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.
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. 
RSS
April 10th, 2006 at 7:04 am
or you could just use 1 dvd and not go through all the bs?
DVD iso’s are the greatest
August 6th, 2006 at 6:41 am
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
October 8th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
can’t find menu.lst in grub directory though. that’s true in either wingrub or grub 4 dos.
October 8th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
silly. this is really exciting for me, enjoying this. can’t wait to get involved in linux.
cheers
(refered from
http://vbulletin.thesite.org
by user:Makoto)
October 14th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
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
November 15th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
Is the insallation method same for installatio of other distro’s from harddrive (ex. Ubuntu)??
November 16th, 2006 at 8:29 am
[...] Imthiaz Blog » Install Fedora Core 5 Linux Without Burning CD (tags: fc5 linux install fedora blog articles) [...]
November 21st, 2006 at 11:11 pm
@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
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:41 pm
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!
December 14th, 2006 at 6:57 am
Markus…
It was quite useful reading, found some interesting details about this topic. Thanks….
January 15th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
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 !!
January 17th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
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
February 20th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
[...] Imthiaz Blog » Install Fedora Core 5 Linux Without Burning CD yeah got the link….n yeah it uses Wingrub to instal without the cd ————————- [...]
March 10th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
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?
March 11th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
sukai use grub for dos instead.the version 0.41
March 12th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
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?
March 12th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
hi, it’s me again. I got it now. just now I download the version 0.42
March 14th, 2007 at 1:50 am
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=â€Start GRUBâ€
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
May 7th, 2007 at 11:26 am
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
July 28th, 2007 at 5:29 am
Love the shortcut… thank you.
November 8th, 2007 at 8:32 am
[...] http://imthi.com/blog/linux/install-fedora-core-5-linux-without-burning-cd.php [...]