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How to install sarge with the new debian-installer |
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-------------------------------------------------- |
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This documents describes how to perform an installation with the new |
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debian-installer, which will be released together with the upcoming |
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Debian release, codename: sarge. |
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For the most current version of this document or more information on |
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the debian-installer project: http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer |
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|
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Last update: $Date$ |
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1. Preliminaries |
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The debian-installer is still in a beta state. If you encounter |
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bugs during your install, please refer to section 5 on how to report |
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them. If you have questions which cannot be answered by this document, |
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please direct them to the debian-boot mailing list |
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(debian-boot@lists.debian.org) or ask on irc (#debian-boot on the |
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freenode network). |
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Recently the debian-installer has switched to ask only the important |
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questions and configure the rest automatically. This also means that you |
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won't get to see the main menu anymore, except when something goes wrong. |
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If you want to restore the old configuration with more questions asked, |
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type "expert" at the boot prompt. If you do so, refer to section |
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3.1. for installing rather than section 3. |
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This HOWTO is mainly targeted at users of the i386 architecture, although |
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the instructions are similar for all architectures. For more detailed |
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information, see the Debian Sarge Installation Manual: |
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http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/ |
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2. Getting images |
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The debian-cd team provides builds of CD images for debian-installer here: |
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http://people.debian.org/cdimage/testing/ |
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The other kinds of images, including floppy images are in the Debian |
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archive, in the main/installer-<arch> directories. For example: |
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ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/unstable/main/installer-i386/current/images/ |
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Daily builds of all non-ISO debian-installer images, including floppy images |
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and initrd's are available, for a complete list with links, see |
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http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ports-status |
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The subsections below will give the details about which images you should |
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get for each possible means of installation. |
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2.1 CDROM |
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|
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There are two different netinst images at the location above which can be |
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used to install sarge with the debian-installer. These images are intended |
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to boot from CD and install additional packages over a network, hence the |
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name 'netinst'. The difference between the two images is, that on the full |
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netinst image the base packages are included, whereas you have to download |
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these from the web if you are using the business card image. |
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Download whichever type you prefer and burn it to a CD. |
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2.1.1 SCSI CD drives |
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If you have a SCSI CD drive and a relatively uncommon SCSI controller, then |
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you may also need one driver floppy to let the installer see your CD drive. |
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However, this is only the case with CD images that use syslinux as their |
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bootloader, rather than the normal ones, which use isolinux. |
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See section 2.2 for information about floppys, and download the cd-drivers |
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floppy image and write it to disk. You will be given an opportunity to load |
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drivers from the floppy if the installer fails to see your SCSI CD drive, |
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and after loading the floppy, the installer will see your CD ROM. |
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2.2 The dreaded floppies |
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If you can't boot from CD, you can download floppy images to install |
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Debian. You need the floppy/boot.img, the floppy/root.img and possibly |
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one of the driver disks. |
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|
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- floppy/net-drivers.img |
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To do an install over the network with a few common ethernet cards, |
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you do not need this driver floppy. If you have a less common ethernet |
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card, or pcmcia, you will need it. |
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- floppy/cd-drivers.img |
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If you have a cdrom, but cannot boot from it, you can boot from floppies, |
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and use this driver disk to complete the install using the cdrom. |
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Floppy disks are one of the least reliable media around, so be prepared for |
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lots of bad disks. Each .img file you downloaded goes on a single floppy; |
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you can use the dd command to write it to /dev/fd0 or some other means. |
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It's a good idea to them use cmp to compare what ended up on the unreliable |
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floppy disk with the image. If it fails throw that floppy away and try |
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again. Since you'll have more than one floppy, it's a good idea to label |
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them. |
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The boot floppy is the one with boot.img on it. This floppy, when |
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booted, will prompt you to insert a second floppy -- use the one with |
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root.img on it. |
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2.3 USB memory stick |
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It's also possible to install from removable USB storage devices. For |
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example a USB keychain can make a handy Debian install media the you |
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can take with you anywhere. |
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The easiest way to prepare your USB memory stick is to download |
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hd-media/boot.img.gz, and use gunzip to extract the 128 MB image from that |
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file. Write this image directly to your memory stick, which must be at |
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least 128 mb in size. Of course this will destroy anything already on the |
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memory stick. Then mount the memory stick, which will now have a FAT |
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filesystem on it. Next, download a Debian netinst CD image, and copy that |
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file to the memory stick; any filename is ok as long as it ends in ".iso". |
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Alternatively, if you're using linux and familiar with loopback mounting, |
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it can be quicker to loop mount the disk image, copy the iso into it, and |
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only then write the complete image to the memory stick. |
