[GeekGawd]

Hi,
I would like to know if its possible to install a linux distribution from its LIve CD/DVD
I have SUSE 9.3 Live DVD and i would like to install it.

Any clue?

[lynch]

Possible, but not worth the effort. You should just try downloading the Eval-DVD

[brendandonhu]

I don't know of any easy way to do it with Suse, but some distros can be installed from their LiveCD (such as Knoppix and Gentoo.)

[saikee]

Generally if you can find an icon in the desktop, or a script in /home title something like "Install me", a HD installation program among the system command etc then the Linux can be installed into the hard disk.

If a distro says it is based in Knoppix then without any obvious aid one can type at root terminal

knoppix-installer

can kick start the hd-installation.

The help page that loaded with the Live CD desktop should tell the user whether a hd installation is possible or not.

[gotrootdude]

I don't see why this procedure wouldn't work with suse live:


1. Prepare a partition on your hard drive for Live CD installation. Or maybe you want to use the whole hard drive. Format and install the file system of your choice. I used ext3.

2. Also prepare a swap partition. I used a swap equal in size to my RAM.

3. Boot the Live CD. Configure your network so that you can connect to the Internet.

4. Mount the partition you want for your Live CD hard drive installation
on /mnt. I used the following command.

# mount /dev/hda4 /mnt

5. Copy the system to your mounted partition. I used the following procedure.

# tar -C / -l -cpvf - . | tar -C /mnt -xpf -

6. Download a kernel source tar ball from kernel.org and put it in /mnt/usr/src. I used kernel 2.6.13.2. Make sure the kernel is in /usr/src of your new system, not in /usr/src of the Live CD.

7. chroot into your new system.

# chroot /mnt

8. Install the bootscripts. I used the following procedure.

# cp /sources/lfs-bootscripts-3.2.1.tar.bz2 /usr/src/
# cd /usr/src
# tar -xvjf lfs-bootscripts-3.2.1.tar.bz2
# cd lfs-bootscripts-3.2.1
# make
# make install

(bootscripts may be named differently)

9. Edit /etc/fstab. You need to delete references to the file system and add normal entries for a hard drive installation. The first two lines in my /etc/fstab are:

/dev/hda4 / ext3 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda5 swap swap defaults 0 0

10. Install the new kernel. I used the following procedure.

# cd /usr/src
# tar -xvjf linux-2.6.13.2.tar.bz2
# cd linux-2.6.13.2
# make mrproper
# make menuconfig (Set all configuration options that you need or want.)
# make
# make modules
# make modules_install
# cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.6.13.2
# cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.13.2
# cp .config /boot/config-2.6.13.2

11. Edit the bootloader of your choice for your new Live CD system. I had another Linux system on my hard drive, so I added an entry to my existing /etc/lilo.conf as follows.

image=/mnt/hda4/boot/kernel-2.6.13.2
vga=791
label=LiveCD
root=/dev/hda4
read-only

12. Boot into your new hard drive installation of the Live CD and enjoy.

This is for a different live CD, but the procedure should work as long as you get the filenames correct, and have the mount points in fstab and lilo or Grub correct..

Credit for this goes to linuxquestions.org

Maybe I'm wrong, but I've never noticed much differences between distros except in filenames and directory placements.. But I tend to stay with minimalistic distros and red hat based distros without the GUI's and just wget what I need..

[GeekGawd]

Thanks a lot everybody. That was most informative!
Yea, i knew the knoppix was possible but was not sure about the command.

GotRoot - I will definitely try that out in my free time.
All those commands - not surprised you like to work on a Non-GUI machine.

(Am trying to settle down with a particular distribution for good. Not made a decision yet. Was hell bent on Red Hat. got ticked off when the Enterprise version wouldnt recognise Intel 915 audio chipset. Now i seem to be "gravitating" towards SUSE and the KDE interface..doesnt help to be in two minds)
- Migrating from Windows is the main aim.

[lynch]

Gotrootdude, where's your monastery located?
Like I said, not worth the effort. If you want to spend all that time installing a distro, get Gentoo.
lynch

[CouchMaster]

The live CD was not made to install on your HD - make it easy on yourself, get the installation CD...

[saikee]

Gotrootdude,

Is the procedure you gave a general method to move a Linux from a Live CD into a hard disk? I am interested in it as some Live CDs do appear worth the effort.

[gotrootdude]

It should work for most live CD's, except some filenames and folder locations may be a little different depending on the distro.. Also, you need to make the choice between using lilo or grub..

[GeekGawd]

Yea, Lynch. Probably best to install from a regular distro CD.
but i downloaded a couple of LIVE distros. Was wondering if i could just use those, instead of downloading all over again.
Once again, many thanks to all ye guys.