RouterOS
proprietary router operating system based on Linux
RouterOS is a network operating system based on the Linux kernel developed by MikroTik, pre-installed on RouterBOARD devices. It can also be installed on a PC, turning it into a router with a firewall, VPN server and client, and wireless access point. The system can serve as a customizable captive portal for a wireless access point. Additionally, MikroTik offers RouterOS images for use in virtual machines and cloud services, called Cloud Hosted Router (CHR), available as a virtual machine disk image for various virtualization solutions, including the Amazon Web Services marketplace.
RouterOS can be configured via a command-line interface accessible through serial port, telnet, and Secure Shell (SSH), and via a graphical user interface available as a web-based interface (WebFig), a Microsoft Windows-based software application (Winbox), and apps for iOS and Android. An application programming interface (API) allows the development of specialized applications for monitoring and management.
SwOS is an operating system designed for RouterBOARD's line of switches. It is based on a subset of RouterOS features.
History
MikroTik was established in 1996 by founders John Tully and Arnis Riekstiņš in Riga, Latvia. In 1997, the company developed routing software for standard x86 computers that would eventually evolve into RouterOS. The earliest version was based on the Linux kernel 2.0, while the first stable RouterOS release, released in 1999, was based on Linux 2.2.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “RouterOS” is proprietary router operating system based on Linux. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through RouterOS, proprietary and router, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “proprietary router operating system based on Linux” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12036888. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1996, 1997 and 1999.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “RouterOS” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.