4.6. Installing from a Hard Drive

NoteNote
 

Hard drive installations only work from ext2, ext3, or FAT file systems. If you have a file system other than those listed here, such as reiserfs, you will not be able to perform a hard drive installation.

Hard drive installations require the use of the ISO (or CD-ROM) images. An ISO image is a file containing an exact copy of a CD-ROM disk image. Because Red Hat Enterprise Linux has so many packages included with its distribution, there are several ISO images available. After placing the required ISO images (the binary Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROMs) in a directory, choose to install from the hard drive. You can then point the installation program at that directory to perform the installation.

Verifying that the ISO images are intact before you attempt an installation will help to avoid problems that are often encountered during a hard drive installation. To verify the ISO images are intact prior to performing an installation, use an md5sum program (many md5sum programs are available for various operating systems). An md5sum program should be available on the same server as the ISO images.

NoteNote
 

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

Itanium users should use the elilo linux mediacheck command.

Additionally, if a file called RedHat/base/updates.img exists in the directory from which you install, it is used for installation program updates. Refer to the file install-methods.txt in the anaconda RPM package for detailed information on the various ways to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux, as well as how to apply the installation program updates.

Figure 4-3. Selecting Partition Dialog for Hard Drive Installation

The Select Partition screen applies only if you are installing from a disk partition (that is, if you selected Hard Drive in the Installation Method dialog). This dialog allows you to name the disk partition and directory from which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Enter the device name of the partition containing the Red Hat Enterprise Linux ISO images. There is also a field labeled Directory holding images.

If the ISO images are in the root (top-level) directory of that partition, enter the path to the ISO images (for example, if the partition on which the ISO images are located is normally mounted as /home/, and the images are in /home/new/, you would enter new).

If the ISO images are not in the root (top-level) directory of that partition, enter the full path to the ISO images (for example, if the ISO images are located in /test/new/, you would enter /test/new/).

After you have identified the disk partition, the Welcome dialog appears.