LINUX

INSTALLATION

WITH

SCREENSHOTS

This is a step-by-step installation procedure for Linux, specifically Ubuntu 8.04. This is only for those who are doing this for the first time. And those who have installed any other OS before will feel this really useless. But for the “others” who have not installed any OS, I hope this will be useful. All those who have previous experience in installation please go through this and point out the mistakes. I am trying to explain the installation procedure by which your can use dual booting, i.e. you can use both windows and Linux in the same computer. For that the computer should already have windows installed in it. You can’t install windows after linux and then use linux because Windows doesn’t detect Linux. But there is a procedure to do that too. By using SuperGRUB, you can do that. But I have not used it and knows nothing about how to do it. So its better to leave it at that. I heard its not that difficult. Arrange for a CD/DVD of Ubuntu 8.04 or the latest version available. It is sent for free to home for personal use by Canonical.Search “Ubuntu ShipIt” in Google for more details. Or download the image of Ubuntu 8.04 from net. Again search in Google for image links. I would recommend using torrent for downloading. Write the image to a CD/DVD. Turn on the computer and start the BIOS edit. Usually its DEL,F1,F2,… key to start the BIOS. There change the BOOT device priority and set CD Drive as NO.1. In most computers it will be the default setting. Save and quit BIOS, insert the CD and restart. The black screen with a choice for language appears. Select English or use others only if you are very comfortable with that language. I recommend english.

The computer will now boot from the CD/DVD. Now the black screen below will come. Click on the Install Ubuntu button.

Wait for some time while the Linux Kernel loading box cruises to 100%. Then the real installation procedures.begin. Its a 7 step process.

STEP 1:- The first step is the language selection. As usual select the English option. The click on the forward button to proceed.

STEP 2:- In this step you see a world map with a lots of dot and a question “Where are you”. They are asking for the time zone of your location. You just got to click on the the red dot near your place or on the drop down menu select it. For Indians the only option is Kolkatta GMT+5:30. Proceed FORWARD. STEP 3:- The third step is the keyboard layout. Just click on your keyboard layout. In India we use the USA layout. If yours is different, you just got to select it and type on the box given below and see whether the same key as you press is appearing on the screen. Its another of the silly steps. Again FORWARD. STEP 4:-If you ask me, this is the only difficult step of the whole installation procedure. But its not that difficult. After you do this once, its a piece of cake. Its a bit dangerous step because one mistake and you can lose your complete data in the hard disk. You get an option Guided or Manual. In guided they help you do it, but I would recommend you to take Manual because you get more flexibility here. When you press forward they scan the disk and the partition table comes. This table has the Device partitions, its type, mount point, format option and size used. Linux’s file system is ext3 and windows use fat32 and NTFS. Linux detects all these file systems. But windows doesn’t detect ext3. So for dual use its always good to use ext3 for only one partition in which Linux is installed and to use fat32 for all other partitions. Leave the partition where Windows is installed as such if you wish to facilitate dual boot. You can remove the rest of partitions and create new partitions. Create one partition in ext3 format and set the mount point as ‘/’ backslash. Its better to give around 5 GB for this partition. A swap area is also needed. The size of this should be around double of the size of your RAM. For most computers 1GB swap area would be sufficient. Create that partition, set its type as Swap area. This should be enough. Now press the FORWARD. STEP 5:- This is again another of the simple step. “Who are you”. Give here your name, the login name and password for your account in the computer and a computer name, which is the name of your computer as seen by other computers in your network. Now click on Forward. STEP 6:- Step 6 unfortunately has no screenshots. But again, this too is a very simple step. They ask whether you want to migrate your user settings like user accounts from your existing OS which would be Windows in most cases. I never select this option. But if its needed you can do it.

