Install MDK from Hard drive

[Guest anon]

This info was stolen from : http://fhj52.tripod.com/linux/MDK_HD_INSTALL.html

This is a How-To of detailed instructions for MS Windows users who want to install Mandrake Linux(ML). It is most particularly aimed at those few who cannot use the typical CD install method but anybody can use it. Once you try this, you will probably decide to never burn another CD for the same task. It's a breeze to do and you save time and money. By the way, the install is faster too.

I hope that it is good enough for even the newest of the Linux users but it must assume that you have at least some computer skills. If you do not know how to create partitions and use MS Windows based GUI software, you are going to have trouble.

 

Let's summarize this for easy recall, the whizKiDz and the impatient.

 

Here are the basic 7 steps to freedom from burning CDs to install ML:

I. Create a partition that is ~3GB in size and format it as FAT32.

II. If you do not have these programs, you will need them. Get some ISO image manipulation software, John Newbigin's "rawwritewin" program from his site and software to check the ISO's MD5 sums.

III. Get the MDK ISO images. Place the cd1...ISO into the partition(step I.); the other two(cd2...ISO and cd3...ISO) can go wherever. (Don't forget to verify the MD5sums.)

IV. Using the ISO image manipulation software, copy the hd.img file from the "images" directory to a location where you can access it with the rawwritewin program.

V. Get a good 1.44MB floppy and use the rawwritewin program to create a boot/install disk with it by utilizing the hd.img file.

VI. Using the ISO image manipulation software, cut&paste the "rpms2" directory from the cd2...ISO and the "rpms3" directory from the cd3...ISO into the "Mandrake" directory in the cd1...ISO.

VII. Lucky number seven, :), reboot with the floppy in the floppy drive and just do what is asked by the installer.

When all is done you can delete the cd2...ISO and cd3...ISO as you will never need them again. After the system is up and running and you have a firewall in place, startup MCC and point the Installer Program to the partition with rpms, rpms2 and rpms3 directories. Then, go online and get all the security updates. Next, do updates, installs, uninstalls as you desire... and Have Fun!

 

If those simple 7 steps to freedom are a bit intimidating, here are the expanded explanations. There are many options to these instructions but I am including only what I tested and know works here.

 

INSTALL FROM THE HARD DRIVE EXTENDED INFORMATION

 

First, forget the exercise in CD burning. It is not necessary; in fact, it is a waste* of time and money.

Next, you will need some ISO image manipulation software such as WinImage or IsoBuster. Get it (shareware/freeware) or something else like it. I suggest to purchase the one you like best if you intend to continue to use MS windows as it is a valuable resource that has no substitute when you need it. Hereinafter it will be just called "ISO-SW".

Obviously, you are going to need the ISOs. If you do not have them, I suggest going to your local store-Mart and buying the Mandrake Linux Operating System software distribution package. If so, you can stop reading now. :-)

 

No? Okay, prepare to get the ISOs from your fav download site(pick one) by creating a new partition on the hard drive. That can be done with the MS-DOS fdisk or similar DOS program. You can also use "Disk Manager" or some other graphical interface to fdisk to create the new partition. The partition needs to be sized as 2 to 3GB (3GB is better if you have the space.) and formatted as a FAT32 partition. When deciding where to put it, consider it as a permanent addition to your system.

 

Go online to get the cd1...iso and download it into the newly created partition. Also get the cd2...iso and cd3...iso but place them into another location(s) on the hard drive. They require ~ 1.2GB of space. Also, don't forget, get the MD5 sums files for each ISO.

The cd3...iso is not required but is recommended.

I consider cd2...iso to be mandatory. In fact, the ML install does not work as good without it. You can do the install with just the one cd1...iso but you will have to choose rpms(programs) very carefully and you will need to verify in advance that all programs you intend to install are available in the Mandrake rpms folders. The installer does not like it when you fib to it. :)

Since we are assuming that you are pretty new to Linux, you have no idea what program(rpm) is where. You need to just make it easy on yourself. Hence, get all three ISOs.

 

You also need some software to create a boot floppy using MandrakeSoft's hd.img file. The best for that is rawwrite or rawwritewin. There are several ways to get the software. One is, while in MS Windows, use the ISO-SW to copy the rawwritewin program from the "dosutils" directory in the cd1...ISO. Another is to get it from an Internet site (mirror) because it is available in the Mandrake-i586 tree under the directory "dosutils". The last and best is to get it from John Newbigin's site so that you can use the latest version. The newer version from his site worked better for me in MS Win2k. It was version 0.6 but (at least) 0.7 is currently available. His Explore2fs program will be a nice addition to your Linux-Windows tools if you want to get it while you are at his site.

