReactOS bills itself as "an alpha-quality operating system," which means it should really only be let loose on a sacrificial device. That said, perseverance has its rewards, and while there isn't much a user can do with ReactOS on ARM64 at this stage, reaching the desktop at all is quite the milestone."
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