mikrotik-netinstall-linux

A set of Bash scripts for Linux that automate MikroTik Netinstall, making it easy to recover or reinstall RouterOS when a router is stuck, misconfigured, or needs a clean reset.

Mikrotik documentation to netinstall can be found from: https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/spaces/ROS/pages/24805390/Netinstall

Acknowledgements

These scripts were created with the assistance of AI tools, specifically Gemini 2.5 Pro and ChatGPT-5 models.

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MikroTik Netinstall Helper Scripts

This repository contains two bash scripts to simplify the process of reinstalling MikroTik RouterOS using Netinstall on a Linux machine.

1. fetch_mikrotik_stable.sh: A downloader that automatically finds and fetches the latest stable RouterOS .npk package and the corresponding netinstall archive.
2. auto_netinstall_mikrotik_stateful.sh: A stateful installer that prepares your host machine's network for the Netinstall process, runs the tool, and safely restores your network configuration afterward.

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## 1. fetch_mikrotik_stable.sh (Downloader)

This script automates downloading the necessary files from MikroTik's servers.

Features:

• Auto-Version Detection: Automatically detects the latest stable v7 RouterOS version from MikroTik's changelogs.
• Specific Version Support: You can specify a version to download with the --version flag.
• Architecture Selection: Downloads for a specific hardware architecture (defaults to arm64).
• Automatic Extraction: Can optionally unpack the netinstall archive and make the netinstall-cli binary executable.
• Smart Fallback: Tries to download the .tar.gz archive first and falls back to .zip if the first is unavailable.

### Usage

Make the script executable first: chmod +x fetch_mikrotik_stable.sh

# Download the latest stable arm64 package and Netinstall into the current directory
./fetch_mikrotik_stable.sh

# Download to your Desktop and automatically extract the Netinstall archive
./fetch_mikrotik_stable.sh --dir ~/Desktop --extract

# Download a specific version and architecture
./fetch_mikrotik_stable.sh --version 7.15.1 --ros-arch mmips

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## 2. auto_netinstall_mikrotik_stateful.sh (Installer)

This is a wrapper script for the netinstall-cli binary that safely manages your host computer's network state, making the process much smoother and less error-prone. It only uses local files and does not download anything.

It must be run with sudo because it needs to modify network interfaces and firewall rules.

Features:

• Stateful Network Management: It temporarily configures a static IP on your machine for Netinstall and automatically restores your previous network settings (like DHCP) on exit, even if the script is interrupted (Ctrl+C).
• File Auto-Discovery: Automatically finds the netinstall-cli binary and the RouterOS .npk package in the current directory.
• Interactive Interface Picker: If you don't specify a network interface, it provides a menu to choose from, preventing you from using the wrong one.
• Pre-flight Checks & Helpers:
  • Warns you if other active network links (like Wi-Fi) might interfere.
  • Asks if you want to temporarily disable Wi-Fi (nmcli) and your firewall (ufw/firewalld) to ensure a successful connection.
  • Uses tcpdump (if available) to listen for the MikroTik device's BOOTP request, confirming it's in the correct mode.
  • Pings the device at its default IP (192.168.88.1) after installation to verify success.

### Usage

Make the script executable first: chmod +x auto_netinstall_mikrotik_stateful.sh

# Run interactively - the script will prompt you to select an interface
# and ask about disabling Wi-Fi/firewall.
sudo ./auto_netinstall_mikrotik_stateful.sh

# Specify the network interface directly (avoids the picker)
sudo ./auto_netinstall_mikrotik_stateful.sh --iface enp3s0

# Specify custom paths and IPs, and skip the configuration reset
sudo ./auto_netinstall_mikrotik_stateful.sh \
  --iface enx001122334455 \
  --host-ip 10.0.0.10 \
  --npk ./routeros-arm-7.14.npk \
  --netinstall-cli ./netinstall-7.14/netinstall-cli \
  --no-reset

# Automatically say "yes" to disabling Wi-Fi
sudo ./auto_netinstall_mikrotik_stateful.sh --wifi-off

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## Recommended Workflow

1. Download Files: Run the fetch script to get all the necessary files from MikroTik. Use --extract for convenience.

   ./fetch_mikrotik_stable.sh --extract

2. Prepare for Install:

   • Connect your PC directly to the MikroTik device's ether1 port with an Ethernet cable.
   • Power off the MikroTik device.

3. Run Installer: Execute the netinstall script with sudo. Follow the on-screen prompts.

   sudo ./auto_netinstall_mikrotik_stateful.sh

4. Enter Etherboot Mode: When the script tells you, press and hold the RESET button on the MikroTik device, apply power, and keep holding it until the script detects the device.

5. Start Transfer: Press Enter in the terminal to begin the installation. The script will handle the rest and clean up your network settings when it's done.