 

If you do not have software to verify the ISO integrity by checking the MD5 sums you will need to obtain it also. winMD5sum (from Solid Blue Software) works fine here for the task and it is (currently) freeware. They have other cool stuff.

 

You will also need the hd.img file that is in the "images" dir in the Mandrake-i586 tree. It's also inside the ISO image but you will need ISO-SW to get it out. Whether you get it from the Internet or from the ISO, remember where you copy&paste the hd.img file because you are going to be using it very shortly.

Next, you are going to merge parts of cd2...iso and cd3...iso into cd1...iso.

Use the ISO-SW for this next part. You will need about 1.2GB of additional space for the rpms2 and rpms3 folders. So, make sure you have room on the partition where the cd1...iso resides.( You should if you did the steps above.)

Copy or cut the rpms2 folder from the cd2...iso and paste it into the "Mandrake" directory in the cd1...ISO. Then copy or cut the rpms3 folder from the cd3...iso and paste it into the "Mandrake" directory in the cd1...ISO. That will take quite a while as you are copying ~1.2GB of files.

The "Mandrake" folder/dir in the cd1...ISO will now have the rpms, rpms2 and rpms3 folders in it (among the other items). That is all the copying. The total space needed is less than 2GB.

For goodness sakes, do not forget to save the work you just did while working with the ISO-SW of choice! If you want to double-check everything, open up the ISO-SW again and look at the files and folders in the cd1...iso. It should have all the original files as well as the rpms2 and rpms3 folders and the files(rpms) inside them.

 

Use the rawwritewin program for this next part. Insert a good 1.44MB floppy into the drive(make sure the floppy is writeable). Run(double-click) the rawwritewin program. The "Write" tab should be displayed when the GUI opens. If not, click on the "Write" tab at the top to bring it to the front. In the "Write" tab tell the program where the hd.img file is located by either typing the path and name into the small text editor widget or use the browse widget("...") to locate and select the hd.img file. Now, select "write" and it will make a bootable floppy for you.

 

While it does that, write down the path and name of the install cd1...iso that you downloaded(e.g., mandrake90-cd1-inst.i586.iso) and modified by merging the rpms2 and rpms3 folders into it. You should also obtain the size of the partition (in MB) that it is on because it will be easier to choose it from a list that will be displayed by the installer program. The names of the partitions listed by the installer program will be unfamiliar if you are not accustomed to using Linux and the size may help you choose the correct partition the first time. It does not have to be an exact size - just get close enough that you can distinguish it from other partitions that you currently use.

 

When rawwrite is done and if you are ready to install ML, make sure the floppy you just made is inserted into the drive, close programs, shutdown everything and reboot.

 

The system will boot from the floppy, load the vmlinuz kernel image and installer program. Then you will have that old familar start-up of the install -just like it is booting from a CD. Well, for us that use ML, it's the old, familiar start-up. Maybe it will be for you soon, too. :)

After some of the basic drivers are loaded, the ML installer will ask you where the ISO resides. Select the correct partition and, if necessary, type in the path and the name and your off and running! If you are wrong it will kindly provide more info and opportunities to get it right. However, it does not allow you to 'browse'.

 

Everything else is like a normal install except it is faster and easier.

 

The installer will only read one partition/path/ISO and that is why the rpms2 and rpms3 must be in the "Mandrake" folder if you intend to install any programs that would be found on either of those two ISOs. The way rpms are arranged, it is nearly impossible to avoid needing at least one or more rpms that are in the second and third ISOs.

 

About

It was originally prompted by my own desire to have a good, simple way to install MandrakeSoft's distribution, provide an organized method to update the software, add additional RPMS and allow a smooth transition to the next release that I decided to install. I also hate CD coasters. :)

The guide was finally determined in my mind as necessary when I read email after email from people complaining about the latest MandrakeSoft release that was too big for their CD writers to successfully burn. Knowing that this would continue to be a problem and that there was no good reason, imo, for people to get so upset with MandrakeSoft, I decided to formalize the ideas into this How-To and make it freely* available.

This How-To is not describing something that is a brand new technique. However, as far as I know, there is no good detailed How-To that describes the method as thourghly as it needs to be done.

Note: A second version of this will follow soon to include instructions for the people who already have Linux installed. It is easier and does not require externally obtained software.

