Howto: Install Mandriva Without A CD

tuxcantfly · Last edited by tuxcantfly on Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:02 am; edited 2 times in total

Main Website At http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html

What This Does

It's an installer for Windows or Linux users that lets you install Mandriva 2008 without a CD. The way it works is that a small (8 MB) installer places the PXE (netboot) version of the Mandriva installer on your hard drive, and configures your boot loader, either NTLDR if using Windows, or GRUB if using Linux, to boot from the PXE installer, and downloads and installs Mandriva from the net.

Requirements

You will need to either have a Windows (95-Vista) or Linux (any distro that uses GRUB) install already on your hard drive. You'll also need an internet connection. Apart from that, the requirements are the same as the standard Mandriva 2008 requirements.

Instructions

Download the appropriate installer package from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=198821

If using Windows, download the .exe file, if using Mandriva, Fedora, or another rpm-based distro, download the .rpm file, if using Ubuntu, Debian, or another deb-based distro, download the .deb file, and if using a distro that doesn't support rpm or deb, download the sh file.

Then, install the package, and reboot. A menu entry should appear in the boot menu, titled "UNetbootin". Select that entry, and boot. When asked for a source of installation media, select the internet installation (ftp) option.

When asked for server and folder info, input this:

server: ftp.free.fr
folder: mirrors/ftp.mandriva.com/MandrivaLinux/official/2008.0/i586

Then, the main installer will start, and wait as Mandriva is downloaded and installed.

More

UNetbootin also supports Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Fedora, Arch Linux, and Debian. Post a reply if you need any help, new features, or another supported distro. The website is located at http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html

tuxcantfly · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:13 am Post subject:

ignore this message, I'm subscribing to this thread

glyj · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:03 am Post subject:

Sorry, it's in french :
http://esfa.chez-alice.fr/installiso2.html

regards,
glyj
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le forum décrypté

tuxcantfly · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:09 am Post subject:

tuxcantfly · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:40 am Post subject:

also, in case any of you don't know the server info, use this:

select FTP

server: ftp.nluug.nl
folder: pub/os/Linux/distr/Mandriva/official/2007.1/i586

tuxcantfly · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:15 am Post subject:

Mandriva 2008 was recently released, so I've published a new UNetbootin build that can install it.. see the usual download spot at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=198821 and instructions are at the unetbootin site at http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html

Basically, follow the same instructions as with 2007, only for the server info, input this:

If installing Mandriva, select "FTP" as the installation source, and for the server, specify:

ftp.free.fr

and for the folder, if using the standard (32-bit) version, specify:

mirrors/ftp.mandriva.com/MandrivaLinux/official/2008.0/i586

or if using the 64-bit version, specify:

mirrors/ftp.mandriva.com/MandrivaLinux/official/2008.0/x86_64

Charlie brownau · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:11 pm Post subject:

Would it be possible to use this PXE boot system off a USB flash drive stick
to install Linux on the network to multiple PCS from one server with a gigabit connection ?

If someone could point me to a FAQ/URL to how to go about this that would be handy .

tuxcantfly · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:12 pm Post subject:

Juergen_HARMS · Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:40 pm Post subject:

If you use this mechanism, where will urpmi look for the installation isos? They will be needed if later, for instance, you install an update which has a dependency on a not yet installed package. I wonder whether, in that case, urpmi will not automatically look for a CD with the required iso - or is does urpmi remember the USB device as the place where to look for the iso? Did you encounter this problem? Maybe, after an installation as you suggest it, the CDs might be added manually with urpmi.addmedia - but with what label to make them recognised? Any suggestions?

tuxcantfly · Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:59 pm Post subject:

tuxcantfly · Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:01 am Post subject:

I've added support in the Mandriva 2008 UNetbootin packages for installing from Windows Vista. Usual download spot at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=198821

Charlie brownau · Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:25 am Post subject:

Why did my posts get removed ?

No point using this forum if they are going to be removed

RJ549 · Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 4:11 pm Post subject:

Huh? I haven't removed any posts lately. Confused

Was it in this thread?
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awilliamson · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:21 pm Post subject:

I move newly created topics out of the Tips and Tricks forums and into other forums without notice and without a ghost thread. This is explained in the descriptions of these forums:

"Particularly useful tips, tricks and documentation for general software go here. Admins may move threads here from other forums. Requests for help and other threads that don't fit this description will be moved to the appropriate forum."

The Tips and Tricks forums exist to collect particularly useful threads from other forums. You should not post new threads in these forums, they're kind of a 'best of' the other forums, and threads will only get into them if we (the moderators) move them there. I guess I should set them so that they don't accept new threads, actually.

So, if you posted a thread here and can no longer find it, it's because I moved it to the appropriate forum - probably General Software, but maybe one of the others. You should also be able to find it via the links to 'my threads' or 'my posts' or whatever in your profile.
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