STEP 7:- “Ready to Install”. The most beautiful step of them all. You see all the selections you have made in the first six method and see an install button. You can verify them, change them if needed by going back. When all changes have been made, press on INSTALL button. This should be it. Now they start the installation procedures. They set up the partitions, format it. Copies the necessary OS files into the / directory or root directory. It should take some time, around 15 min in the computer in which I installed. When it reaches 100% you see this screen given below. ITS NOW TIME FOR CELEBRATIONS. Hang on!! Just a moment before the celebrations. They ask you to restart the machine before that. So click on the Restart now option and wait for restarting. You can remove the CD/DVD this time before booting because CD/DVD drive is

given the first priority. The booting up procedures can be seen now. Unlike in windows where you see a loading windows screen, here you see all the steps that are being done. There is also an option of booting like windows too. The login screen comes now. Login using the username and password given during installation. The linux screen appears. The mind blowing beauty is bound to leave you speechless for a little while. But don’t be so for long. START ENJOYING THE WONDERFUL OS. AND REMEMBER INSTALLATION SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS A HARD JOB. ITS QUITE AN INTERESTING JOB. WHENEVER NEW VERSIONS GET RELEASED TRY IT. Debian, Ubuntu, Mandriva, Red Hat, Kubuntu, Mint etc. are some of the mostly used Linux versions. From my limited knowledge I have felt Ubuntu as the most user-friendly linux OS, especially for those who are new to Linux. For programmers and computer students I would recommend Debian. “WELCOME TO THE FREE WORLD”.

NOTE: IF IMAGE IS BLURRED, DOUBLE CLICK TO VIEW IMAGE

1) Red Hat Linux Boot screen: (Image 1.1)

After configuring the system for booting from a CD, the Red Hat Linux Boot screen appears.

At this point, press Enter for the graphical Setup.

Image 1.2: (96KB .gif) 2) Welcome to Red Hat: (Image 1.2) The "Welcome to Red Hat" screen appears with the option of Hiding the help pane (left side) or viewing the Release Notes. Select Next when ready.

Image 1.3: (29KB .gif) 3) Language Selection: (Image 1.3) The Language Selection screen displays all of the languages available to install Red Hat with. I chose English here, then Next.

Image 1.4: (26KB .gif) 4) Keyboard Configuration: (Image 1.4) Keyboard Configuration is next. Highlight the best match for your particular system. Usually, the default works best. Select Next when complete.

Image 1.5: (44KB .gif) 5) Mouse Configuration: (Image 1.5) Mouse Configuration is next. Again, highlight the best match for your particular system. Select Next when finished.

Image 1.6: (51KB .gif) 6) Installation type: (Image 1.6) Selection of a standard installation type is now available. The options include Personal Desktop, Workstation, Server, or Custom. For this particular guide, I selected Personal Desktop and then Next.

Image 1.7: (42KB .gif) 7) Partitioning your system: (Image 1.7) You are now faced with the option of automatically partitioning your system with the default values or selecting a more expert approach of choosing exactly what values each partition will be. I chose Automatic, then selected Next.

Image 1.8: (41KB .gif) 8) Warning dialog box: (Image 1.8) If this is a new hard drive or a hard drive that no partitions currently exist, a warning dialog box will appear. Select Yes to continue.

Image 1.9: (42KB .gif) 9) Automatic Partitioning: (Image 1.9) Here are the options of deleting all Linux partitions, deleting all partitions, or keep the disk structure as it already is. If this is a new drive, any options work just fine, but, if you already have partitions defined, as in a Multi-Boot environment, be careful as to which selection and drive volume you choose. Also, check the Review and modify box at the bottom to retain control over what happens to the hard drive and view the recommended configuration.

Image 1.10: (42KB .gif) 10) New hard drive structure: (Image 1.10) If you checked the Review and modify box, the new hard drive structure is displayed. This fits my purposes, so I chose Next to continue.

11) Boot loader options: (Image 2.1)

Boot Loader options are displayed.

If this is the only OS to be installed, I recommend to install a boot loader, such as Grub (the default).

If this is part of a Multi-Boot System, I recommend to not install a boot loader and use a boot floppy, created later on in the install process, instead.

Important: If you chose to NOT install a boot loader and NOT make a boot floppy, your Red Hat installation will NOT work.

