path: root/release/sysinstall/help/install.hlp

                QUICK INSTALLATION GUIDE FOR FREEBSD 2.1

This manual documents the process of installing FreeBSD on your
machine.  Please also see the Hardware Guide for hardware-specific
installation instructions (how to configure your hardware, what sorts
of things to watch out for, etc) before starting a new installation.


Table of Contents:
==================

1.0     DOS User's Q&A section.
        1.1     How do I make space for FreeBSD?
        1.2     Can I use compressed DOS filesystems from FreeBSD?
        1.3     Can I use DOS extended partitions?
        1.4     Can I run DOS executables under FreeBSD?

2.0     Preparing for the installation.
        2.1     Before installing from CDROM
        2.2     Before installing from Floppy
        2.3     Before installing from a DOS partition
        2.4     Before installing from QIC/SCSI tape
        2.5     Before installing over a network
                2.5.1   Preparing for NFS Installation 
                2.5.2   Preparing for FTP Installation

3.0     Installing FreeBSD.

3.1     Repairing an existing FreeBSD installation.

3.2     Upgrading from FreeBSD 2.0.5


1.0     DOS user's Question and Answer section
===     ======================================

1.1     Help!  I have no space!  Do I need to delete everything first?

If your machine is already running DOS and has little or no free space
available for FreeBSD's installation, all is not lost!  You may find
the "FIPS" utility, provided in the tools/ subdirectory on the FreeBSD
CDROM or on the various FreeBSD ftp sites, to be quite useful.

FIPS allows you to split an existing DOS partition into two pieces,
preserving the original partition and allowing you to install onto the
second free piece.  You first "defrag" your DOS partition, using the
DOS 6.xx "DEFRAG" utility or the Norton Disk tools, then run FIPS.  It
will prompt you for the rest of the information it needs.  Afterwards,
you can reboot and install FreeBSD on the new partition.  Also note
that FIPS will create the second partition as a "clone" of the first,
so you'll actually see that you now have two DOS Primary partitions
where you formerly had one.  Don't be alarmed!  You can simply delete
the extra DOS Primary parititon (making sure it's the right one by
examining its size! :)

See the Distributions menu for an estimation of how much free space
you'll need for the kind of installation you want.


1.2     Can I use compressed DOS filesystems from FreeBSD?

No.  If you are using a utility such as Stacker(tm) or DoubleSpace(tm),
FreeBSD will only be able to use whatever portion of the filesystem
you leave uncompressed.  The rest of the filesystem will show up as
one large file (the stacked/dblspaced file!).  DO NOT REMOVE THAT
FILE as you will probably regret it greatly!

It is probably better to create another uncompressed DOS primary
partition and use this for communications between DOS and FreeBSD if
such is your desire.


1.3     Can I mount my DOS extended partitions?

Unfortunately, this remains unsupported.  All the framework is in place
for doing so, but it didn't get done in time for the 2.1 installation.


1.4     Can I run DOS binaries under FreeBSD?

Not yet!  We'd like to add support for this someday, but are still
lacking anyone to actually do the work.  Ongoing work with Linux's
DOSEMU utility may bring this much closer to being a reality sometime
soon.  Send mail to hackers@freebsd.org if you're interested in
joining this effort!

There is, however, a neat utility called "pcemu" in the ports
collection which emulates an 8088 and enough BIOS services to run DOS
text mode applications.  It requires the X Window System (provided as
XFree86 3.1.2) to operate.



2.0     Preparing for the installation
===     ==============================

2.1     Before installing from CDROM:

If your CDROM is of an unsupported type, then please skip to section
2.3 which describes how to install from a DOS partition.

There is not a lot of preparatory work that needs to be done to
successfully install from one of Walnut Creek's FreeBSD CDROMs (other
CDROM distributions may work as well, though we cannot say for certain
as we have no hand or say in how they're created).  You can either
boot into the CD installation directly from DOS using Walnut Creek's
supplied ``install.bat'' batch file or you can make a boot floppy with
the ``makeflp.bat'' command [NOTE: If you're using an IDE CDROM, use
the inst_ide.bat or atapiflp.bat batch files instead].

For the easiest interface of all (from DOS), type "view".  This will
bring up a DOS menu utility that leads you through all the available
options.

If you're creating the boot floppy from a UNIX machine, you may find
that ``dd if=floppies/boot.flp of=/dev/rfd0'' or
``dd if=floppies/boot.flp of=/dev/floppy'' works well, depending on
your hardware and operating system environment.

Once you've booted from DOS or floppy, you should then be able to
select CDROM as the media type in the Media menu and load the entire
distribution from CDROM.  No other types of installation media should
be required.

After your system is fully installed and you have rebooted from the
hard disk, you can mount the cdrom at any time by typing: ``mount /cdrom''
Before removing the CD again, also note that it's necessary to first
type ``umount /cdrom''.  Don't just remove it from the drive!

SPECIAL NOTE: Before invoking the installation, be sure that the CDROM
is in the drive so that the "probe" can find it!  This is also true if
you wish the CDROM to be added to the default system configuration
automatically during the install (whether or not you actually use it
as the installation media).

