Install Fedora Core 5 Linux Without Burning CD

I tried to install fedora core 5 without burning the iso into cds. Normally I install them and then the cds are of no use. I use compelete install and I upgrade or install new packages directly from the interent. This way I have fedora core 2, 3 ,4 cds sitting idle with me. Oh my god all these distro increases the no of cds every time. This time fedora core 5 has 5 cds all together.

The next thing you need to do is to install Grub on your system. You download wingrub from here. Download the same and extract all files to your c:\. See that there is a file named grldr and directory named boot in your c:\.

Did I forget to tell you, you must have windows if you want to have dual boot system where you can play with windows and linux the same pc. Download the fedora core 5 cds from here. Once you download the iso you need to have winrar. You extract two files initrd.img and vmlinuz to your c:\boot. Or you can download these files directly.

initrd.img vmlinuz

Then you need to open c:\boot\grub\menu.lst and add these following lines.

title Fedora Core 5 Install
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

Then you need all grub loaded to your c:\boot.ini file for windows xp. It is very simple. Normally windows will not allow you to modify this file directly so go to control panel. In that go to system => advanced tab => startup and recovery => settings => system startup => edit.

Add these lines in the end.

C:\grldr=”Start GRUB”

Thats it. Now you have to restart your pc. While booting, it will give you options to boot. Select grub. Again grub will give you a lot of options, select Fedora core 5 Install.

The setup starts and you can install the fedora from local hdd directly. Select that option and direct to the location where all the cd iso are downloaded. Then you can sit back and install the core…. NO CDS but Fedora installed. 😉 😀

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Categorized as Linux

By Imthiaz

Programmer, SAAS, CMS & CRM framework designer, Love Linux & Apple products, Currently addicted to mobile development & working @bluebeetle

25 comments

  1. Or you can download the cd-r size iso’s
    burn just the install disk #1 iso to
    a CD and leave the other four iso images
    on a USB hard drive that’s formated with
    either ext2/3 or Vfat. Of course you’d
    still want to test all those for
    correctness via sha1sum.

    Have the usb drive
    plugged into the pc you’re installing
    to and boot the disk 1 and at the boot
    prompt do:

    boot: linux askmethod

    then you tell it what device and directory the
    iso files are on. The install goes from there
    Mark

  2. can’t find menu.lst in grub directory though. that’s true in either wingrub or grub 4 dos.

  3. Cheers Mark

    Used your technique of burning the first cd image then loading the rest (the 5 cd images) off an external USB hard drive (Maxtor one touch 160gb). Worked a treat! Couldn’t believe I could install it that easily. This is my first try at a Linux (Fedora core 5) install and so far so good. 😛 Not too sure what i’m going to do once i’m in Fedora. I guess it’ll take me a while to get familiar with it considering I’ve been under the wing of Microsoft all my life :S

    Anyway, i’m up for the challenge….

    thx again
    Justyn

  4. Is the insallation method same for installatio of other distro’s from harddrive (ex. Ubuntu)??

  5. @Arun AK: for ubuntu try the mini.iso file and use a similar method, the mini.iso installer look for packages on internet so it’s easier (it’s ok for wifi).

    get inspired here: http://marc.herbert.free.fr/linux/win2linstall.html#red-hat-fedora-core.

    The core method is to have a way to launch a minimal linux on your PC, maybe there is such a distro but I don’t know about it. I’m still looking for an installation with chroot method such as gentoo but without CD of course 🙂 and for other distos

  6. I will try to explain this in a clear english :D.

    I don t know if you have linux or windows already installed.

    Windows case: give a look at this thread on the official forum. But download this linux kernel and this initrd file (edgy version).

    You may also use the hdmedia method, you need at least 2 partitions, one with grub and at least 700Mo free and the other one to install ubuntu in it:
    – download the last edgy iso and put it, at the root of the first partition.
    – download vmlinuz and initrd.gz from ubuntu archive
    – Tweak you grup config file to point to the last 2 files, try something like this:


    title HD-MEDIA
    kernel (hd0,0)/hd-media/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=13000
    initrd (hd0,0)/hd-media/initrd.gz

    NB: (hd0,0) correspond to the harddisk where you put the initrd, and vmlinuz file. (hdX,Y), X is the harddisk number and Y the partition number. If you put the files in hda1 the corresponding syntax is (hd0,0), if hde3 -> (hd4,2).

    adapt this to your configuration.

