InstallDebianFromIsoShort

From coLinux

(the page InstallDebianFromIso got overdetailled over time, here is the original)

[edit] Short Goal : install a working Debian sarge/etch image from scratch, with a rather easy to use installer.

• Get a businesscard ISO for etch : http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/
• Get a businesscard ISO (35 Mb) for sarge / testing
• Get a ISO (186 Mb) for woody / stable

(NOTE: These instructions were done with sarge on 6 Oct 2004, but should work for any Linux ISO. Installed for Etch on 21 Sept 2007 using debian-40r1-i386-businesscard.iso with some modifications as noted below.)

Using daemon tools (http://www.daemon-tools.cc) to mount the image or an archiver program (http://www.tugzip.com) to extract files get initrd.gz out of \install on the CD. Extract initrd from initrd.gz and place it in a directory with your filesystems. (NOTE: The file may be in \boot or another dir if you're using a different distro, but will still be named initrd.gz)

Start with a configuration similar to this (this assumes root.fs is a blank ext3 formatted filesystem file):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<colinux>
    <block_device index="0" path="\[[DosDevices]]\D:\Downloads\[[coLinux]]\root.fs" enabled="true" />
    <block_device index="1" path="\[[DosDevices]]\D:\Downloads\[[coLinux]]\swap.fs" enabled="true" />
    <block_device index="2" path="\[[DosDevices]]\D:\Downloads\[[coLinux]]\sarge-i386-businesscard.iso" enabled="true" />
    <block_device index="3" path="\[[DosDevices]]\D:\Downloads\[[coLinux]]\initrd" enabled="true" />
    <bootparams>root=/dev/cobd3</bootparams>
    <initrd path="initrd.gz" />
    <image path="vmlinux" />
    <memory size="128" />
    <network index="0" type="bridged" name="Local" />
</colinux>

Boot colinux normally and wait for the installer to load. Choose to manually find CD. Choose "None" for CD ROM driver, then choose "/dev/cobd/2" for path. This should get you up to "No partitionable media is found". Press Alt+F2, then Enter.

mkdir /target
mount /dev/cobd/0 /target
cd /target

(this will "lock" this directory as mounted no matter what the partition step tries to do) Press Alt+F1, choose to continue install anyway. (50 Mb will be downloaded) Installing kernel then errors out, choose continue anyway. (choose a 2.6 something, related to your CPU of course) Don't install LILO or GRUB, choose finalize installation. There will be a few errors, choose continue anyway. Start a shell, edit /target/etc/fstab with nano and change it as so:

/dev/cobd0      /       ext3    defaults        1       1
/dev/cobd1      none    swap    sw              0       0

then make some coLinux block devices :

cd /target/dev
mknod cobd0 b 117 0
mknod cobd1 b 117 1
mknod cobd2 b 117 2
mknod cobd3 b 117 3

and reboot. Change your configuration to boot from cobd0 like so:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<colinux>
    <block_device index="0" path="\[[DosDevices]]\D:\Downloads\[[coLinux]]\root.fs" enabled="true" />
    <block_device index="1" path="\[[DosDevices]]\D:\Downloads\[[coLinux]]\swap.fs" enabled="true" />
    <bootparams>root=/dev/cobd0</bootparams>
    <initrd path="initrd.gz" />
    <image path="vmlinux" />
    <memory size="128" />
    <network index="0" type="bridged" name="Local" />
</colinux>

Boot, login as root,

apt-get update
apt-get install module-init-tools
reboot (just for good measure)

Should be at a fully working (yet minimal) debian install! don't forget to adjust your network configuration (like /etc/resolv.conf) and run apt-get clean to get rid of about 50 Mb you just downloaded.

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[edit] History

• originally written by <SKroWL> (very nice job), later updated with link to woody and edited for clarity.
• checked and validated by <Gniarf>, using snapshot 0622 and this Debian Sarge installer : http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/daily/i386/20041006/sarge-i386-businesscard.iso

[edit] Further notes

• <Gniarf> The <initrd> section is not strictly necessary, I didn't had one.
• <Gniarf> if you can't make the network work, I guess you can use the sarge-i386-netinst.iso instead. not tried yet.
• <OscarUsifer> For Etch, you'll need to remove the /dev/mem, /dev/kmem and /dev/core, then recreate the nodes with device node 1:3 (same as /dev/null) using the same mknod command mentioned earlier at the install step as noted above in virtual console 1 (vc1). You can observe the install progress in vc3 & vc4.

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MassTranslated on Sun Apr 23 17:36:20 UTC 2006