AnacondaIsoLinux0ptions

Appendix A

Anaconda ISOLINUX Options

%W% this [[1] [link] covers most of the same options

• expert* -- Expert mode. Turns on special features:
• allows partitioning of removable media
• prompts for driver disk

• askmethod* -- Ask which method you want to install with. Don't assume that you are installing via CDROM when a Fedora CD is found. Can be used to install from the network with a Fedora CD.

• noshell* -- Don't put a shell on VT2 during install

• mediacheck* -- Check the media using checkisomd5

• nousbstorage* -- Don't probe/use USB storage

• nousb* -- Don't probe/use USB devices (sometimes helps if install hangs early)

• noparport* -- Do not attempt to load support for parallel ports

• telnet* -- Use beTelnet to install. You can find your IP on VT3 (Ctrl+Alt+F3). You must telnet to the installation machine (using the IP address) to begin the installation. Use with the 'text' option to install in telnet windows. If you do not do a text install, the graphical installation will begin on the machine once you telnet in, and will disconnect the telnet session.

• nofirewire* -- Don't probe/use Fire Wire/1394 devices

• firewire* -- Try to probe/use FireWire devices

• noprobe* -- Don't probe any hardware

• nopcmcia* -- Don't probe for PCMCIA devices

• text* -- Enable text mode for install (default on HTTP and FTP installs). Mutually exclusive with graphical

• graphical* -- Enable graphical installation mode (default on CDROM, Hard Drive, and NFS install). Mutually exclusive with text.

• cmdline* -- A non-interactive, very simple frontend to anaconda

• updates* -- Look for an updates floppy (bug fixes)

• isa* -- Prompt user for ISA devices configuration.

• driverdisk*, *dd* -- Ask for a driver disk

• driverdisk=*, *dd=* -- Search for a driver disk in the given device (e.g. /dev/fd0)

• rescue* -- Rescue mode. Enables you to boot from CD to fix your system. You will need to answer questions about your language, your keyboard, and your network. Then it will ask you if you want to search for installations. It will check for the /etc/redhat-release file and then try to use /etc/fstab to mount your partitions. One they are mounted, you can run chroot /mnt/sysimage to confine your prompt to the mounted system. Useful for reinstalling GRUB.

• nomount* -- Don't automatically mount any installed Linux partitions in rescue mode

• nopass* -- Don't pass keyboard/mouse info to stage 2 installer. Good for testing keyboard and mouse config screens in stage2 installer during network installs.

• serial* -- Turn on serial console support.

• nofb* -- Do not load the VGA16 framebuffer required for doing text-mode installation in some languages.

• noupgrade* -- Don't look for partitions to upgrade

• debug=* -- Start debugging FIX-ME - check to see if you can actually do an installation with debugging turned on--

• ksdevice=* -- Takes an argument like 'eth0', tells install what network device to use for kickstart from network.

• ks* -- Start Kickstart over NFS

• ks=*
• ks=cdrom:/path/to/ks.cfg -- Kickstart from CDROM
• ks=nfs:server:/fedora/i386 -- Kickstart over NFS
• ks=http://server/path/to/ks.cfg -- Kickstart over HTTP
• ks=ftp:// -- Kickstart over FTP
• ks=hd:<dev> -- Kickstart via hard drive (e.g., ks=hd:hda1 for using the hda1 partition)
• ks=file:<path> Kickstart from a file (path = 'fd0/ks.cfg')

• kssendmac* -- Adds HTTP headers to ks=http:// request that can be helpful for provisioning systems. Includes MAC address of all nics in a CGI environment variable of the form HTTP_X_RHN_PROVISIONING_0, HTTP_X_RHN_PROVISIONING_1, etc, for all nics.

• display=* -- Setup the resolution. The probe must be able to find a monitor/video that is compatible with the given resolution. KVMs are notoriously bad at passing along the monitor information, so keep that in mind.

• lang=* -- Language to use for the installation. The file /usr/share/redhat-config-language/locale-list provides a list of the valid language codes in the first column of each line and is part of the redhat-config-languages package.

• keymap=* -- Keyboard layout to use. Valid values are those which can be used for the 'keyboard' kickstart command. FIX-ME - this points to the old RHL9 docs. We should eventually point it to the new Fedora docs. http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/custom-guide/s1-kickstart2-options.html (search for keyboard)

• method=*
• method=nfs:<path> -- Use <path> for an NFS installation.
• method=http://<path> -- Use <path> for an HTTP installation
• method=ftp://<path> -- Use <path> for an FTP installation
• method=hd://<dev>/<path> -- Use <path> on <dev> for a hard drive installation
• method=cdrom -- Do a CDROM based installation.

• ip=* -- IP to use for a network installation, use 'dhcp' for DHCP (default).

• netmask=* -- Netmask to use for a network installation.

• gateway=* -- Gateway to use for a network installation.

• dns=* -- Comma-separated list of nameservers to use for a network installation.

• ethtool=* -- Use ethtool to set the network options. This appears to be from the ethtool package (man ethtool). network.py sets autoneg on.???

• allowcddma* -- Allow DMA for CDROM

• resolution=* Run GUI installer in specified mode (e.g., 1024x768). 800x600 is the default

• lowres* -- Force GUI installer to run at 640x480

• skipddc* -- Skips DDC probe of the monitor

• vnc* -- Enable vnc-based installations. Connect to the installation using a vnc client (www.realvnc.com). The -nevershared option is given by anaconda, so you can only have one client connect at a time. This can be changed in the source.

• vncpassword=* -- Enable a password for the vnc connection. The password must be at least 6 characters. Requires the 'vnc' option to be specified as well.

• vncconnect=* -- vncconnect=<host>[[<port>]] Once installation is up and running, connect to the vnc client named <host>, and optionally use port <port>. Requires the 'vnc' option to be specified as well.

• headless* -- Assume that the system is headless--don't probe for monitor, video card, or mouse.

• upgradeany* -- Don't require an /etc/redhat-release that matches the expected syntax to upgrade.

• memtest* -- Test the system memory using Memtest86 (memtest86.com)

• localboot* -- Boot from the other devices on the system, not the CDROM
• *localboot 0x80* -- Boot from the special device 0x80 (primary hard drive)
• *localboot 0x00* -- Boot from the special device 0x00 (primary floppy drive)
• *localboot -1* -- reports failure to the BIOS, which, on _recent_ BIOSes, should mean that the next boot device in the boot sequence will be activated.

different kernel/initrd= options for DVD -- For the ability to install several operating systems from one DVD you need to have different kernels and initrds for each OS. I usually copy the kerel and initrd like this where the distribution is in /dvd/i386 and the other OS (i.e., Red Hat 8.0) is in /dvd/i386/rh80/i386: 4 cp /dvd/i386/rh80/i386/dosutils/autoboot/vmlinuz /dvd/i386/isolinux/vmlinuz80 4 cp /dvd/i386/rh80/i386/dosutils/autoboot/initrd.img /dvd/i386/isolinux/initrd80.img 4 Add a triplet line to isolinux.cfg/syslinux.cfg 5 label rh80 5 kernel vmlinuz80 5 append ks=cdrom:/rh80/i386/kickstart/ks.cfg initrd=initrd80.img (you don't necessarily have to do ks=...)

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