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There are other, more flexible ways to set up a memory stick to use the |
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debian-installer, and it's possible to get it to work with smaller memory |
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sticks. This web page has more complete directions for using |
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debian-installer and a bootable USB stick: http://d-i.pascal.at/ |
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2.3.1 Booting directly from USB storage |
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Some BIOSes can boot USB storage directly, and some cannot. You may need to |
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configure your BIOS to boot from a "removable drive" or even a "USB-ZIP" to |
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get it to boot from the USB device. The web site above has more information |
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and some helpful hints about booting. |
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2.3.2 Using USB storage and a boot floppy |
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The debian-installer can be booted off a single floppy, which will be able |
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to access your USB memory stick. To boot the installer this way, you will |
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need to put the floppy/boot.img on a floppy (see section 2.2). |
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Now boot from the floppy. It should detect your USB device and proceed |
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with booting from it. |
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2.4 Booting from network |
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It's also possible to boot debian-installer completely from the net. The |
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various methods to netboot depend on your architecture and netboot setup. |
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They are not explaind here. For an explanation of how to do PXE netbooting |
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(on i386), see this web page: |
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http://wiki.debian.net/index.cgi?DebianInstallerNetbootPXE |
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The files in netboot/ can be used to netboot debian-installer. |
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If you don't have a netboot setup, you can write the netboot/mini.iso |
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to a CD to produce a minimal netinst CD. |
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2.5 Booting from hard disk |
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It's possible to boot the installer using no removable media, but just an |
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existing hard disk, which can have a different OS on it. These instructions |
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are for i386 systems, such as those running windows. Download |
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hd-media/initrd.gz, hd-media/vmlinuz, and a Debian CD image to the top-level |
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directory of the hard disk. Make sure that the CD image has a filename |
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ending in ".iso". Now it's just a matter of booting linux with the initrd. |
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If you have grub installed, boot grub, and do the following: |
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grub>kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=8192 devfs=mount,dall |
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grub>initrd (hd0,0)/initrd.gz |
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grub>boot |
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Note that the ramdisk_size parameter may need to be increased, depending on |
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the image you are booting. |
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Ater the installer boots , it should find the ISO you placed on the hard |
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disk, and continue with the install. You will not be able to reformat the |
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partition the installer was booted from if you use this technique. |
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3. Installation |
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From here on, I assume you have downloaded and burnt the 'netinst' |
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CD. Put it into your CD-drive and make your system boot from CD. |
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You will be greeted by a welcome screen. Hit ENTER to boot. After a |
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while you will be asked to select your language. This will affect |
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translation of debian-installer (if already available for your |
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language) as well as the choice of country and keyboard layout. Select |
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your language and press ENTER to continue. |
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Sit back while debian-installer detects some of your hardware, and |
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loads additional installer modules from the cd. |
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Next the installer will try to detect your network hardware and set up |
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networking by DHCP. If you are not on a network or do not have DHCP, you |
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will see an error message. You do not need a network to continue the |
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install, so this can be easily worked around. Select continue and watch the |
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main menu which will appear everytime if something went wrong, so you have |
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more control over the situation. Proceed to "Partition disks". |
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Now it is time to partition your disks. First you will be given the |
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opportunity to automatically partition either an entire drive, or free |
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space on a drive. If you do not want to autopartition, choose manual from |
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the menu. |
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On the next screen you will see your partition table, how the partitions |
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will be formatted, and where they will be mounted. Select a partition to |
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modify or delete it. If you did automatic partitioning, you should just be |
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able to choose "Finished partitioning" from the menu to use what it set up. |
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Remember to assign at least one partition for swap space and to mount a |
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partition on "/". |
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Now debian-installer starts to install the base system which can take a |
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while. That is followed by installing a kernel. |
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The last step is to install a boot loader. You will be prompted for |
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the device where GRUB should be installed. It defaults to the boot |
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record of the first harddrive which is generally a good choice, |
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but if you have another OS installer that you want to keep booting, be |
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careful not to overwrite your master boot record. |
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Debian-installer will now tell you that the installation has |
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finished. Remove the cdrom from your drive and hit ENTER to reboot |
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your machine. Make sure it boots from harddisk, cross your fingers and |
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wait until base-config is started. |
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Stepping through base-config is not within the scope of this document |
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as it is not part of debian-installer. |
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3.1. Expert mode installation |
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From here on, I assume you have downloaded and burnt the 'netinst' |
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CD. Put it into your CD-drive and make your system boot from CD. |
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You will be greeted by a welcome screen. Type "expert" and hit ENTER to |
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boot. After a while you will be presented with the main-menu of the |
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debian-installer. Some general remarks: |
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The main-menu is not static. New entries are added when new installer |
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modules are loaded. However main-menu tries to resolve the next best |
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choice and presents that as default selection. If that selection does |
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not suit your needs just select another entry. If you select an entry |
