Bootable GUI CD

I have a situation where I have 5 servers that I would like to install opensuse 12.1 but only one of them has a DVD device. So I am trying to create a bootable installation CD with the same installation GUI interface as the DVD that I can utilize NFS to install the OS and not having much luck.

On my master server (with the DVD), I’ve created the NFS Server share of “/sources/openSUSE12” and copied all of the opensuse 12 files from the installation DVD to this share directory.

I then created a /sources/minicd directory to contain the bootable CD files and then created a bootable CD using the following steps:

  1. cp /sources/openSUSE12/boot/i386/loader/* /sources/minicd
  2. I then edited isolinux.cfg to append the following entry at the end (before the ui section):

NFS installation

label nfsinstall
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=65536 splash=silent install=nfs://192.168.1.48/sources/openSUSE12 showopts

  1. I created an iso file using the following command (run in /sources/minicd):

    mkisofs -r -o minicd.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -allow-lowercase -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table** .**

  2. I then burned the iso file to a CD.

When I boot from the CD I get the “text” version of the installation and not the GUI interface. I know I can edit the “message” file and include the “nfsinstall” option that I added in the isolinux.cfg file, but I’d rather have the nice GUI interface if at all possible. Has anyone ever done this before?

You could create a USB boot thumb drive with the DVD image but otherwise you would need to do a network install. For a USB Thumb Drive, check out my bash script here. You would need a 6 GB or larger thumb drive to do what you want.

S.C.L.U. - SuSE Create Live USB - Version 1.10 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

Here is a link on a network install: SDB:Network installation - openSUSE

Thank You,

jdmcdaniel3 wrote:
> dreyerpj;2470801 Wrote:
>> I have a situation where I have 5 servers that I would like to install
>> opensuse 12.1 but only one of them has a DVD device. So I am trying to
>> create a bootable installation CD with the same installation GUI
>> interface as the DVD that I can utilize NFS to install the OS and not
>> having much luck.

> You could create a USB boot thumb drive with the DVD image but
> otherwise you would need to do a network install.

Another alternative is to clone the hard disk. Install on the master,
plug the main disk from each of the other servers into it, copy the
disk, return it to its original server, patch whatever needs patching
and job done. Local disk to disk copy is very fast. Not sure exactly
what would need patching on current releases (disk uuid?), but probably
not much.

Put the content of the DVD on an NFS share, then boot the machines from a NET install CD (ready made available) and, in GRUB point to the NFS share.

Thanks everyone. I found the Network install download as jdmcdaniel3](http://forums.opensuse.org/members/jdmcdaniel3.html) suggested and it is exactly what I need. Thanks.

Happy to hear you found an acceptable solution. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thank You,