Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4: Installation Guide for x86, Itanium™, AMD64, and Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel® EM64T)
Prev | Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux | Next

# 4.3. Starting the Installation Program

To start, first make sure that you have all necessary resources for the installation. If you have already read through Chapter 2 Steps to Get You Started, and followed the instructions, you should be ready to start the installation process. When you have verified that you are ready to begin, boot the installation program using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM #1 or any boot media that you have created.

| Note
| Occasionally, some hardware components require a driver diskette during the installation. A driver diskette adds support for hardware that is not otherwise supported by the installation program. Refer to Appendix E Driver Media for more information.

## 4.3.1. Booting the Installation Program on x86, AMD64, and Intel® EM64T Systems

You can boot the installation program using any one of the following media (depending upon what your system can support):

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM — Your machine supports a bootable CD-ROM drive and you have the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM set.

- Boot CD-ROM — Your machine supports a bootable CD-ROM drive and you want to perform network or hard drive installation.

- USB pen drive — Your machine supports booting from a USB device.

To create a boot CD-ROM or to prepare your USB pen drive for installation, refer to Section 2.4.2 Making an Installation Boot CD-ROM.

Insert the boot media and reboot the system. Your BIOS settings may need to be changed to allow you to boot from the CD-ROM or USB device.

| Tip

To change your BIOS settings on an x86, AMD64, or Intel® EM64T system, watch the instructions provided on your display when your computer first boots. A line of text appears, telling you which key to press to enter the BIOS settings.

Once you have entered your BIOS setup program, find the section where you can alter your boot sequence. The default is often C, A or A, C (depending on whether you boot from your hard drive [C] or a diskette drive [A]). Change this sequence so that the CD-ROM is first in your boot order and that C or A (whichever is your typical boot default) is second. This instructs the computer to first look at the CD-ROM drive for bootable media; if it does not find bootable media on the CD-ROM drive, it then checks your hard drive or diskette drive.

Save your changes before exiting the BIOS. For more information, refer to the documentation that came with your system.

After a short delay, a screen containing the `boot:` prompt should appear. The screen contains information on a variety of boot options. Each boot option also has one or more help screens associated with it. To access a help screen, press the appropriate function key as listed in the line at the bottom of the screen.

As you boot the installation program, be aware of two issues:

- Once the `boot:` prompt appears, the installation program automatically begins if you take no action within the first minute. To disable this feature, press one of the help screen function keys.

- If you press a help screen function key, there is a slight delay while the help screen is read from the boot media.

Normally, you only need to press <KEYCAP >[Enter]</KEYCAP > to boot. Be sure to watch the boot messages to review if the Linux kernel detects your hardware. If your hardware is properly detected, continue to the next section. If it does not properly detect your hardware, you may need to restart the installation and use one of the boot options provided in Appendix F Additional Boot Options.

## 4.3.2. Booting the Installation Program on Itanium Systems

Your Itanium system should be able to boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD #1. If your Itanium cannot boot the installation program from the CD-ROM (or if you want to perform a hard drive, NFS, FTP, or HTTP installation) you must boot from an LS-120 diskette. Refer to Section 4.3.2.2 Booting the Installation Program from an LS-120 Diskette for more information.

### 4.3.2.1. Booting the Installation Program from the CD-ROM

To boot from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD #1 follow these steps:

1. Remove all media except Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD #1.

2. From the Boot Option menu choose EFI Shell.

3. At the `Shell>` prompt, change to the file system on the CD-ROM. For example, in the above sample `map` output, the system partition on the CD-ROM is `fs1`. To change to the `fs1` file system, type `fs1:` at the prompt.

4. Type `elilo linux` to boot into the installation program.

5. Go to Chapter 4 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux to begin the installation.

### 4.3.2.2. Booting the Installation Program from an LS-120 Diskette

If your Itanium cannot boot from Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD #1, you must boot from an LS-120 diskette. If you want to perform a hard drive, NFS, FTP, or HTTP installation, you must boot from boot LS-120 diskette.

