Software Update: ReactOS 0.4.8

Version 0.4.8 of ReactOS has been released. The React Operating System is an open source operating system that aims to be compatible with Windows NT, 2000 and XP to run Windows applications and drivers. Although it already runs a lot of software without any problems, including LibreOffice, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, and various games, the developers say the entire project is still in its alpha stage and not suitable for everyday use. on this page some screenshots of ReactOS can be viewed. The changelog for this release can be found below.

kernel:

• Fixed a bug in file writing, it could cause issues in case a read-only FSD is used.
• Fixed a nasty 17-year old bug in Common Cache. This will reduce file corruptions on various filesystems.
• In CC, some fixes for MS CDFS.
• Read ahead is implemented in CC.
• Lazy writing is implemented in CC. This is a step towards booting from EXT2.
• Major fixes for CC. ReactOS could be installed again with 128 MB.
• Do not perform hive write operations in LiveCD mode.
• Many x64 boot fixes, still need to go a long way.
• Many fixes in Memory Manager.
• Implemented NX bit support.
• Coverity-based fixes for MM and CC.
• Implemented oplocks support.
• Fixed a deadlock when exiting from Command Prompt.
• Some more work for booting from UEFI.
• Some fixes for FreeLoader. Boot time is slightly reduced.
• Fixed some issues related to writing bootloader to disk.
• Updated ACPI (Extended Features) support.
• Add a non paged memory dumper in case of low memory situation.
• Added a rotation bar in boot screen.

Win32 subsystem:

• Fixed problems when initializing games with some graphics drivers.
• Added more font substitutes.
• A fix in GDI to improve theming.
• GDI: Add type for selecting world transformation modification modes.
• GDI: Fix metafile crashes and null driver issues.
• GDI: Fix multibyte text length overgoing.
• user32/imm: Fix a recursion crash.
• Minor fixes for theming.
• Minor fixes in printing components.
• Fixed a palette regression in DirectX components. This fixes various drawing issues.

driver:

• More work on storage driver.
• More work on RDBSS and RXCE.
• More work on filter driver.
• Brought in usbohci_new (USB 1.1) and usbstor_new (USB Mass Storage Devices) drivers. New USB drivers is still not active yet.
• Replaced CDFS driver with MS one.
• Imported FastFAT driver from MS, however, this driver is not enabled for now.
• Imported a virtual CD-ROM class driver and a GUI app.
• Imported a virtual floppy driver.
• In floppy driver, fix some virtual machines and real hardware with empty floppy drive not being able to boot ReactOS (stuck while initializing floppy.sys).
• Properly handle unknown PNP IRPs in pciidex.
• Major fixes for current FastFAT driver.
• Merged NTFS work in GSoC 2016/2017: Improved read support and added partial write support. Write support is still not finished for general usage.
• Many leaks were fixed in NTFS driver.

shell:

• Rewritten taskbar settings routines and dialog.
• Fixed a shortcut issue.
• Fixed issues with notification area, and resizing it.
• Implemented balloon notifications and queuing them.
• Implemented a watcher for notification area that removes icons if the owning process dies/terminates without removing it.
• Minor visual fixes and some improvements for clock.
• Replaces some bitmaps.

System DLLs:

• hall: Work for x64 boot.
• opengl32: Fixed a crash. This will improve MS Office apps.
• opengl32: Store data in TEB instead of TLS.
• ntdll: Implemented the implicit activation context. This will help NT6+ compatibility.
• kernel32: Accept newer programs. Beginnings or NT6+ application support. Lots of work is needed to bring in newer apisets.

User-mode DLLs:

• shell32: Fixed multiple selection of desktop icons. Properties sheet doesn’t conflict with right click menu anymore.
• shell32: Fixed creating a new folder.
• shell32: Fix creating directories in desktop and in drivers like C:.
• shell32: Implemented Eject and Disconnect menu items.
• shell32: Fixed dismounting a network drive using explorer.
• shell32: Fixed showing drive capacity.
• shell32: Fixed file and folder properties dialogs.
• shell32: Rewritten the wrapping code for shell taskbar notifications. This fixes various tooltip problems.
• shell32: Work for balloon notifications.
• shell32: Fixed creating a folder inside Browse dialog.
• shell32: Fixed a major handle leak when browsing folders. This solves directory deletion/renaming issues.
• browseui: Added Open Folder.
• browseui: Improve relative path handling.
• browseui: Implemented shell autocomplete.
• comctl32: Fix redrawing of the static text elements.
• comctl32: Fixed some button captions drawing.
• comctl32: Install v6 with manifest in first stage.
• comctl32: Fixed font color problems.
• comctl32: Fixed occasional crashes when hovering over disappearing tray icons.
• setupapi: More work.
• uxtheme: Detect more themes.
• uxtheme: Improved scroll bar drawing.
• uxtheme: Fix text background on themed tabs.
• iphlpapi: Implemented interface name resolving functions.
• iphlpapi: Fix returning error code in ICMP functions.
• iphlpapi: Fix functions related to network routing.
• iphlpapi: Fix some memory leaks.
• usp10: Major speed-up for text apps, for example Notepad.

Commands and utilities:

• Some minor fixes on RAPPS. Added more programs. Fixed FTP downloads.
• Fixed some certificate issues on RAPPS.
• Some minor fixes on command prompt.
• input.cpl: Overwrite font substitutes settings on language change.
• timedate.cpl: Corrected setting time.
• desk.cpl: Add feature to enable or disable flat menus.
• Zooming is enabled in picture viewer.
• servman: Make the property sheets modeless so users can open multiple services at the same time.
• services: Fix querying the status of a registered but not started driver.
• services: Fixed service status updating issues.
• devmgr: Implemented missing device power information.
• chkdsk: Don’t repair if the volume is in use.
• tracert: Entirely rewritten.
• tracert: Fix output when host or network is unreachable.
• ping: Fix output when host or network is unreachable.
• drwtsn32: Implemented a basic application for crash reporting. This will create a dump in desktop when an application crashes.
• rosinternals: Added a skeleton of nfi tool.

Tasks:

• User-mode DLLs are synced with Wine 3.0.
• Updated FreeType to 2.9.0.
• Updated ext2 to 0.69.
• Updated uniata to v0.46e5.
• Updated libxml2 to 2.9.7.
• Updated libmpg123 to 1.25.8.
• Updated libtiff to 4.0.9.
• Updated libxslt to 1.1.32.
• Updated libjpeg to version 9c.
• Updated libpng to 1.6.34.
• More work on ATL.
• Added compilation with clang-cl. To enable this, various build fixes were made.
• Work started for unity builds, to reduce compile times significantly.
• Added precomp header to modules.