Howto: Install Opensuse Without A Cd

Main Website At http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html

What This Does

It's an installer for Windows or Linux users that lets you install OpenSuse 10.2 without a CD. The way it works is that a small (8 MB) installer places the PXE (netboot) version of the OpenSuse installer on your hard drive, and configures your boot loader, either NTLDR if using Windows, or GRUB if using Linux, to boot from the PXE installer, and downloads and installs OpenSuse from the net.

Requirements

You will need to either have a Windows (98-XP, Vista support in the works) or Linux (any distro that uses GRUB) install already on your hard drive. You'll also need an internet connection. Apart from that, the requirements are the same as the standard OpenSuse 10.2 requirements.

Instructions

Download the appropriate installer package from http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...roup_id=198821

If using Windows, download the .exe file, if using OpenSuse, Fedora, or another rpm-based distro, download the .rpm file, if using Ubuntu, Debian, or another deb-based distro, download the .deb file, and if using a distro that doesn't support rpm or deb, download the sh file.

Then, install the package, and reboot. A menu entry should appear in the boot menu, titled "UNetbootin". Select that entry, and boot. When asked for a source of installation media, select the internet installation (ftp) option. Then enter this when asked for server info:

server: ftp.mirrorservice.org
folder: sites/ftp.opensuse.org/pub/opensuse/distribution/10.2/repo/oss/

Then, the main installer will start, and wait as OpenSuse is downloaded and installed.

More

UNetbootin also supports Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva, Arch Linux, and Debian. Post a reply if you need any help, new features, or another supported distro. The website is located at http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html

Also, in case you don't know the server details for the installation, use this:

Select "FTP" as the installation source option

server: ftp.mirrorservice.org
folder: sites/ftp.opensuse.org/pub/opensuse/distribution/10.2/repo/oss/

You can also use other mirrors, see http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Internet for details.

I've added builds for opensuse 10.3 at http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...roup_id=198821

Use these parameters for the server information (use the http option):

server: download.opensuse.org
folder: distribution/10.3/repo/oss/

I've uploaded some 64-bit openSUSE UNetbootin builds. Check the download page... Since the packages are all marked as "noarch/all", you don't need to necessarily install 32-bit from a 32-bit OS, or 64-bit from a 64-bit OS; you can install 64-bit if your processor is capable of it (amd64 or intel core2 and above), even if you're running a 32-bit Windows or Linux install.

I've updated the UNetbootin builds for OpenSuse 10.3 to support Windows Vista as well. Usual download spot at http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...roup_id=198821

I've released new UNetbootin builds for openSUSE that install the Factory (experimental, constantly under development) version.

Download location for the openSUSE-factory version is at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.p...ckage_id=256968

openSUSE-Factory Instructions

If installing openSUSE, after rebooting, ignore any error messages and select back if prompted for a CD, then go to the main menu, select the "Start Installation" option, choose "Network" as the source, choose "HTTP" as the protocol, and for the server, specify:

download.opensuse.org

and for the folder, if installing openSUSE Factory, specify:

distribution/SL-OSS-factory/inst-source/

Also, since openSUSE-Factory is an experimental distributions, and thus frequently changes, the UNetbootin builds for them have a slightly different behavior; they will initiate the download of the latest builds of its netboot initrd and kernel files from the official mirrors rather than bundling them in. (Which is why the filesize is now down to a couple of kilobytes rather than several megabytes)