CentOS 5 Installation - 2.4. Can You Install Using the CD-ROM or DVD?

2.4. Can You Install Using the CD-ROM or DVD?

$9.99

There are several methods that can be used to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Installing from a CD-ROM or DVD requires that you have purchased a Red Hat Enterprise Linux product, you have a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 CD-ROM or DVD, and you have a DVD/CD-ROM drive on a system that supports booting from it.

Your BIOS may need to be changed to allow booting from your DVD/CD-ROM drive. For more information about changing your BIOS, refer to Section 4.3.1, “Booting the Installation Program on x86, AMD64, and Intel 64 Systems”.

2.4.1. Alternative Boot Methods

Boot DVD/CD-ROM

If you can boot using the DVD/CD-ROM drive, you can create your own CD-ROM to boot the installation program. This may be useful, for example, if you are performing an installation over a network or from a hard drive. Refer to Section 2.4.2, “Making an Installation Boot CD-ROM” for further instructions.

USB pen drive

If you cannot boot from the DVD/CD-ROM drive, but you can boot using a USB device, such as a USB pen drive, the following alternative boot method is available:

To boot using a USB pen drive, use the dd command to copy the diskboot.img image file from the /images/ directory on the DVD or CD-ROM #1. For example:

dd if=diskboot.img of=/dev/sda

Your BIOS must support booting from a USB device in order for this boot method to work.

2.4.2. Making an Installation Boot CD-ROM

isolinux (not available for Itanium systems) is used for booting the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation CD. To create your own CD-ROM to boot the installation program, use the following instructions:

Copy the isolinux/ directory from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux DVD or CD #1 into a temporary directory (referred to here as <path-to-workspace>) using the following command:

          cp -r <path-to-cd>/isolinux/<path-to-workspace>

Change directories to the <path-to-workspace> directory you have created:

          cd <path-to-workspace>

Make sure the files you have copied have appropriate permissions:

          chmod u+w isolinux/*

Finally, issue the following command to create the ISO image file:

          mkisofs -o file.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot \ -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -R -J -v -T isolinux/

Note

The above command was split into two lines for printing purposes only. When you execute this command, be sure to type it as a single command, all on the same line.

Burn the resulting ISO image (named file.iso and located in <path-to-workspace>) to a CD-ROM as you normally would.