You must create an LS-120 boot image file diskette from the boot image file on CD #1: `images/boot.img`. To create this diskette in Linux, insert a blank LS-120 diskette and type the following command at a shell prompt:

    dd if=boot.img of=/dev/hda bs=180k

Replace boot.img with the full path to the boot image file and `/dev/hda` with the correct device name for the LS-120 diskette drive.

If you are not using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD, the installation program starts in text mode and you must choose a few basic options for your system.

If you are using the CD-ROM to load the installation program, follow the instructions contained in Chapter 4 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

To boot from an LS-120 diskette follow these steps:

1. Insert the LS-120 diskette you made from the boot image file `boot.img`. If you are performing a local CD-ROM installation but booting off the LS-120 diskette, insert the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD #1 also. If you are performing a hard drive, NFS, FTP, or HTTP installation, you do not need the CD-ROM.

2. From the Boot Option menu choose EFI Shell.

3. At the `Shell>` prompt, change the device to the LS-120 drive by typing the command `fs0:`, using the example `map` output above.

4. Type `elilo linux` to boot into the installation program.

5. Go to Chapter 4 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux to begin the installation.

## 4.3.3. Additional Boot Options

While it is easiest to boot using a CD-ROM and perform a graphical installation, sometimes there are installation scenarios where booting in a different manner may be needed. This section discusses additional boot options available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

For Itanium users:

To pass options to the boot loader on an Itanium system, enter the following at the EFI Shell prompt:

    elilo linux option

For x86, AMD64, and Intel® EM64T users:

To pass options to the boot loader on an x86, AMD64, or Intel® EM64T system, use the instructions as provided in the boot loader option samples below.

| Note
| Refer to Appendix F Additional Boot Options for additional boot options not covered in this section.

- To perform a text mode installation, at the installation boot prompt, type:

      linux text

- ISO images have an md5sum embedded in them. To test the checksum integrity of an ISO image, at the installation boot prompt, type:

      linux mediacheck

  The installation program prompts you to insert a CD or select an ISO image to test, and select OK to perform the checksum operation. This checksum operation can be performed on any Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD and does not have to be performed in a specific order (for example, CD #1 does not have to be the first CD you verify). It is strongly recommended to perform this operation on any Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD that was created from downloaded ISO images. This command works with the CD, DVD, hard drive ISO, and NFS ISO installation methods.

- Also in the `images/` directory is the `boot.iso` file. This file is an ISO image than can be used to boot the installation program. To use the `boot.iso`, your computer must be able to boot from its CD-ROM drive, and its BIOS settings must be configured to do so. You must then burn the `boot.iso` file onto a recordable/rewriteable CD-ROM.

- If you need to perform the installation in serial mode, type the following command:

      linux console=<device>

  For text mode installations, use:

      linux text console=<device>

  In the above command, <device> should be the device you are using (such as ttyS0 or ttyS1). For example, `linux text console=ttyS0`.

  Text mode installations using a serial terminal work best when the terminal supports UTF-8. Under UNIX and Linux, Kermit supports UTF-8. For Windows, Kermit '95 works well. Non-UTF-8 capable terminals works as long as only English is used during the installation process. An enhanced serial display can be used by passing the `utf8` command as a boot-time option to the installation program. For example:

       linux console=ttyS0 utf8

### 4.3.3.1. Kernel Options

Options can also be passed to the kernel. For example, to instruct the kernel to use all the RAM in a system with 128 MB of RAM, at the installation boot prompt, enter:

    linux mem=128M

For text mode installations, use:

    linux text mem=128M

With most computers, there is no need to pass this argument to the kernel. The kernel detects the amount of memory your system has in most cases. However, using this command is often helpful for testing purposes. For example, you can boot with less memory by passing a `linux mem=64M` or `linux text mem=64M` option to the kernel.

After entering any options, press <KEYCAP >[Enter]</KEYCAP > to boot using those options.

If you need to specify boot options to identify your hardware, please write them down. The boot options are needed during the boot loader configuration portion of the installation (refer to Section 4.17 x86, AMD64, and Intel® EM64T Boot Loader Configuration for more information).

Prev | Home | Next
The Text Mode Installation Program User Interface | Up | Selecting an Installation Method