    Your first hard disk may looks something like this


    > edgy.iso
    > hd-media/vmlinuz
    > hd-media/initrd.gz
    > grub/grub.conf

    reboot, when you reboot grub show up with a new entry, select HD-MEDIA, it will start and lookup for iso on the harddrive, and start the installation.

    On my laptop, here is my configuration:
    > hda1 > /boot > 100 Mo
    > hda2 > SWAP > 600Mo
    > hda3 > /home > 10Go
    > hda4 > / > 10Go

    In the first partition I installed grub, and the netboot files.

    Hope it helps!

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  8. I have 4 partitions :

    C:\XP
    D:\DATA
    E:\7GB
    F:\12GB

    1.Where I must put file .iso of DVD Fedora 6 ?
    2.Fedora 6 need 2 or 1 partion of my HDD?
    3.What do I do for not lost my DATa & I can dual boot with XP – Fedora ?

    Thank you very much !!

  9. I have only the dump (Ctl+c Ctl+v) of the rhel4U3 cds. Please note it is not an iso image that too the .discinfo file is missing. Shall I first create the ISO image or just point the installer to the windows partition?

    Thanks & Regards
    Ajaz

  10. hello, I have some problems to follow the instructions. after I extracted wingrub, there is no file named grldr and no directory named boot in my c:\. what should I do then?

  11. hi, thanks for reply. I extracted the version 0.41 in c:\, I saw a file name grldr and a MS-DOS application called bootlace. there is no directory name boots in c (c:\boots right?). Do you know what’s the problem? maybe I understand the wrong thing?

  12. hello, I followed all the instructions and when restart the computer and choose grub to boot, I met the following message:

    window could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
    \system32\hal.dll
    please re-install a copy of the above file.

    I check the file hal.dll, I have it and the content of it is as follows:
    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
    C:\grldr=”Start GRUB”

    I don’t know what’s wrong with that. I tried to change the partition number to 2 and then the system corrupt and I reinstalled winxp. the same thing again when i try to install linux.

    do you have any clue?

    thanks

  13. Hi..,

    I’m Raghavendra from India, I have original Fedora Core5 cd’s. But I’m having problem with the Fedora Core5 cd -1. So I’m unable to install Linux.
    Can any one give me the idea to get F.C5 cd’s ISO-image link…..

    Thanks & Regards..
    Raghavendra.T

  14. I have iso dvd disk image of fedora 8 stored in partition ‘H’ having fat32 file system and and my ‘C’ drive is having ntfs file system which is used by windows operating system.
    I extracted the file vmlinuz & initrd to c:\boot
    also the grub. Also added the lines to menu.lst under the grub as follows
    title ‘Install Linux’
    kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz
    initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

    I restarted the PC and selected “Install Linux” option, it shows…
    Booting ‘Install Linux’
    kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz
    error 14: Invalid or unsupported executable format

    how to get out of this problem…..any suggestions…

  15. @ajaym: I Got the some problem for days…
    But wow the problem is solved…

    It’s really-2 simple…

    Just don’t extract the files vmlinuz & initrd.img using WINRAR. It looks like the files format will be changed after extracted using winrar.

    Then i tried to extract the files using another software ( I use ULTRAISO)..

    SO I GOT IT!!

  16. I’m Sajeev Krishnan from India, I have original Fedora Core5 cd’s. But I’m having problem with the Fedora Core5 cd -1. So I’m unable to install Linux.
    Can any one give me the idea to get F.C5 cd’s ISO-image link…..

    Thanks & Regards..
    Sajeev Krishnan K.P

  17. hello.
    i want to make bootable my hdd in fc 7.0 OS so that, by power on my pc after booting and loading the OS ,the bash environment loads.
    its important for me to have an embedded OS less than 50 Mb in size.

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