Installation with DrakX
Deprecated - Introduction to the MandrakeSecurity
Installer
DrakX DrakX is
Mandrakesecurity's installation program. Its ease of use
has been enhanced with a graphical user interface, allowing you to
move forward and backward through the installation and prompting
you when required. With DrakX, it doesn't matter whether
you're a new user to Mandrakesecurity or an old pro –
DrakX's job is to give you a smooth installation and an
easy transition into Mandrakesecurity.
Very First Installation Welcome Screen
When you begin, the first screen
that comes up will present some information and give you
installation options. (). Doing
nothing will simply begin the installation in normal or
linux
mode. The next few paragraphs will go over
some options and parameters that you can pass to the install
program if you run into problems.
Pressing
F1 will open a help screen. Here are some useful
options to choose from:
vgalo: installation
optionsvgalo if
you tried a default installation and did not see the graphical
interface as shown below in , you can try to run the
installation in low resolution mode. This happens with certain
types of graphics cards, so with Mandrakesecurity we
give you a number of options to work around problems with older
hardware. To try the installation in low resolution mode, type
vgalo at the prompt.
text: installation
optionstext if
your video card is very old and graphical installation does
not work at all, you can always choose the text mode
installation. Because all video cards can display text, this
is the installation of last resort
. Don't worry
though – it's not likely that you'll need to use the
text install.
expert: installation
optionsexpert
installation
options linuxin
some rare cases, your PC may appear to freeze or lock-up during
the hardware detection phase. If that happens, then adding the
word expert as a parameter will tell the
install program to bypass hardware detection. Because
DrakX will not scan for hardware, you will need to
manually specify hardware parameters later in the installation.
The expert parameter can be added to the
previous modes, so you may end up specifying
boot: vgalo expert
to perform a low resolution graphical install without DrakX
performing a hardware scan.
Selecting the expert
mode will ask you for more details about the installation
process, letting you perform a more customized
installation.
kernel options:
installation
optionskernel
optionsKernel options usually aren't
required for most machines. There are a few cases of
motherboards incorrectly reporting the amount of memory
installed due to bugs in the design or in the BIOS. If you
need to manually specify the amount of DRAM installed in your
PC, use the
commands mem= xxxM
mem= xxxM parameter. For
example, to start the installation in normal mode with a
computer having 256 MB of memory, your command line
would look like this:
boot: linux mem=256M
Now that we've gone over what
might go wrong, let's move on to the actual
installation process. When the installer starts, you'll see a
nice graphical interface (
). On the left will be the various installation steps. Depending
on the installation's progress level, some stages may or may not
be available. If a particular stage is available it will be
highlighted when you move the mouse pointer over it.
The colors of the buttons on the left side of
the screen let you quickly see what's going on with the
installation:
red: this installation phase has not yet been
carried out
orange: the installation stage that
is currently being processed
green: this installation stage has
already been configured. However, nothing stops you from going
back to a stage that has already been completed if you need to
reconfigure something.
This guide assumes that you
are performing a standard, step-by-step installation, as described
below.
Choosing Your Language
The first step is to choose your preferred
language.
Choosing the Default Language
language Your
choice of preferred language will affect the language of the
documentation, the installer and the system in general.
Clicking on the
Advanced button will allow you to select
other languages to be installed on your workstation, thereby
installing the language-specific files for system documentation
and applications. For example, if you will host users from Spain
on your machine, select English as the default language in the
tree view and Spanish|Spain in the Advanced
section.
Note that you're not limited to choosing a
single additional language. Once you have selected additional
locales, click the OK button to
continue.
language setting
Not all languages listed here are supported in
the Mandrakesecurity Web interface.
License Terms of the Distribution
licenseBefore
continuing, you should carefully read the terms of the license. It
covers the entire Mandrakesecurity distribution, and if you
do not agree with all the terms in it you should click on the
Refuse button. This will immediately
terminate the installation. Clicking on the
Accept button will continue the
installation.
Disk Detection and Configuration
DrakX will first detect any
IDEdetection
IDE devices present in your computer. It
will also scan for one or more PCI SCSI
SCSI PCI SCSI
cards on your system. If a SCSI card is found, DrakX will
automatically install the appropriate driver.
