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ReactOS startup XP/w2K3 NTLDR & ntfs.sys to use NTFS file system


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#1 ispy

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Posted 16 January 2023 - 11:04 AM

To anyone in the know :)

 

Or anyone who has had experience of this? I have been looking at various articles on the WWW. that point albeit in a scratchy manner some individuals that have, when loading ReactOS have been using NTLDR & Ntfs.sys from XP or was it Win2K3 files not sure, to load ReactOS onto a NTFS file system partition.

 

They report that or infer that Reactos runs smoothly when doing this, so you wouldn't be confined to FAT32 or the other file systems that ReactOS is confined to date. The NTFS file system in ReactOS is currently only experimental, it reads only, if you want to write you have to enable it in the registry, but it is still buggy.

 

My underlying question is has anybody done this with the files from XP/W2K3 and what was your experience in doing this, you know the pitfalls etc, does anyone have a howto/help advice on how to go about doing this? I think it would be worthwhile project to undertake, well at least for me anyway?

 

Thanks in advance

 

I :D



#2 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 16 January 2023 - 01:55 PM

The only thing I have seen is this short video:

 

 

where the poster boots ReactOS via NTLDR using the reactos NTFS driver (with experimental write enable), but it is 2019, so likely outdated anyway.

 

There is a new one:

 

 

There is a thread on MSFN where Dietmar documented how freeldr (finally) can load an XP:

 

https://msfn.org/boa...eldr-from-ntfs/

 

But you are instead talking of mixing the XP (or 2003) NTFS.SYS with a ReactOS install?

 

Please provide links to what you have found (even if scratchy), maybe there is something in there that helps in understanding how exactly that was achieved.

 

On this page Illen (seemingly the same as the author of the video above) says that ntfs.sys for XP can only work on read only volumes:

 

https://reactos.org/...d-party_drivers

 

Like almost anything regarding ReactOS proper documentation is not existing or reserved to people with specific (ReactOS or programming) knowledge/experience, the ntfs sys related Jira in the above is "unresolved" BUT it is reported as working :w00t:

 

https://jira.reactos...wse/CORE-17409 

 

the (closed) other bug requests hints that three, no, wait, four patches are needed:

https://jira.reactos...owse/CORE-17431

 

to the reactos build.

 

:duff:

Wonko


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#3 ispy

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Posted 16 January 2023 - 03:41 PM

Hi Wonko :D ,

 

Many thanks firstly for the reply post as always complete in nature. In reply firstly I think I have viewed the first u-tube video you have posted (very kindly by the way) but I don't think I have viewed the second more up to date video. These video's seem more of a show-me rather than an explanation of how it was achieved or nitty gritty howto, seemingly 28 seconds and 32 seconds viewing time proves, a rather limited unveiling.

 

I will provide the links which prompted this question in the first instance by amending this post as I will need to find them again, they seem to say it can be done but not how it's done. I was kinda wondering if anyone else had done this & whether it was in essence just replacing the two files or its long drawn out procedure with multiple hurdles to overcome hex-editing stuff etc. I think as one person has already stated, apart from the obvious bugs etc. ReactOS would be better received if it had read/write support & supported NTFS file-system. I don't think it going to contravene any licensing laws as long as you have a boni-fide copy of XP. Mind you maybe sending Dietmar a private message may prove helpful because as you point out he seems to have undertaken this in the past (the freeldr part of ReactOS - by the by many thanks for the link)?

 

It seems a shame in one sense Paragon didn't aid Reactos with a driver similar to NTFS3 for Linux but I suppose that would be fueling the competition and M$ would not agree to it. So kinda left with two choices, figure it out, or wait A Looong time for reactos to address the writing side of NTFS.

 

Great to converse with you & many thanks for the links, as always gud to hear from you!

 

I :D



#4 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 16 January 2023 - 04:10 PM

I don't think that the issues (seemingly only partially resolved) imply "simple" hex-editing a couple files, seemingly you need a "special build", i.e. you need to recompile from source after having applied the three or four (or more) patches.

 

The two options are:

1) figure it out AND have - maybe - a half- or one third- working solution

 

2) wait A Looong time for reactos to address the writing side of NTFS AND wait some more time to have anything even half-@§§edly working

 

in a nutshell, if you lose you lose, if you win you lose. :(

 

Please consider how NTFS is "tough", even the Paragon Linux solution has seemingly its own issues. 

 

 

:duff:

Wonko



#5 ispy

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Posted 16 January 2023 - 08:01 PM

Hi Wonko :)

 

Indeed it seems,  Ah-Tishoo, Ahh-Tishoo, we all fall down. Anyway best wishes & many thanks for your perspective

 

Regards,

 

I :D



#6 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 17 January 2023 - 09:42 AM

As a side-side note and as JFYI, before I forget, there is a "queer" find about some (motherboard) UEFI NTFS drivers, read about it here:

 

https://msfn.org/boa...comment-1234461

 

it is a rare case where both the System and Boot volume (please read as Boot and System ;)) are the same NTFS volume, still it makes you think about how much we still don't know about NTFS.

 

:duff:

Wonko



#7 Brito

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Posted 20 January 2023 - 01:44 PM

Don't know what is holding them back. We had ways around here to write NTFS partitions 10 years ago for purposes of building a virtual image offline.

 

If that is way too complicated, then at least aim for ExFAT support but even that seems "complicated": https://jira.reactos...rowse/CORE-4857

 

MS published the specs: https://www.theregis...c_linux_kernel/

 

There is really no rush from ROS to make things usable.  <_<



#8 personage

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Posted 27 February 2023 - 10:26 AM

ntfs.sys (From Win2003) fully works in ReactOS with HAL.dll and ntoskrnl.exe from Win2003 (Create\delete\rename files)

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