As I mentioned earlier, I've tried ReactOS on my AOA110, but without any success. Here I'll show you how to install ReactOS without CD. First, there is not an easy way to make ReactOS run on those netbooks. At first I tried 0.3.14 using a flash drive with CDFS partition (some flash drives allow you to have a partition which the BIOS and OS sees as CD), but that failed. Then I tried chaining GRUB with Freeloader, but that failed too. In the end I was able to install ReactOS (56595) by first installing it in a virtual machine and then copying all files to the netbook's SSD and again using GRUB. After loading ReactOS it asked me for a lot of drivers, but I had them prepared and copied to the SSD The bad new is only WiFi driver installed, but I didn't found any way to scan for WiFi networks. When tried to install video driver (GMA 950) using it's setup program, everything went fine, till next boot - blank screen after ReactOS boot screen. Also installing LAN (Realtek) driver through ReactOS' wizard ended in BSOD.
Drivers tested:
Video - only setup install possible, which crashes the system after reboot
Audio - wizard can't find the driver (XP version)
LAN - wizard finds the driver, but ends in BSOD (both 2000 and XP versions)
WiFi - wizard finds and installs successfully the driver
Web Cam - wizard can't find the driver (XP version)
There ware also some other drivers (ACPI, System device, USB something), but I don't know that they are and where to get drivers for them. ReactOS doesn't have them.
So, if you are still up to it, here is the full procedure to install ReactOS on your PC without using a CD:
1. Get all the drivers and extract them (ROS doesn't support ZIP files). You'll need XP drivers, but 2000/2003 might work as well.
2. You'll need to prepare USB flash drive with WinPE using WinBuilder or use Windows Vista/7/8 USB install drive. You may also use Linux, but if you know how to use it, you won't be reading this :D.
3. After creating the flash drive and ensuring it works, it's time to install ReactOS under virtual machine. I used VirtualBox for the purpose, as it's free.
4. Install VBox, create a virtual machine and a virtual hard drive (make sure it's VHD format), and install ROS. Shutdown the machine after you get to the desktop.
5. It's time to mount the VHD file. At this point it'll be good if you are running Windows 7 or better. If not, you'll need to mount it using VHDMount. Othewise use this procedure - type in CMD the following commands:
diskpart
select vdisk file=path_to_reactos_vhd
attach vdisk
assign
6. Now you should have a new drive in Windows Explorer. Go to your flash drive and create new folder with the name ROS. Copy in it all the contents of the VHD file (the new letter in Windows Explorer).
7. In ROS folder create a new folder called Drivers and copy all the extracted drivers.
8. Download GRUBinst, extract it and copy it to ROS folder.
9. From GRUB folder copy grldr file to ROS folder.
10. In ROS folder create a new file with name menu.lst and open in with Notepad. In in paste the following code and save it:
title ReactOS
root (hd0,0)
kernel /freeldr.sys
11. Get back to the diskpart to detach VHD by typing the following commands:
detach vdisk
exit
exit
12. You are about to install ReactOS on your PC. Just to be sure, you should have a flash drive containing bootable Windows based OS, ROS folder on it containing all the files from ReactOS + GRUB and Drivers folders containing GRUBinst and extracted drivers respectively. If you have all that, you are ready. Plug the drive in your PC and boot from it.
13. Open CMD (if you are using Windows Setup flash drive, wait till you get to HDD format window and press Shift + F10 - this will bring you CMD) and type diskpart.
14. In diskpart you'll need to find the drive number on which you'll install ReactOS. Typically that's 0, so from now on I'll use hd0 as drive, but if yours is another number, replace 0 with the number you need. Also, you'll need to change it in menu.lst file you created earlier. To see the number type list disk.
15. Type the following commands and your ReactOS should be installed. Note in my case C: is the drive I'll be installing ReactOS to and D: is my flash drive letter. Switch the letters as you need (if you need). Also note this procedure will destroy all your data on your HDD/SSD, not just C drive! All partitions will be lost! If you mistake the hard drive number you risk cleaning another drive! USE AT YOU OWN RISK!
select disk 0
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
format fs=fat32 quick
active
assign
exit
xcopy d:\ROS\*.* c: /e /x /b
d:
cd ROS
cd GRUB
grubinst.exe (hd0)
16. Your ReactOS should be now ready to boot, so reboot the machine.
17. First you should see GRUB manager with only one option - ReactOS. If you don't, then something is wrong with GRUB installation. If you do, press enter and you should see Freeloader's options (ReactOS, debug etc.). If you don't, then there is a problem with chaining GRUB to Freeloader - check your menu.lst to see if the correct HDD number is written.
18. If everything is ok, you should be getting a wizard asking for a specified driver. If you have this driver, try installing it. If not, let the OS try to install some (probably it'll fail). Also note you may get BSOD while installing a driver. ReactOS will ask you for many drivers, so have patience.
19. Browse arround ReactOS and be happy :)
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