Image 2.2: (50KB .gif) 12) Install a boot loader: (Image 2.2) Please view my Multi-Boot Guide for more information about Boot Floppies.

Image 2.3: (43KB .gif) 13) Network setup: (Image 2.3) Network setup options are next. Enter in the required information for your particular setup, here. I chose the default, DHCP setup, then selected Next.

Image 2.4: (38KB .gif) 14) Firewall setup: (Image 2.4) Firewall setup is very important! If this system will be connected directly to the internet, choose High to start out with. If this system is already behind a hardware firewall or router, choose Medium as a good starting point.

Image 2.5: (47KB .gif) 15) Language Selection: (Image 2.5) Additional Language options are also available. Since I understand no other language besides English, the default was fine.

Image 2.6: (88KB .gif) 16) Time Zone Selection: (Image 2.6) Configure your Time Zone with this display. Being on the West Coast, Pacific Time was selected here. Choose what is right for your location and then select Next to continue.

Image 2.7: (42KB .gif) 17) Create a root or administrator password: (Image 2.7) Another important part of the installation process is to create a root or administrator password and a "normal" user account for everyday tasks. DO NOT leave your root password as blank or easily guessable.

Image 2.8: (45KB .gif) 18) Add users: (Image 2.8) After acceptance of your root password, select the Add button to create an additional account for everyday tasks. Do not worry. If at anytime you need to use the root account to change system settings, you can. You will be prompted for the password even if you are logged in as a regular user. After creating a new account and selecting a "good" password, select the OK button.

Image 2.9: (43KB .gif) 19) Add as many users as you wish: (Image 2.9) Your display could look something like this. Add as many users as you wish, then select Next to continue.

Image 2.10: (39KB .gif) 20) Default package configuration: (Image 2.10) Here, you have the option of accepting the default package configuration, or selecting exactly what applications and services you desire. If you wish, you can skip this step and select Next as the default option and your system will be configured accordingly. However, if you desire to add or subtract particular applications, choose the Customize packages to be installed button and select Next.

Image 2.11: (52KB .gif) 21) Selecting exactly what packages: (Image 2.11) Here you will have the option of selecting exactly what packages and applications you wish to install. Detailed descriptions about each are also available, after selecting the check box on the left of the category, by selecting the details button. Upon completing your options, select Next to continue.

22) Installation will now start: (Image 3.1)

Installation will now start after selecting the Next button.

Image 3.2: (31KB .gif) 23) Formatting of the hard drive: (Image 3.2) Formatting of the hard drive or partitions will begin. Depending on the size of the hard drive, this may take much time.

Image 3.3: (31KB .gif) 24) Transfer of the install image: (Image 3.3) Transfer of the install image to the hard drive now takes place. Again, if you selected many packages, this could take some time.

Image 3.4: (65KB .gif) 25) Installation of all selected packages: (Image 3.4) Installation of all selected packages and applications are now underway. Depending on what was selected and system configuration, this could take 15 minutes to over an hour.

Image 3.5: (65KB .gif) 26) Insert the next CD soon: (Image 3.5) Do not go far, though, as you may be required to insert the next CD soon.

Image 3.6: (27KB .gif) 27) Boot floppy creation: (Image 3.6) If this is the only OS to be installed, I recommend to install a boot loader previously, such as Grub (the default). This does NOT mean that you should forget about creating a boot floppy, also. If this is part of a Multi-Boot System, I recommend a boot floppy, created here, and not to use a boot loader. Important: If you chose to NOT install a boot loader and NOT make a boot floppy, your Red Hat installation will NOT work. Please view my Multi-Boot Guide for more information about boot floppies.

Image 3.7: (46KB .gif) 28) Graphics card setup: (Image 3.7) Select your graphics card setup and memory configuration here. Chose Next after highlighting your selection.

Image 3.8: (43KB .gif) 29) Monitor Setup: (Image 3.8) Enter the proper values or highlight the model of your display here. After selecting the configuration for your system, chose Next.