After reading all of that, it should be clear that the point is that there is no reason to spend the time and money to burn a CD. Making a boot floppy is faster and cheaper; plus, if the system fails to boot(not likely), you have a boot floppy. In addition you have a location for access to installing new rpms without having to find that CD that is always somewhere near the bottom of the stack in the back - unless you look for it there first. :) It also makes an upgrade and maintenance quite a bit more organized if you arrange your downloads into the same partition. Ah! Now you know why I said 3GB was a better choice for size - planning for the future!

 

 

In fact, it worked so good here that I'll never burn another CD for a ML install! But I will BUY some - you should too.

 

*freely = licensed under the GNU Free Documentaion license. Please refer to http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html for specifics.

*waste = not completely a waste because a CD made from the cd1...iso is a bootable CD that can allow you to "rescue" your Linux OS in case of disaster if other means are unavailable or nonfunctional for a rescue.

 

Good Luck &

Happy Holidays!

************

 

Fold On! The Folding@home project may be the very best use of a home PC's spare CPU cycles. Find out for yourself why at http://folding.stanford.edu/ and then join Team MandrakeLinux # 12501 or Team Mandrakesoft # 1859227220.

[Sudrien]

If you already have cds, there is another covienient way;

 

1. Like above, make a 3GB partition. It is ok to use fat32.

 

2. copy the whole directory structure from each of the CDs to the partition. If you have three CDs, make sure you do not overwrite /mandrake, there should be four RPM foldsers there.

 

3. Make an hd bootdisk like above.

 

4. boot with the disk.

 

THe rest is pretty similar. the convenience of never having to switch CDs when installing new packages is great.

[Drutort]

hmm i think winimage DOES NOT WORK HERE...

 

from winimage

 

"WinImage cannot modify an ISO image. You can only open the image, display list of files in the image and extract them."

 

And I dont see why in the world mandrake team cant go and make there HD.img or there hole install to JUST SIMPLY ASK for the iso's or whatever...

 

obviously you can read iso's so what is so hard puting options for other CD'S???

 

I mean this is such a pain moving those RMP folders as they are CD's size.. and the process has to extract them, in that time you can burn a CD at same time...

 

 

the best way and the only way is you should have the ISO's on your hd and just point to the 3 CD iso's THATS IT!!

 

 

I found some other software like ultraIso but it limits you to write only 300mb!!!!

 

there is no other ISO software that is shareware or whatever that lets you to mod an ISO!!

[Drutort]

It doesnt matter I have found other software that let me put those 2 files which make that first CD size up to 1.9gb

 

and i go and try to run it with the floppy and i get that it cant find the /mandrake/base/

 

when its right tHERE you can see MANDRAKE as a folder!!!

 

its not working... btw im using the 9.2rc1

 

it would make sense not to burn cds for that beta

[Drutort]

If you already have cds, there is another covienient way;

 

1. Like above, make a 3GB partition. It is ok to use fat32.

 

2. copy the whole directory structure from each of the CDs to the partition. If you have three CDs, make sure you do not overwrite /mandrake, there should be four RPM foldsers there.

 

3. Make an hd bootdisk like above.

 

4. boot with the disk.

 

THe rest is pretty similar. the convenience of never having to switch CDs when installing new packages is great.

 

 

This also doesnt work!!

 

the only thing that has worked but some what is the 1 cd ISO and thats IT.. trying to MOD the CD1 ISO doesnt WORK i have now spent HOURS DOING THIS!!

[mandrakewilson]

Good tip!

Here's how I loaded Mandrake 9.2-rc2 using a HD install.

I didn't need to make a FAT32 partition as I already had Windows 98 installed on hda1. I installed Mandrake on my second HD.

In Windows:

1) I ran md5sum.exe (googled for the Windows version) on all

three cd ISOs I had downloaded into C:

2) Using "ISOBuster" (googled for it also) I extracted the first CD into a

"C:mandrake" folder I created, then extracted the other two CDs and

copied the "rpms2" and "rpms3" folders from the second and third CDs

into the "C:mandrake" folder. Leave it all extracted, that is, you don't

need to create an ISO out of the "mandrake" folder.

3) Using "rawwritewin" (googled for it) I made a boot floppy using the

"hd.img" file from the "images" directory in "C:mandrake".

4) Booted the floppy. It will ask for where the install files are. Point it to

"C:mandrake"

Note: That last "" is important. I lost an hour when I just put in

"C:mandrake"---didn't work.

5) The installer should launch and you can install as usual.

6) You can delete "C:mandrake" and the ISOs if you wish, or keep 'em in case you want to reinstall later.

 

This worked out great, as I only had two 700mb cd/rw disks left that were good. Be sure to make a rescue floppy after mandrake is installed!