Creating a Linux Boot Disk
Before you can install Red Hat Linux from the CD bundled into the back of this book, you will need to create a Linux boot disk.
You can create a Linux boot disk using your Windows computer or using a computer already running Linux. (You may need the boot disk to upgrade an existing Linux installation or to install Linux on an additional computer.)
Figure 1.6. Your can use the rawrite program from within a DOS command prompt window to create a Linux boot disk
To create a Linux boot disk with Windows:
1. | Place the Linux CD in the drive on your Windows machine. |
2. | Place a blank floppy disk in your boot drive. |
3. | Choose MS-DOS Prompt from the Programs menu found on the Start menu. A DOS Window will open (Figure 1.6). |
4. | Change to your CD-ROM drive. For example, if your CD-ROM drive is drive E, at the prompt enter E. |
5. | Change to the dosutils directory, by entering the following at the prompt: cddosutils.
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6. | Run the rawrite program by typing the following at the prompt:
rawrite. |
7. | You will be prompted to enter the disk image source file name. Type e:imagesoot.img.
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8. | Press Enter on the keyboard. |
9. | You will be prompted for a target diskette. Type the name of the boot drive: for example, type a:. |
10. | Press Enter on the keyboard. |
11. | You will be prompted to place a floppy disk in the drive. Once you have done so, press Enter again, and the Linux boot disk will be created. |
Tip
If you have a recent computer, it may feature a bootable CD-ROM drive. (You should check your system documentation to find out if this is the case.) If you can boot directly from your CD-ROM drive, you do not need to create a Linux boot disk and can start the installation process simply by placing the CD-ROM from the back of this book in your drive and restarting the computer.
Figure 1.7. Under Linux you can create a boot disk by copying the boot image to your floppy disk.
To create a Linux boot disk with Linux:
1. | |
2. | If you don't have root (or superuser) privileges, type su root at the prompt and supply the root password. |
3. | Place the CD in its drive and mount it—that is, connect it to the rest of the Linux file system—by entering the following at the prompt: mount /dec/cdrom mnt. |
4. | Change to the images directory on the CD by typing cd /mnt/images. |
5. | Place a blank disk in the floppy drive. |
6. | Copy the boot image to the floppy disk by typing dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0
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7. | If you want, unmount the CD by typing the following: cd / unmount /mnt |
Tip
The images directory on the CD-ROM distributed with Red Hat Linux 6: Visual QuickPro Guide contains disk images, not pictures.