Image 3.9: (38KB .gif) 30) Desktop resolution: (Image 3.9) Choose your desktop resolution and bit-depth. Capabilities beyond your card should not be displayed.

Image 3.10: (35KB .gif) 31) Install complete: (Image 3.10) Installation is completed and the system will reboot after selecting Next.

Image 4.1: (15KB .gif) 32) Grub boot loader: (Image 4.1) Upon reboot, the Grub (if selected previously in the install process) is displayed with the option of booting your Linux installation. If you opted for a boot floppy, ensure that your system is configured to boot from "A:" first, then your hard drive, otherwise, your system may skip to your previous OS by default.

Image 4.2: (9KB .gif) 33) Boot Red Hat: (Image 4.2) Keep in mind, while the OS is loading, Linux is famous for allowing the USER to choose exactly what, how and why everything happens. This is not Windows. You will see all kinds of information about the internal workings of your system. Do not be alarmed. You will come to enjoy that information in due time. :)

Image 4.3: (77KB .gif) 34) Logon: (Image 4.3) If you opted for a graphical install screen, the user name prompt is displayed. Log in as one of the users you created previously (not root) and enter in your password (not blank).

Image 4.4: (101KB .gif) 35) Gnome Desktop: (Image 4.4) The Red Hat 8.0 default desktop is now displayed. If you selected KDE and not Gnome, your view will be slightly different. Remember, anything that you wish to do, you can, including messing with system files. When in doubt, think twice. :)

Image 4.5: (71KB .gif) 36) BlackViper.com in Mozilla: (Image 4.5) I had to fire up Mozilla 1.0.1 to ensure my internet connectivity functioned, and it worked great! Thank you for viewing my install guide and I hope it has helped you gain an insight to what may be required before taking the Red Hat plunge.

NOTE: IF IMAGE IS BLURRED, DOUBLE CLICK TO VIEW IMAGE

This procedure demonstrates how to install Windows XP Professional. The procedure to install Windows XP home edition is very similar to the professional edition. Since Windows XP Pro is more advanced operating system, it will be used to demonstrate the installation procedure.

The best way install Windows XP is to do a clean install. It is not difficult to perform a clean installation. Before you perform the installation I recommend that you check Windows XP Compatibility List to ensure that your hardware is supported by XP. If your hardware is not on the compatibility list you can check your hardware manufactures website to download the drivers for Windows XP. Save all the necessary drivers onto floppy disks or CD before you start the installation.

All versions of Windows XP CD are bootable. In order to boot from CD/DVD-ROM you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD/DVD-ROM. You can then perform the following steps to install Windows XP:

Step 1 - Start your PC and place your Windows XP CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive. Your PC should automatically detect the CD and you will get a message saying "Press any key to boot from CD". Soon as computer starts booting from the CD your will get the following screen:

Step 2 - At this stage it will ask you to press F6 if you want to install a third party Raid or SCSI driver. If you are using a an IDE Hard Drive then you do not need to press F6. If you are using a SCSI or SATA Hard drive then you must press F6 otherwise Windows will not detect your Hard Drive during the installation. Please make sure you have the Raid drivers on a floppy disk. Normally the drivers are supplied on a CD which you can copy to a floppy disk ready to be installed. If you are not sure how to do this then please read your motherboard manuals for more information.

Step 3 - Press S to Specify that you want to install additional device.

Step 4 - You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.

Step 5 - You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.

Step 6 - You will then get a Windows XP Professional Setup screen. You have the option to do a new Windows install, Repair previous install or quit. Since we are doing a new install we just press Enter to continue.

Next - How to install Windows XP Page 2

Step 7 - You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue

Step 8 - This step is very important. Here we will create the partition where Windows will be installed. If you have a brand new unformatted drive you will get a screen similar to below. In our case the drive size is 8190MB. We can choose to install Windows in this drive without creating a partition, hence use the entire size of the drive. If you wish to do this you can just press enter and Windows will automatically partition and format the drive as one large drive.

