Hello again.
This could be titled "How do I install Fedora 9 on a PC without CD or USB but which has a NIC
I'm trying to install Fedora 9 on a PC which has a very slow CD drive.
So I thought install from local hard disk would be quicker.
I followed instructions from this link :

http://shams.unlimitedandfree.com/page2.html

With the aid of DSL / Pmagic I managed to create a fat32 partition onto which I copied ( via Putty SCP on an XP machine) the fedora9 ISO.

Using the mount command ( with the -o loop options ) I also copied the isolinux directory onto the hda2 fat32 partition. So I have two directories on the fat32 partition :

/mnt/hda2/fedora9 Contains the fedora9 iso

/mnt/hda2/boot/isolinux The isolinux directory and all its files as copied from the iso.

I booted up the pc using a grub boot floppy and dropped into the grub command line. This is where I would kindly like some help.
What would be the correct grub command line to use. I have used the following and several other permutations with added parameters but to no avail :


I get "Cannot find root file system" errors and get dropped into a minimal bash shell.

I booted up the original liveCD on another machine and saw the boot options / parameters :

What modifications should I make to my grub command line so I can boot fedora9 from HD and then install it on a separate partition on my hard drive ?


Cheers,

Uncle C

This means that your initrd or root parameter is incorrect. There should be a directory called /boot/isolinux/ on your hard disk, and it should contain a file named initrd0.img — if this file (and not initrd.img or some other variation) does exist, then grub can't find it.

At the minimal bash shell, try running this: this will show you what files that grub can see in that directory. Then run and check that the filesystem type shows as vfat.

initrd tells the installer where to get the ramdisk from. This is used to mount the install media in order to load hardware drivers needed during the install.

root tells the installer where to get the install media itself from (at least the part that boots it).

rootfstype tells grub what the filesystem type of root is.

You should probably keep the root and rootfstype lines, as these will be needed for the root filesystem.

Hope that helps,

—Robert J Lee

Thanks for the reply Robert. I do have a directory on /mnt/hda2 called /boot/isolinux and this does contain both vmlinuz0 and initrd0.img. I think where I'm going wrong is with the root/rootfstype lines. If the ISO is on /mnt/hda2 ( which is fat32 formated) then I should add the lines :

I will try it when I get home.

Thanks,

UC