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that requires the configuration of an entry you did not yet choose, |
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the main-menu will try to resolve these dependencies automatically. |
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This can be used to automate the install process, by selecting always |
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the last visible step. |
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When main-menu first is shown, the default will be "Choose language". Hit |
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return and choose your language from the list that now is presented. You |
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will be taken back to main-menu and the next item will be the default, |
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which is "Choose country". Select that entry and observe that the installer |
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tries to set a reasonable default based upon your language selection. |
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Select your country and continue. |
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The next step is "Detect a keyboard and select layout". Again the installer |
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will attempt to pick a reasonable default. Select your preferred keymap and |
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continue. |
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The next step is "Detect CDROM devices and mount the CD". As part of this |
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step, the installer will probe the system for hardware, and load kernel |
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modules for detect hardware. You will be given a chance to veto the loading |
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of kernel modules (in case they cause problems), and to specify parameters |
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to pass to the kernel when the modules are loaded. After the hardware is |
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detected, the CD should be found automatically in most cases. |
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Now we are able to load the rest of the installer. Select the corresponding |
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entry "Load installer components". Since the modules we want to access are |
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on the CD, select "cdrom-retriever". The floppy-retriever can be used to |
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load additional modules from a floppy, e.g. if you have exotic hardware. |
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See section 2.1.1 if you have a SCSI CDROM. |
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You are presented a long list with optional components to install. We |
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only want to install the standard components, which are selected |
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automatically, so just hit "Continue". Wait and watch until all |
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components have been loaded. |
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Main-menu appears again, but with the additional modules there are new |
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entries. The next default step would be to configure a network. We are |
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breaking out of the default route, because we do not need networking |
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since the base debs are on the CD. |
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Select "Detect hardware". This will repeat the hardware detection process, |
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but now the installer has more kernel modules available to it. |
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Now it is time to partition your disk, so choose "Partition disks" from the |
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menu. You will be presented with a display showing the partitions on your |
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system. Select partitons from the list to modify or delete them. If you |
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have free space it will also show up under a drive, and you can select it |
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to create new partitions. When modifying a partition you will have the |
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opportunity to choose the file system to use, and where to mount it. The |
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partitioning menu also has a choice at the bottom that can be used to |
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automatically partition a drive or existing free space on a drive, if you'd |
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rather go that route. Be sure to create at least two partitions, one for |
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swap and one for the root filesystem. |
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After finishing partitioning, select "Finished partitioning" from the menu, |
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and confirm that the filesystems should be created as requested. |
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|
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Now we are ready to install the base system. Select the corresponding entry |
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("Install the base system") and lean back. The packages are retrieved from |
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the CD and installed in the /target area. During this step, you will |
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presented a list of all available kernel images on the CD. Select the most |
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suitable for your system and wait until the installation has finished. |
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|
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Now we are almost done. Select "Install GRUB on a hard disk" or |
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"Install LILO on a hard disk" to make your harddisk bootable. You will |
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be asked where GRUB/GRUB shall install the bootblock. A good idea is |
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the first hard drive in your system which should be in fact the |
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default selection. |
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If that last step has completed successfully select "Finish the |
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installation and reboot", eject your CD and wait until your computer |
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restarts. Make sure it boots from harddisk, cross your fingers and |
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wait until base-config is started. |
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Stepping through base-config is not within the scope of this document |
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as it is not part of debian-installer. |
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4. Installation Report |
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If you successfully managed an installation with debian-installer, |
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please take time to provide us with a report. There is a template |
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named "install-report.template" in the /root directory of a freshly |
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installed system. Please fill it out and file it as a bug against the |
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package "installation-reports". See section 5 on how to file bugs. |
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5. Reporting bugs |
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If you did not reach base-config or ran into other trouble, you |
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probably found a bug in debian-installer. To improve the installer it |
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is necessary that we know about them, so please take your time and |
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report them. |
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First, look here to see if your bug has already been reported: |
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http://bugs.qa.debian.org/cgi-bin/debian-installer.cgi?full=yes |
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The page is sorted by packages which represent the individual |
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subsystems of debian-installer. File your bug against the respective |
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subsystem or, if you do not know which it is, against the package |
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"install". Look here for an explanation of how to file bugs: |
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http://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting |
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6. Get involved |
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The Debian-Installer Team always welcomes people who would like to |
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work on the installer. We have plenty of work to do: fixing bugs, |
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improve usability, create new modules and of course extensive |
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testing. If you are interested to help, check out this page: |
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http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ |
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