Because hardware detection is not foolproof,
DrakX will ask you if you have a PCI SCSI
installed. Clicking Yes will display a
list of SCSI cards to choose from. Click No
if you know that you have no SCSI hardware in your machine. If
you're not sure, you can check the list of hardware detected in
your machine by selecting See hardware info
and clicking the OK. Examine the list of
hardware and then click on the OK button to
return to the SCSI interface question.
If you had to manually specify your PCI SCSI
adapter, DrakX will ask if you want to configure options
for it. You should allow DrakX to probe the hardware for
the card-specific options which are needed to initialize the
adapter. Most of the time, DrakX will get through this step
without any issues.
If DrakX is not able to
probe for the options to automatically determine which parameters
need to be passed to the hardware, you'll need to manually
configure the driver.
hard disk
detection
Configuring your Mouse
mouse
Usually, DrakX has no problems detecting the number of
buttons on your mouse. If it does, it assumes you have a
two-button mouse and will configure it for third-button
emulation. The third-button mouse button of a two-button mouse
can be pressed
by simultaneously clicking the
left and right mouse buttons. DrakX will automatically
know whether your mouse uses a PS/2, serial or USB
interface.
If for some reason you wish to specify a
different type of mouse, select it from the provided list.
If you choose a mouse other
than the default, a test screen will be displayed. Use the buttons
and wheel to verify that the settings are correct and that the
mouse is working correctly. If the mouse is not working well,
press the space bar or Return key to
Cancel the test and to go back to the list
of choices.
mouse
wheel Wheel mice are
occasionally not detected automatically, so you will need to
select your mouse from a list. Be sure to select the one
corresponding to the port that your mouse is attached to.
After selecting a mouse and pressing the
OK button, a mouse image is displayed
on-screen. Scroll the mouse wheel to ensure that it is
activated correctly. Once you see the on-screen scroll wheel
moving as you scroll your mouse wheel, test the buttons and
check that the mouse pointer moves on-screen as you move
your mouse.
Configuring the Keyboard
keyboardDepending on the default
language you chose in ,
DrakX will automatically select a particular type of
keyboard configuration. However, you might not have a keyboard
that corresponds exactly to your language: for example, if you
are an English speaking Swiss person, you may have a Swiss
keyboard. Or if you speak English but are located in Québec, you
may find yourself in the same situation where your native
language and keyboard do not match. In either case, this
installation step will allow you to select an appropriate
keyboard from a list.
Click on the More button to be presented with the
complete list of supported keyboards.
Selecting the Mount Points
mount
pointsAt this point, you need to decide where
you want to install the Mandrakesecurity operating system on
your hard drive. If your hard drive is empty or if an existing
operating system is using all the available space you will have to
partition the drive. Basically, partitioning a hard drive consists
of logically dividing it to create the space needed to install your
new Mandrakesecurity system.
Because the process of
partitioning a hard drive is usually irreversible and can lead to
lost data if there is an existing operating system already
installed on the drive, partitioning can be intimidating and
stressful if you are an inexperienced user. Fortunately,
DrakX includes a wizard which simplifies this
process. Before continuing with this step, read through the rest
of this section and above all, take your time.
If your hard drive has already been
partitioned, either from a previous installation of GNU/Linux or
by another partitioning tool, select the appropriate partitions
that you want to install your Linux system into.
If partitions haven't been configured, you
will need to create them using the wizard. Depending on your hard
drive configuration, several options are available:
Use free space:
this option will perform an automatic partitioning of your
blank drive(s). If you use this option there will be no
further prompts.
Use existing
partition: the wizard has detected one or more
existing Linux partitions on your hard drive. If you want to use
them, choose this option. You will then be asked to choose the
mount points associated with each of the partitions. The legacy
mount points are selected by default, and for the most part it's
a good idea to keep them.
