Chapter 7. Booting the Installation on 64-bit AMD, Intel, and ARM systems
NFS
, FTP
, HTTP
, or HTTPS
methods. Booting and installing from the full installation DVD is the easiest method to get started with. Other methods require some additional setup but provide different advantages that might suit your needs better. For example, when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on a large number of computers at the same time, the best approach is booting from a PXE server and installing from a source in a shared network location.
Table 7.1. Boot Methods and Installation Sources
Boot method | Installation source |
---|---|
Full installation media (DVD or USB) | The boot media itself |
Minimal boot media (CD or USB) | Full installation DVD ISO image or the installation tree extracted from this image, placed in a network location or on a hard drive |
Network boot (PXE) | Full installation DVD ISO image or the installation tree extracted from this image, placed in a network location |
- Section 7.1.1, “Booting from Physical Media” describes how to boot the installation program using physical media (Red Hat Enterprise Linux DVD, Boot CD-ROM, USB flash drive).
- Section 7.1.2, “Booting from the Network Using PXE” describes how to boot the installation program using PXE.
- Section 7.2, “The Boot Menu” contains information on the boot menu.
7.1. Starting the Installation Program
Important
Note
7.1.1. Booting from Physical Media
Procedure 7.1. Booting the Installation from Physical Media
- Disconnect any drives which you do not need for the installation. See Section 5.6.3, “USB Disks” for more information.
- Power on your computer system.
- Insert the media in your computer.
- Power off your computer with the boot media still inside.
- Power on your computer system. Note that you might need to press a specific key or combination of keys to boot from the media or configure your system's Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) to boot from the media. For more information, see the documentation that came with your system.
7.1.2. Booting from the Network Using PXE
Network Boot
or Boot Services
. Also, ensure that the BIOS is configured to boot first from the correct network interface. Some BIOS systems specify the network interface as a possible boot device, but do not support the PXE standard. See your hardware's documentation for more information. Once you properly enable PXE booting, the computer can boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation system without any other media.
Procedure 7.2. Booting the Installation from the Network Using PXE
- Ensure that the network cable is attached. The link indicator light on the network socket should be lit, even if the computer is not switched on.
- Switch on the computer.
- Depending on your hardware, some network setup and diagnostic information can be displayed before your computer connects to a PXE server. Once it connects, a menu is displayed according to the configuration of the PXE server. Press the number key that corresponds to the desired option. If you are not sure of which option to select, ask your server administrator.