2.4. Can You Install Using the CD-ROM or DVD?
There are several methods that can be used to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Installing from a CD-ROM or DVD requires that you have purchased a Red Hat Enterprise Linux product, you have a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 CD-ROM or DVD, and you have a DVD/CD-ROM drive on a system that supports booting from it.
Your BIOS may need to be changed to allow booting from your DVD/CD-ROM drive. For more information about changing your BIOS, refer to Section 4.3.1, “Booting the Installation Program on x86, AMD64, and Intel 64 Systems”.
If you can boot using the DVD/CD-ROM drive, you can create your own CD-ROM to boot the installation program. This may be useful, for example, if you are performing an installation over a network or from a hard drive. Refer to Section 2.4.2, “Making an Installation Boot CD-ROM” for further instructions.
If you cannot boot from the DVD/CD-ROM drive, but you can boot using a USB device, such as a USB pen drive, the following alternative boot method is available:
To boot using a USB pen drive, use the dd command to copy the diskboot.img image file from the /images/ directory on the DVD or CD-ROM #1. For example:
dd if=diskboot.img of=/dev/sda
Your BIOS must support booting from a USB device in order for this boot method to work.
isolinux (not available for Itanium systems) is used for booting the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation CD. To create your own CD-ROM to boot the installation program, use the following instructions:
Copy the isolinux/ directory from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux DVD or CD #1 into a temporary directory (referred to here as <path-to-workspace>) using the following command:
cp -r <path-to-cd>/isolinux/<path-to-workspace>
Change directories to the <path-to-workspace> directory you have created:
cd <path-to-workspace>
Make sure the files you have copied have appropriate permissions:
chmod u+w isolinux/*
Finally, issue the following command to create the ISO image file:
mkisofs -o file.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot \ -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -R -J -v -T isolinux/
The above command was split into two lines for printing purposes only. When you execute this command, be sure to type it as a single command, all on the same line.
Burn the resulting ISO image (named file.iso and located in <path-to-workspace>) to a CD-ROM as you normally would.