Installation Process

[neur0n]

can anyone help me understand what happens during the installation of an operating system from a LiveCD or any CD for that matter. I know that you can install it by compiling it on an existing system but I'm interested in knowing what happens when it installs from a CD, does it have to compile the same way?

Thanks in advance

[daark.child]

Live discs don't compile anything onto an existing system. They simply copy the contents of the disc to the hard drive and configure the system according to the users choices and system hardware.

[praveenkv1988]

Yes, they simply copy the contents and add the boot menu. Its better to use an installation cd.

[neur0n]

so how do you get the installation cd, as in how do you make one, not necessarily a linux cd but an installation cd in general. Do you install it by compiling it first then just copy the HD to an ISO flie an burn it???

[yancek]

You download the iso image of whatever distribution you want. Go to distrowatch which lists the top 100 Linux distributions. Go to any web site listed, there will be a download page, download the file. Note where you are downloading it to so you can find it. It will be a single file, example: ubuntu.iso.

You then need to burn that file as an image to a CD or DVD if you are using a DVD. Burn at a slow speed as a precaution. Most sites have an explanation of how to use the md5checksum to verify the download was good.

Once you have burned the CD, set your BIOS to boot from the CD drive, put the CD in and you will usually see options at least to "Try without Installing" and "Install".

Hope this answers some of your questions.
Or, are you asking how to create the iso image?

[neur0n]

i want to know how to create the iso

[yancek]

Read the man pages for mkisofs. In a terminal type: man mkisofs
Or you can read it at the site below.

mkisofs - Linux Command - Unix Command

To what end? To make a bootable CD?

[neur0n]

so what about CDs like the windows XP CD or the debian installation CD, that aren't live CDs???How are they created and what does their installation process entail

[reed9]

I would look at some of the tools available for creating live cds to get a handle on what they are and how they work.

You can have a live cd with no installer, you can have an installation CD that can't run as a live environment, and you can have a live CD with installer.

Fedora has a pretty good page on what the Live CD is and does.
How to create and use a Live CD - FedoraProject

Other info:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Archiso
Table of Contents
Live CD - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[yancek]

You don't indicate which distribution you are using but mention Debian. If you are using Debian, the program that would suit you is remastersys which was created for Debian and Ubuntu. I've used it to create a modified Live CD/Installation CD and it works well. Use Synaptic to check if it installed as it may be already.

Remastersys does pretty much the same things as the Fedora livecd-creator referenced by reed9, but is made specifically for Debian/Ubuntu.

Best thing to start with is check out the links in reed9's post.

Remastersys - Create custom Ubuntu (live) CD - Tutorial
Remastersys Backup