Upgrading a PC to Fedora Core 4 with no boot media

So, there you are. You've just downloaded the latest version of Fedora, but you've run out of blank CDs or DVDs to burn it to to install it. How do you upgrade it from the CD/DVD images on disk?

1. Mount the .iso file somewhere

[~]# mount -o loop -t iso9660 FC4-i386-DVD.iso /tmp/fedora/

2. Dig out the boot-cd image from the mounted image

[~]# cd /tmp/fedora/images/

3. Mount the boot-cd image

[images]# mount -t iso9660 -o loop boot.iso /tmp/bootdisk/

4. Copy the files in ./isolinux to /boot/FC4

[images]# cp -rv /tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/* /boot/FC4/

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/boot.cat' -> `/boot/FC4/boot.cat'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/boot.msg' -> `/boot/FC4/boot.msg'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/general.msg' -> `/boot/FC4/general.msg'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/initrd.img' -> `/boot/FC4/initrd.img'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/isolinux.bin' -> `/boot/FC4/isolinux.bin'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/isolinux.cfg' -> `/boot/FC4/isolinux.cfg'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/memtest' -> `/boot/FC4/memtest'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/options.msg' -> `/boot/FC4/options.msg'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/param.msg' -> `/boot/FC4/param.msg'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/rescue.msg' -> `/boot/FC4/rescue.msg'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/snake.msg' -> `/boot/FC4/snake.msg'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/splash.lss' -> `/boot/FC4/splash.lss'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/TRANS.TBL' -> `/boot/FC4/TRANS.TBL'

`/tmp/bootdisk/isolinux/vmlinuz' -> `/boot/FC4/vmlinuz'

5. Make an entry in /etc/grub.conf

[images]# tail -7 /etc/grub.conf

title Fedora Core 4 Install

root (hd0,0)

kernel /FC4/vmlinuz root=/FC4 ramdisk_size=8192

initrd /FC4/initrd.img

title FC4 Memtest

root (hd0,0)

kernel memtest

(The memtest entry isn't necessary, but it's useful to check your RAM

6. Reboot

[~]# reboot

The system is going down for reboot now!

7. Select Fedora Core 4 Install
8. Select a HDD install and supply the path to your images

[~]# df /storage

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on

/dev/hdd1 153837436 93153688 52869204 64% /storage

This tells me that I need to tell the installer to use /dev/hdd1 as the install device. The path will be /storage/redhat/fedora/core/4/i386/iso/

9. Answer a few questions

Modern Linux installs are very easy. No more questions about your monitors horizontal sync frequencies or stuff like that.

10. Drink beer and wait

Ah! Beer! That cool refreshing drink! (Or you could practise your Klingon grammar...)

11. Enjoy upgraded workstation!

[~]# cat /etc/redhat-release

Fedora Core release 4 (Stentz)

This method can also be used for network installs, where step 8 involves sharing out the mounted disk image via NFS, and pointing the install over the network to that nfs mount. e.g., select NFS install, give the name of the server, and the exported directory. This may actually be faster than a CD install for older machines, depending on the network cards they have.