If you are seeing this in a VM, the issue is almost always the virtual disk controller type.
He dug through a dusty drawer and found a grey CD-ROM drive salvaged from a 1999 Compaq desktop. His hands shook as he jury-rigged the PATA cable to a power adapter, balancing the drive on top of the router like a hat on a coffin.
Solutions for Virtual Machines (Proxmox, VMware, VirtualBox) fatal error no cd rom found mikrotik full
If the CD-ROM method refuses to work despite BIOS changes, the professional standard is to use . This is the most reliable way to install RouterOS.
Get the executable and the corresponding Main Package ( .npk ) from the MikroTik Software Repository. If you are seeing this in a VM,
Open a terminal and run:
Instead of using the ISO file, download the "Raw disk image" ( .img ) file from the MikroTik Downloads page , unzip it, and use that as the hard drive image directly. This bypasses the installer entirely. Open a terminal and run: Instead of using
The "" message typically occurs when installing MikroTik RouterOS x86 from an ISO file. This error usually stems from the installer's inability to recognize modern hardware interfaces—like SATA or USB—as traditional CD-ROM drives. Why This Error Happens
Once you apply one of these methods, reboot your system. The installer will bypass the "No CD-ROM found" error, format the target storage drive, and present you with a prompt to select your desired packages. After a successful installation, remember to revert your boot priority settings so the system boots directly from the newly installed hard drive or flash disk.
If you are seeing this in a VM, the issue is almost always the virtual disk controller type.
He dug through a dusty drawer and found a grey CD-ROM drive salvaged from a 1999 Compaq desktop. His hands shook as he jury-rigged the PATA cable to a power adapter, balancing the drive on top of the router like a hat on a coffin.
Solutions for Virtual Machines (Proxmox, VMware, VirtualBox)
If the CD-ROM method refuses to work despite BIOS changes, the professional standard is to use . This is the most reliable way to install RouterOS.
Get the executable and the corresponding Main Package ( .npk ) from the MikroTik Software Repository.
Open a terminal and run:
Instead of using the ISO file, download the "Raw disk image" ( .img ) file from the MikroTik Downloads page , unzip it, and use that as the hard drive image directly. This bypasses the installer entirely.
The "" message typically occurs when installing MikroTik RouterOS x86 from an ISO file. This error usually stems from the installer's inability to recognize modern hardware interfaces—like SATA or USB—as traditional CD-ROM drives. Why This Error Happens
Once you apply one of these methods, reboot your system. The installer will bypass the "No CD-ROM found" error, format the target storage drive, and present you with a prompt to select your desired packages. After a successful installation, remember to revert your boot priority settings so the system boots directly from the newly installed hard drive or flash disk.