RouterOS Netinstall

What Netinstall Is

Netinstall is MikroTik's tool for installing and reinstalling RouterOS on hardware devices over a direct Ethernet connection. It uses BOOTP (port 68) and TFTP (port 69) to discover devices in "etherboot" mode and transfer packages to them.

Two variants:

• Netinstall for Windows — GUI application
• netinstall-cli — Linux command-line tool (x86 ELF binary only)

Both re-format the device's system drive. The license key and RouterBOOT settings are preserved.

netinstall-cli Command Syntax

netinstall-cli [-r] [-e] [-b] [-m [-o]] [-f] [-v] [-c]
               [-k <keyfile>] [-s <userscript>] [-sm <modescript>]
               [--mac <mac>] {-i <interface> | -a <client-ip>} [PACKAGES...]

Flags

Critical Rules

1. System package must be listed first — routeros-VER-ARCH.npk must be the first package in the list
2. Requires root/sudo — uses privileged BOOTP (port 68) and TFTP (port 69)
3. Multi-arch support — provide packages for multiple architectures; netinstall auto-detects the device's architecture and selects matching packages
4. x86 binary only — netinstall-cli is an i386 Linux ELF; requires QEMU user-mode emulation on ARM/ARM64 hosts
5. No -r and no -e = keep old config — downloads config DB from device, reformats, re-uploads config (does NOT preserve files like Dude/UserManager databases)

Interface vs Client-IP Mode

In containers on RouterOS 7.21+, the VETH interface name matches the configured VETH name (e.g., veth-netinstall), so use -i veth-netinstall.

Etherboot Mode

Devices must be in "etherboot" mode for netinstall to discover them. Methods to enter etherboot:

Etherboot uses BOOTP (same ports as DHCP). On networks with DHCP servers, conflicts can occur. Best practice: use a dedicated interface/switch with no other DHCP sources.

Configure Script vs Mode Script

Configure script variables (7.10beta8+):

• $defconfPassword — factory-set admin password (read-only)
• $defconfWifiPassword — factory-set WiFi password (read-only)

Mode Script for Device-Mode

The primary use case for -sm is enabling device-mode features on first boot without requiring manual power-cycle confirmation:

# Enable advanced mode + container support
/system/device-mode update mode=advanced container=yes

# Enable advanced mode + container + zerotier
/system/device-mode update mode=advanced container=yes zerotier=yes

When the mode script changes device-mode, the device automatically reboots to apply the change. This replaces what would otherwise require a physical power-cycle/reset-button press.

Package Files (.npk)

URL Pattern

See the routeros-fundamentals skill (version-parsing reference) for download URLs, version channels, and pre-release host selection.

https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/{version}/routeros-{version}-{arch}.npk
https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/{version}/all_packages-{arch}-{version}.zip
https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/{version}/netinstall-{version}.tar.gz

x86 exception: x86 packages omit the architecture suffix entirely: routeros-7.22.npk, container-7.22.npk (not routeros-7.22-x86.npk). The all_packages zip does use x86: all_packages-x86-7.22.zip.

Note: Starting sometime around 7.18+, netinstall-cli is distributed as a .tar.gz containing the netinstall-cli binary.

Architecture Names in Packages

All-Packages ZIP

The all_packages-{arch}-{version}.zip contains all optional packages for a given architecture. Extract to get individual .npk files. The system package (routeros-*.npk) is also included.

Version Resolution

Current version per channel is available as plain text — see the routeros-fundamentals skill (version-parsing reference) for full details on channels, URL patterns, download host selection (stable vs pre-release), and version comparison logic.

DNS retry pattern: When running in a container at boot time, DNS may not be ready. Retry logic (5 attempts, 2s delay) is recommended for any version resolution at startup:

# GNU make function with retry (from tikoci/netinstall Makefile)
channel_ver = $(firstword $(shell for _i in 1 2 3 4 5; do \
  _v=$$(wget -q -O - https://upgrade.mikrotik.com/routeros/NEWESTa7.$(1)) && \
  [ -n "$$_v" ] && echo "$$_v" && break; sleep 2; done))

Running on Non-x86 Hosts

netinstall-cli is an x86 (i386) Linux ELF binary. On non-x86 hosts:

On ARM/ARM64 Linux, QEMU user-mode emulation is transparent — prefix the command with the QEMU binary path. See the tikoci-qemu-user-emulation skill for details.

On macOS, system-level QEMU is needed because netinstall-cli uses raw network sockets (BOOTP/TFTP) that require actual kernel network stack access, not just process emulation.

Network Requirements

• Privileged ports: BOOTP uses ports 67/68, TFTP uses port 69 — requires root/sudo
• Direct L2 connection: Device must be on the same Layer 2 segment as the netinstall host
• Static IP recommended: Configure a static IP on the host interface (e.g., 192.168.88.2/24)
• Client IP must be unique: The -a IP address must not conflict with any other device on the network
• Link flaps: Some USB Ethernet adapters cause link flaps that prevent device detection. Use a switch between adapter and device as workaround
• DHCP snooping: If using a managed switch with DHCP snooping, mark the netinstall-facing port as "trusted"

Automation Patterns

Single Device Install

sudo netinstall-cli -r -b -i eth0 \
  routeros-7.22-arm64.npk \
  container-7.22-arm64.npk \
  wifi-qcom-7.22-arm64.npk

Multi-Device Install (Service Loop)

# Install every device that boots, each MAC once per run
sudo netinstall-cli -r -b -m -o -i eth0 \
  routeros-7.22-arm64.npk \
  container-7.22-arm64.npk

With Mode Script (7.22+)

# Write modescript
cat > modescript.rsc << 'EOF'
/system/device-mode update mode=advanced container=yes
EOF

sudo netinstall-cli -r -b -sm modescript.rsc -i eth0 \
  routeros-7.22-arm64.npk \
  container-7.22-arm64.npk

Containerized Netinstall on RouterOS

Run netinstall-cli inside a RouterOS container with VETH networking for "self-provisioning" — the router runs a container that can netinstall other devices on the same LAN.

Key environment variables (passed via /container/envs):

/container envs add key=ARCH     list=NETINSTALL value=arm64
/container envs add key=PKGS     list=NETINSTALL value="container wifi-qcom"
/container envs add key=CHANNEL  list=NETINSTALL value=stable
/container envs add key=OPTS     list=NETINSTALL value="-b -r"
/container envs add key=IFACE    list=NETINSTALL value=veth-netinstall

See the routeros-container skill for container setup details.

Additional Resources

Related skills:

• For RouterOS CLI/REST basics: see the routeros-fundamentals skill
• For device-mode configuration: see the routeros-container skill (device-mode section)
• For running netinstall-cli on non-x86 hosts: see the tikoci-qemu-user-emulation skill
• For building container images for RouterOS: see the tikoci-oci-image-building skill

MCP tools:

• For RouterOS documentation lookups: use the rosetta MCP server tools (routeros_search, routeros_get_page)

External docs:

• MikroTik official docs: https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/spaces/ROS/pages/24805390/Netinstall