Linux create an installation boot disk

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There are different methods to create an installation boot disk under Linux. Bootable floppy disks are generally used as a last resort to boot the installer on hardware that cannot boot from CD or by other means (such as a BIOS limitation).

Disk images are files containing the complete contents of a floppy disk in raw form. They cannot be directly copy to floppy disk.

Creating an installation disk from Linux/UNIX

Find out image called boot.img. Different Linux distribution stores disk under different location on CD/DVD:
=> Red Hat / Fedora Linux : /images/boot.img
=> Debian Linux: /install/floppy/boot.img

To write an installation boot disk using dd command as follows (put a floppy disk in disk drive):# dd if=/images/boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440kOR# dd if=/install/floppy/boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1024 conv=sync ; sync

Creating an installation from DOS or Windows

The rewrite.exe and rawrite2.exe programs can be used under MS-DOS. The rwwrtwin.exe program runs on Windows 95, NT, 98, 2000, ME, XP etc. Different Linux distribution stores these utilities under different location on CD/DVD:
=> Red Hat /Fedora Linux: /dosutils
=> Debian Linux: /tools

Boot into DOS, put a floppy in drive and type command (assuming that E: is your CD/DVD drive):e:
cd dosutils
rawrite.exeWhen asked for a disk boot image path, enter boot.img (for example e:imagesboot.img or e:installfloppyboot.img).

Posted by: SXI ADMIN

The author is the creator of SXI LLC and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.

Published by SXI ADMIN