However for this demonstration I will create two partition. The first partition will be 6000MB (C: drive) and second partition would be 2180MB (E: drive). By creating two partition we can have one which stores Windows and Applications and the other which stores our data. So in the future if anything goes wrong with our Windows install such as virus or spyware we can re-install Windows on C: drive and our data on E: drive will not be touched. Please note you can choose whatever size partition your like. For example if you have 500GB hard drive you can have two partition of 250GB each.

Press C to create a partition.

Step 8 - Windows will show the total size of the hard drive and ask you how much you want to allocate for the partition you are about to create. I will choose 6000MB. You will then get the screen below. Notice it shows C: Partition 1 followed by the size 6000 MB. This indicates the partition has been created. We still have an unpartitioned space of 2189MB. Next heighlight the unpartitioned space by pressing down the arrow key. Then press C to create another partition. You will see the total space available for the new partition. Just choose all the space left over, in our case 2180MB.

Step 9 - Now you will see both partition listed. Partition 1 (C: Drive) 6000MB and Partition 2 (E: Drive) 2180MB. You will also have 8MB of unpartitioned space. Don't worry about that. Just leave it how its is. Windows normally has some unpartitioned space. You might wonder what happened to D: drive. Windows has automatically allocated D: drive to CD/DVD-ROM.

Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.

Step 10 - Choose format the partition using NTFS file system.This is the recommended file system. If the hard drive has been formatted before then you can choose quick NTFS format. We chose NTFS because it offers many security features, supports larger drive size, and bigger size files.

Windows will now start formatting drive C: and start copying setup files as shown on the two images below :

Step 11 - After the setup has completed copying the files the computer will restart. Leave the XP CD in the drive but this time DO NOT press any key when the message "Press any key to boot from CD" is displayed. In few seconds setup will continue. Windows XP Setup wizard will guide you through the setup process of gathering information about your computer.

Step 12 - Choose your region and language.

Step 13 - Type in your name and organization.

Step 14. Enter your product key.

Step 15 - Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

Step 16 - Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.

Step 17 - For the network setting choose typical and press next.

Step 18 - Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.

Next - How to install Windows XP Page 4

Step 19 - Finally Windows will start and present you with a Welcome screen. Click next to continue.

Step 20 - Choose 'help protect my PC by turning on automatic updates now' and press next.

Step 21 - Will this computer connect to the internet directly, or through a network? If you are connected to a router or LAN then choose: 'Yes, this computer will connect through a local area network or home network'. If you have dial up modem choose: 'No, this computer will connect directly to the internet'. Then click Next.

Step 22 - Ready to activate Windows? Choose yes if you wish to active Windows over the internet now. Choose no if you want to activate Windows at a later stage.

Step 23 - Add users that will sign on to this computer and click next.

Step 24 - You will get a Thank you screen to confirm setup is complete. Click finish.

Step 25. Log in, to your PC for the first time.

Step 26 - You now need to check the device manager to confirm that all the drivers has been loaded or if there are any conflicts. From the start menu select Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Click on the System icon and then from the System Properties window select the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.

If there are any yellow exclamation mark "!" next to any of the listed device, it means that no drivers or incorrect drivers has been loaded for that device. In our case we have a Video Controller (VGA card) which has no drivers installed.

Your hardware should come with manufacturer supplied drivers. You need to install these drivers using the automatic setup program provided by the manufacturer or you need to manually install these drivers. If you do not have the drivers, check the manufacturers website to download them.

To install a driver manually use the following procedure:

(a) From the device manager double click on the device containing the exclamation mark.

(b) This would open a device properties window.

(c) Click on the Driver tab.

(d) Click Update Driver button. The Wizard for updating device driver pops up as shown below:

You now get two options. The first option provides an automatic search for the required driver. The second option allows you to specify the location of the driver. If you don't know the location of the driver choose the automatic search which would find the required driver from the manufacturer supplied CD or Floppy disk. Windows would install the required driver and may ask you to restart the system for the changes to take affect. Use this procedure to install drivers for all the devices that contain an exclamation mark. Windows is completely setup when there are no more exclamation marks in the device manager.

Return to Home Page