3
Boot and Installation Media
When installing the system, the media for booting and for installing the system may be
different. All combinations of supported media for booting and installing may be used.
3.1 Boot Media
Booting a computer depends on the capabilities of the hardware used and the availabil-
ity of media for the respective boot option.
Booting from CD or DVD
This is the most common possibility of booting a system. It is straightforward for
most computer users, but requires a lot of interaction for every installation process.
Booting from a USB Hard Drive or Floppy Disk
Depending on the hardware used, it is possible to boot from a USB hard drive or
a floppy disk. The respective media must be created with the utility
mkbootdisk
,
which can be found together with its documentation on the first CD or DVD in the
directory
/boot/<architecture>
.
Booting from the Network
You can only boot a computer directly from the network if this is supported by the
computer's firmware or BIOS. This booting method requires a boot server that
provides the needed boot images over the network. The exact protocol depends on
your hardware. Commonly you need several services, such as tftp and dhcp or
pxeboot. If you need a boot server, also read Section 4.1.3, “Remote Installation
Boot and Installation Media
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