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Download the MCX-RTOS image for your controller from the motorcortex.io store.

  3 minute read  

Every kind of controller needs its own MCX-RTOS image: an Intel image for an industrial PC, a Raspberry Pi image for a Raspberry Pi, and a disk image or appliance file for a virtual machine. You download it from the motorcortex.io store.

Before you start

  • An account on motorcortex.io. If you do not have one yet, register for an account.
  • Room on your PC for the image: an image is several gigabytes once it is unpacked.

Find the image in the store

The store lists the images in its OS images and SDK category. Each image has a Download action in the menu at the end of its row. File names contain the MCX-RTOS version, so the names on your screen differ from the examples below. Pick the newest version.

Select your controller:


An industrial PC needs two files. The Intel image is MCX-RTOS itself. The imager stick image turns a USB drive into a boot stick that installs the Intel image on the controller’s disk.

  1. Open the motorcortex.io store and log in.

  2. Download the Intel image. Its name starts with mcx-image and contains mcx-intel, for example mcx-image-dev-mcx-intel-2022.09-0-g7adb1a0.img.xz.

  3. Download the imager stick image. Its name contains mcx-clonezilla, for example 2022-09-09_16-24-40_mcx-clonezilla_6Gb.img.xz. The stick is based on ClonezillaClonezilla is a free tool that copies whole disks to and from image files. The Motorcortex imager stick adds its own mci commands to it. .

    Store listing with the imager stick image, the Intel image, the Raspberry Pi image and the VirtualBox appliance, and the download action of the Intel image highlighted

  4. Both files land in your Downloads folder. Leave them compressed: the .img.xz files are unpacked while they are written.


A Raspberry Pi runs MCX-RTOS from its SD card, so you need one file: the Raspberry Pi image.

  1. Open the motorcortex.io store and log in.

  2. Download the Raspberry Pi image. Its name starts with mcx-image and contains mcx-rpi4, for example mcx-image-dev-mcx-rpi4-2022.09-0-g7adb1a0.img.xz.

    Store listing with the download action of the Raspberry Pi 4 image highlighted

  3. The .img.xz file lands in your Downloads folder. Leave it compressed: Raspberry Pi Imager unpacks it while it writes the card.


Which file you need depends on the program that runs the virtual machine:

Program Host File
QEMU Ubuntu The Intel disk image, a .wic file, possibly compressed as .wic.xz or .wic.gz
VirtualBox Windows, or Ubuntu The VirtualBox appliance, an OVAAn OVA (Open Virtual Appliance) file packs a complete virtual machine, its disk and its settings, into one file that VirtualBox imports. file such as Motorcortex 2022.09.ova

On Ubuntu, QEMU is the recommended way; VirtualBox is the older one.

  1. Open the motorcortex.io store and log in.

  2. Download the file for your program.

    Store listing with the download action of the Motorcortex VirtualBox appliance highlighted

  3. The file lands in your Downloads folder.

Watch the download as a video

The video shows an older version of the store.

Next: Install the image.