I've never tried the Centos network install, but I'm pretty sure it is better than the tradition install, which I have done several times. In the traditional install, you spend a long time downloading the very large image of a DVD, then burn it to a DVD, then boot and run that. It then proceeds to go out to the network for almost all the software you select even though there are copies on the DVD. Maybe I always did something wrong. But it seemed like the process itself wasn't designed very well. If it is going to get everything from the net anyway during install, a small CD image should have been enough to start it (which is one of the ways you can do the Centos network install).

I just now googled Centos "network install". There were a bunch of helpful looking pages identified. None of the first few looked either official or better than the others. So you might do the same google search yourself and choose one you like. Or you might start at the centos.org download site and look for network install or some similar phrase.

Beyond that, all the steps of the install are pretty self explanatory as you do them, except you are likely (based on my experience with older versions) to be asked whether to install certain options before you have any info with which to make an informed choice. Don't worry about those details. All choices of whether to include a software package are easily reversed in either direction later once you know enough to make a better choice.

I think Centos is a bit large for VM on that hardware. I would suggest dual boot. But I think VM would also be usable, so I'm not certain which is best. If someone with more VM experience (than I have) suggest VM, you might be wise to trust them instead of me.

My experience with repartitioning after Vista or Windows 7 was installed is that best practice is to use Windows tools to shrink the existing Windows partitions (you could use the partitioning software on the Linux install CD, but that is not as good). Then leave the freed space unpartitioned and let the Linux install process create partitions (do not try to use the Windows partitioning software to create partitions for Linux).

1) Disable paging in Windows (optional, but it helps)
2) Reboot.
3) Defragment the partition in Windows (optional, but it helps)
4) Shrink the partition in Windows.
5) Reenable paging
6) Reboot again to verify everything is OK before trying Linux
7) Install Linux.

For Windows XP, step 4 must be done in Linux, but steps 1, 3 and 5 should still be done in Windows.

As I recall from older versions of the Centos installer, that installer walks you though the process of creating partitions and gives you more advanced choices than you really need, including more partitions than you should have for your situation. I think you only need a small SWAP partition (maybe 2GB) plus a / partition. You do not need boot or home or any of the other optional partitions.

Pay attention to be sure you are telling it to create new partitions in the space left unpartitioned by shrinking Windows and that you are not telling it to delete or reformat the existing Windows (and probably OEM) partitions. If you know the basic concepts of partitioning, that should be pretty obvious. But some people have made horrible mistakes at that point.

I believe there's a check box during install that tells it to go download the latest version on the net. Maybe you've always clicked that box? Without it just installs from the DVD like you'd expect.


I disagree, and with 4GB I think a VM install is a perfectly reasonable choice. If he just uses a dynamic drive set to 20-30GB and allocates 1GB of RAM for CentOS, I think it will do just fine.

OP - If you want to try the VM route, you might as well. If it doesn't end up working well for you, just delete the VM file and you're back to square 1. There are no permanent changes required. If nothing else, you can become familiar with the installation procedure before trying it out for real on your actual hard drive.

To do a VM install, download and install VirtualBox for your Windows system and download the CentOS ISO. Set up a new VM in VirtualBox, select a dynamic drive around 20-30GB (it will only use as much disc space as is actually being used in CentOS), and allocate as much RAM as you can spare from Windows (around 1GB should be fine). Then boot up the VM, select the CentOS ISO when it prompts you, and continue through the installation using any of the CentOS installation guides you can find in google.

A bit more on partitioning within Linux:
Various directories in Centos, such as /boot or /home are often created as their own partitions rather than as ordinary directories inside the / partition. Along the way to becoming an RHEL expert, you will certainly need to learn when and why it is a good idea to make those separate partitions. But none of those reasons apply to your situation and making those separate partitions before you understand the reasons for doing so, pretty much guarantees that you will get the relative sizes and other details wrong and just add to the difficulty of installing and maintaining Centos.

Don't split any Linux partition (other than SWAP, which is something different) outside of / until you have a decent understanding of why you are doing so.

Pls can i download the CentOS and save it on my system directly?

To install (any Linux version):

• Download a CD or DVD image (AKA "iso file")
• Burn a CD or DVD
• Boot from the disk
• Install according to instructions provided

Details for CentOS here:
http://www.centos.org/

Yes, have you tried looking?

http://www.centos.org/modules/tinyco...ndex.php?id=32

From University of the Free State in South Africa:
http://mirror.ufs.ac.za/centos/6.3/isos/i386/

Thank you so much for all your contributions,I am grateful with your concerned.