Use the
free space on the Windows partition: if
Microsoft®
Windows®© is installed on
your hard drive and takes all the space available on it, you
have to create free space for Linux data. To do so, you can
delete your Microsoft Windows® partition and data
(see Erase entire disk
or Expert
mode
solutions) or resize your Microsoft
Windows® FAT partition. Resizing can be performed without
the loss of any data, provided you previously
defragment the Windows® partition and that it uses the FAT
format. Backing up your data is strongly
recommended.. Using this option is recommended if you
want to use both Mandrakesecurity and Microsoft
Windows® on the same computer.
Before choosing this option, please
understand that after this procedure, the size of your
Microsoft Windows® partition will be smaller
then when you started. You will have less free space under
Microsoft Windows® to store your data or to
install new software.
Erase entire
disk: if you want to delete all data and all
partitions present on your hard drive and replace them with
your new Mandrakesecurity system, choose this
option. Be careful, because you will not be able to undo
your choice after you confirm.
If you choose this option,
all data on your disk will be deleted.
Remove Windows:
this will simply erase everything on the drive and begin fresh,
partitioning everything from scratch. All
data on your disk will be lost.
If you choose this option,
all data on your disk will be lost.
partitions
manual formatting
partitioning DiskDrake
Custom disk partitioning: choose
this option if you want to manually partition your hard
drive. Be careful –– it is a powerful
but dangerous choice and you can very easily lose all
your data. That's why this option is really only
recommended if you have done something like this before
and have some experience. For more instructions on how
to use the DiskDrake utility, refer to the online
documentation for
DiskDrake.
Choose Partitions to Be Formatted
partitions
formattingAny partitions
that have been newly defined must be formatted for use
(formatting means creating a file system).
At this time, you may wish to reformat some
already existing partitions to erase any data they contain. If you
wish to do that, please select those partitions as well.
Please note that it is not necessary to
reformat all partitions
pre-existingpre-existing
partitions. You must reformat the partitions containing the
operating system (such as /,
/usr or /var) but you do not
have to reformat partitions containing data that you wish to keep
(typically /home).
Please be careful when selecting
partitions. After formatting, all data on the selected partitions
will be deleted and you will not be able to recover it.
Click on OK when you
are ready to format partitions.
Click on Cancel if
you want to choose another partition for your new Mandrakesecurity
operating system installation.
Click on Advanced if
you wish to select partitions that will be checked for partitionsbad
blocksbad blocks on the disk.
Actual Packages Installation
Then comes the actual system
installation. The packages list is predefined and cannot be
changed at this time. The time required to complete the
installation depends on the speed of your hardware. An estimate of
the remaining time-to-go will be displayed on-screen to help gauge
if there is sufficient time to enjoy a cup of coffee.
Root Password
This is the most crucial decision point for
the security of your GNU/Linux system: you have to enter the
root
password password
root root
password. Root is the system administrator and
is the only one authorized to make updates, add users, change the
overall system configuration, and so on. In short,
root can do everything! That is why you must
choose a password that is difficult to guess – DrakX
will tell you if the password that you chose is too easy. As you can
see, you are not forced to enter a password, but we strongly advise
you against. GNU/Linux is as prone to operator error as any other
operating system. Since root can overcome all
limitations and unintentionally erase all data on partitions by
carelessly accessing the partitions themselves, it is important
that it be difficult to become root.
The msec security
level is set to 4 (high
) by
default. The password should be a mixture of alphanumeric
characters and must be at least 8 characters long. Never write down
the root password –– it makes
it too easy to compromise a system.
One caveat –– do not make
the password too long or complicated because you must be able to
remember it!
The password will not be displayed on screen
as you type it in. To reduce the chance of a blind typing error
you will need to enter the password twice. If you do happen to
make the same typing error twice, this incorrect
password will have to be used the first time you connect.
Administrator Password
You are then asked to enter the password
for the system administrator (login: admin). It
is differentiated from the root user, for security reasons,
and also because it may not be the same person. It is that
admin account that will be required to access
the Mandrakesecurity Web interface. The criterion for
choosing this password are the same as for the root
password.
Adding a User
All necessary users have
already been added, and you shouldn't need adding more users for
normal Mandrakesecurity operations. However, if you plan to
use the squid PAM
authentication feature, you can add here the users that will be
authorized.
