OneCore API

OneCore API is an extended wrapper to Windows XP/Server 2003 operating systems, intended for adding compatibility and missing functionality from later versions of Windows. Project is based on ReactOS, and uses the latter's build environment. As a result, project is compatible with Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows XP SP3 and Windows XP x64 SP2.

OneCore API was created in 2016 by Skulltrail as a part of Shorthorn Project, which later started to dynamically grow up into separate one.

Description

OneCore API aims to extend compatibility with later versions of Windows, including Vista, 7, 8(.1) and beyond. By backporting ReactOS implementations, OneCore lets Windows XP/Server 2003 to impersonate later Windows versions and run programs, along with required but missing functionality. For running additional programs set, it is recommended to install Visual C++ distributives, 2015-2022 of which are possible to run with OneCore API.

For running games and other heavy-graphics based applications, OneCore API also provides D3D-wrapper which allows to run applications for newer DirectX versions (9.0 and after). Partially, ReactOS based implementations for graphics also utilized, but they're not guaranteed as stable yet.

Installation

For installing OneCore API, you should navigate to project's official GitHub repository for binaries, go to "Releases" page, and download latest one. OneCore provides following architectures:

• x86,
• x86 for AVX,
• x86 for PAE,
• x64.

Then after, extract the .zip installation file into your Windows XP/Server 2003 machine. You need to ensure that you haven't any OneCore API older installations. If you have, you must uninstall it. Otherwise, stability may be highly decreased and it is not guaranteed.