Hello all,

I am using Mandrake 10.1, and I haven't been using linux long, but I'm eager to learn more.

I am attempting to mount the ISOs for my install CDs so that I don't need to keep copies of the CDs (or know where they are...) I figured out how to mount them as loopback devices and I added to my /etc/fstab so that they would be mounted automatically when the system boots.

My next step was to try to set up rpmdrake so that it thought these were the install media rather than the CDs. Here's where I hit my first snag.

In the "software media manager", I clicked on "Installation CD 2 (cdrom2)" and selected "edit". For the URL field, I entered "file:/mnt/install-disks/2/media/main2" (the location of my mounted iso file), and I left the hdlist path the same, since it was a relative path.

When I clicked "Save changes", I got the message:

This was even after I had rebooted, so I didn't mount the directory manually; fstab did. (although I may have misunderstood the meaning of "mounting manually")

Any suggestions? Is this even possible to do or should I resign myself to having to keep around a copy of my disks? (also a shaky proposition because mandrake and my CD-ROM drive don't always get along.)

I would not edit "Installation CD 2 (cdrom2)", instead I would disable that and create a new installation medium. Instead of cdrom it should be listed as a local filesystem.

Thank you, this worked.

Does this mean if something I'm installing requires a package from the installation media, it will go to the mounted iso files first, or will it still prompt for the installation CD?

If you disabled the CDRom media then it should look on the mounted iso.

<edit> In the Mandrake Control Center you should be able to change the order in which it looks for packages by moving the media up or down in the list.