The first field asks you for a real name. Of
course, this is not mandatory –– you can actually
enter whatever you like. DrakX will use the first word you
typed in and copy it to the User name field,
which is the name this user will enter to log onto the system. If
you like, you may override the default and change the
username. The next step is to enter a password. From a security
point of view, a non-privileged (regular) user password is not as
crucial as the root password, but that is no
reason to neglect it by making it blank or too simple: after all,
your files could be the ones at risk.
You can then choose to make
that user member of one or more special groups that will give him
special priviledges. Check the button for the priviledges you want
for that user.
Once you click on
Accept user, you can add additional
users. Select Done when you have finished
adding users.
Clicking the
Advanced button allows you to change the
default shell for that user
(bash by default).
Configure your Local Network
You will now set up your local
network connection (LAN).
Mandrakesecurity will attempt to autodetect network devices
and modems. If this detection fails, uncheck the Use
auto detection box.
Even though many connection
types are offered here, do not configure your Internet connection
now. You should now limit yourself to configuring the
Ethernet LAN access, so that you
can later connect to the administration interface and configure other
connections easily through it.
We will not detail each configuration
option – just make sure that you have all the
parameters, such as IP address, default gateway, DNS servers,
etc. from your Internet Service Provider or system
administrator.
You will be able to
configure all your other network interfaces (Internet,
DMZ, etc.) later on through
Mandrakesecurity interface.
Where Should You Place the Bootloader
You must indicate where you wish to place the
information the bootloader requires to boot to GNU/Linux.
Unless you know exactly what you are doing,
choose First sector of drive (MBR).
You are then presented the
different boot entries that will be proposed at system boot. You
can modify them here.
Boot Disk
The Mandrakesecurity CD-ROM has a
built-in rescue mode. You can access it by booting the CD-ROM,
pressing the F1 key at boot and typing
rescue at the prompt. If your computer
cannot boot from the CD-ROM, there are at least two situations
where having a boot floppy is critical:
when installing the
bootloader
bootloader, DrakX will rewrite the boot
sector (
MBRMBR) of
your main disk (unless you are using another boot manager), to
allow you to start up with either Windows® or GNU/Linux
(assuming you have Windows® on your system). If at some
point you need to reinstall Windows®, the
Microsoft install process will rewrite the boot
sector and remove your ability to start GNU/Linux!
if a problem arises and you cannot
start GNU/Linux from the hard disk, this boot
diskfloppy will be the only means of
starting up GNU/Linux. It contains a fair number of system
tools for restoring a system that has crashed due to a power
failure, an unfortunate typing error, a forgotten root
password, or any other reason.
If you say Yes, you will
be asked to insert a disk in the drive. The floppy disk must be
blank or have non-critical data on it – DrakX will
format the floppy and will rewrite the whole disk.
Installing Updates from the Internet
At the time you are installing
Mandrakesecurity, it is likely that some packages have been
updated since the initial release. Bugs may have been fixed,
security issues resolved. To allow you to benefit from these
updates, you are now able to download them from the Internet.
Choose Yes if you have a working Internet
connection, or No if you prefer to install
updated packages later.
Choosing Yes
displays a list of places from which updates can be
retrieved. Choose the one nearest you. A package-selection tree
will appear: review the selection, and press
Install to retrieve and install the
selected package(s), or Cancel to
abort.
It's Finished!
boot
dual-bootThere you
are. Installation is now complete and your GNU/Linux system
is ready to use. Carefully write down the
URL given in that dialog, it's the address
you'll have to use in your Web browser to access the
Mandrakesecurity Web interface with
admin account. Now, just click
OK twice to reboot the system.
How to Uninstall Linux
The uninstallation process consists of two
steps:
Delete all partitions on your hard drive
and replace them by a single FAT partition with
DiskDrake.
Uninstall the bootloader
uninstall bootloader (generally
GRUB) from the Master Boot Record (MBR). To do so, boot under
DOS and run the fdisk /mbr command.
If you have another OS, please
consult its documentation to determine how to perform the same
step.
Goodbye, and thank you for
using Mandrakesecurity!