FC3: No option to create boot floppy during install
 

I just installed FC3 (a second time) and there was no option to create a boot floppy. I was waiting and waiting for the option to appear, expecting it immediately after all the packages installed ... but no such luck! I have done two installs. I did not miss the create boot disk part both times - it just wasn't there.

So how do I boot this thing???

During install, I asked to have GRUB installed in the Linux boot partition and NOT in the MBR. This is because I have other OS'es installed in other partitions and I don't want to mess with the MBR until I feel comfortable with Linux booting.

I have tried booting off of the installation CD (disk 1) with no luck. It always wants to go to anaconda to install again instead of just booting into the current installation.

From the boot prompt of the CD, I have tried several things. Pretty much every permutation of setting boot, root, and swap. Like this:

boot: linux boot=/dev/hda7 root=/dev/hda9 swap=/dev/hda8

I have also tried:

boot: linux rescue

With rescue I am able to get to the Linux command line. From here I found mkbootdisk (was it in /sbin? ... I can't remember where I found it). Anyway, I tried:

# mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 `uname -r`

I believe that was the command ... I'm working from memory here.

That immediately came back with two errors from cat, saying no space left on device. This despite a newly formatted floppy. mkbootdisk then proceded saying something about "... 20 of 20 ..." or something like that. Booting from that floppy resulted in some kind of error message about "... not able to find <something or other> ..."

I found some kind of boot.img type file either on the installation CD's or maybe it was on my HDD after booting in rescue more, I don't remember. I managed to burn that to a CD that I could subsequently boot from. However, it did the same thing as disk 1 of the installation CD's ... namely, head of into anaconda and not continue booting into my existing install.

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My total partitioning looks like this, in case it matters:

/hda1 NTFS W2kPro bootable (primary) 40Gb
/hda2 NTFS W2kPro bootable (hidden - second installation of Win2kPro) 6Gb
/hda3 extended partition, which contains the following:
/hda5 NTFS 57Gb
/hda6 FAT32 1Gb
/hda7 EXT3 Linux /boot 100Mb
/hda8 SWAP Linux swap 512Mb
/hda9 EXT3 Linux /

The partition hda1 was made using DOS fdisk after a new HDD install
hda2 - hda6 were made using Partition Magic 8.0, after W2k had been installed on hda1

All the Linux partitions were created by Disk Druid using unallocated free space on the HDD during the install of Fedora Core 3.

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I do not know if I am incorrectly entering stuff at the install CD boot prompt, or if my installation is just hosed. I watched all the package installs go by. No errors during install. I watched as it SAID it was installing GRUB ... I would assume to the start of the /boot partition where I requested.

This just CAN'T be this difficult! I'm new to Linux, but I'm far from a computer newbie. I have been developing in various flavors of Unix for many many years, and know my way around a Windows installation better than most.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for any help out there from Linux-guru-land !

" Boot From the CD-ROM to Run the Installation Program

Note that Fedora Core 3 test 3 does not come with floppy boot images. You must boot from CD, or via methods such as PXE. " - directly from http://fedora.redhat.com/download/test.html

I did read that webpage before downloading the iso's, including the part you quoted about the " ... does not come with floppy boot images. You must boot from CD ... "

I assumed this meant for the installation process, since it was in the section labeled "Boot From the CD-ROM to Run the Installation Program". And that's exactly what I did for installation - booted from the CD. Now that I've completed the installation, I'd like to boot into the normal OS, not into another installation scenerio. If there's some way I can do that by booting off the installation CD again and typing some magic words at the boot prompt, please clue me in to the words required! ;-) That same section of the webpage also mentions " ... or via methods such as PXE ... " I have no idea what PXE is, nor does the webpage mention it anywhere else except in the text I've quoted.

Is there not someone out there who chose to install GRUB to their Linux boot partition and not their MBR (after all, this WAS a choice presented during installation), and can tell me how they now boot their system?