Finally, if you would like people to be able to FTP install FreeBSD
directly from the CDROM in your machine, you'll find it quite easy.
After the machine is fully installed, you simply need to add the
following line to the password file (using the vipw command):

        ftp:*:99:99::0:0:FTP:/cdrom:/nonexistent

Anyone else at your site will now be able to chose a Media type of FTP
and type in: ftp://<your machine> after picking "Other" in the ftp
sites menu to install from the CD in your machine!


2.2     Before installing from Floppy:

If you must install from floppy disks, either due to unsupported
hardware or just because you enjoy doing things the hard way, you must
first prepare some floppies for the install.

The first floppy you'll need in addition to the boot.flp image is
``floppies/root.flp'', which is somewhat special in that it's not a
DOS filesystem floppy at all, but rather a floppy "image" (it's
actually a gzip'd cpio file).  You can create this floppy in the same
way that you created the boot floppy (see notes in section 2.1).  Once
this floppy is made, you can go on to make the distribution set
floppies using ordinary DOS or UFS (if you're preparing the floppies
on another FreeBSD machine) formatted diskettes.

You will need, at minimum, as many 1.44MB or 1.2MB floppies as it
takes to hold all files in the bin (binary distribution) directory.
If you're preparing these floppies under DOS, then THESE floppies
*must* be formatted using the MS-DOS FORMAT command.  If you're using
Windows, use the Windows File Manager format command.

Don't trust Factory Preformatted floppies!  Format them again
yourself, just to make sure!  Many problems reported by our users in
the past have resulted from the use of improperly formatted media,
which is why I'm taking such special care to mention it here!

If you're creating the floppies from another FreeBSD machine, a format
is still not a bad idea though you don't need to put a DOS filesystem
on each floppy.  You can use the `disklabel' and `newfs' commands to
put a UFS filesystem on them instead, like so:

        disklabel -w -r fd0 floppy3     (use floppy5 for 1.2MB disks)
        newfs /dev/rfd0

Then you can mount and write to them like any other file system.

After you've formatted the floppies for DOS or UFS, you'll need to
copy the files onto them.  The distribution files are split into
chunks conveniently sized so that 5 of them will fit on a conventional
1.44MB floppy.  Go through all your floppies, packing as many files as
will fit on each one, until you've got all the distributions you want
packed up in this fashion.  Each distribution should go into its own
subdirectory on the floppy, e.g.: a:\bin\bin.aa, a:\bin\bin.ab, ...

Once you come to the Media screen of the install, select "Floppy" and
you'll be prompted for the rest.


2.3     Before installing from a DOS partition:

To prepare for installation from an MS-DOS partition you should simply
copy the files from the distribution into a directory called
"FREEBSD".  For example, to do a minimal installation of FreeBSD from
DOS using files copied from the CDROM, you might do something like
this:

        C> MD C:\FREEBSD
        C> XCOPY /S E:\DISTS\BIN C:\FREEBSD\BIN
        C> XCOPY /S E:\FLOPPIES C:\FREEBSD\FLOPPIES

Asssuming that `C:' was where you had free space and `E:' was where
your CD was mounted.  Note that you need the FLOPPIES directory
because the `root.flp' image is automatically looked for there when
you're doing a DOS installation.

For as many `DISTS' as you wish to install from DOS (and you have free
space for), install each one in a directory under `C:\FREEBSD' - the
BIN dist is only the minimal requirement.


2.4     Before installing from QIC/SCSI Tape:

Installing from tape is probably the easiest method, short of an
on-line install using FTP or a CDROM.  The installation program
expects the files to be simply tar'ed onto the tape, so after getting
all of the files for the distributions you're interested in, simply
tar them onto the tape with a command like:

        cd /where/you/have/your/dists
        tar cvf /dev/rwt0 (or /dev/rst0) floppies dist1 .. dist2

It's important to make sure that the `floppies/' directory is
specified along with the dists because the installation will look for
`floppies/root.flp' on the tape.

When you go to do the installation, you should also make sure that you
leave enough room in some temporary directory (which you'll be allowed
to choose) to accommodate the FULL contents of the tape you've
created.  Due to the non-random access nature of tapes, this method of
installation requires quite a bit of temporary storage!  You should
expect to require as much temporary storage as you have stuff written
on tape.

SPECIAL NOTE:  When going to do the installation, the tape must be in
the drive *before* booting from the boot floppy.  The installation
"probe" may otherwise fail to find it.


2.5     Before installing over a network:

You can do network installations over 3 types of connections:

        Serial port:    SLIP / PPP
        Parallel port:  PLIP (using ``laplink'' style cable)
        Ethernet:       A standard ethernet controller (includes some PCMCIA).

SLIP support is rather primitive, and is limited primarily to
hard-wired links, such as a serial cable running between two
computers.  The link must be hard-wired because the SLIP installation
doesn't currently offer a dialing capability.  If you need to dial out
with a modem or otherwise dialog with the link before connecting to
it, then I recommend that the PPP utility be used instead.

If you're using PPP, make sure that you have your Internet Service
Provider's IP address and DNS information handy as you'll need to know
it fairly early in the installation process.  You may also need to
know your own IP address, though PPP supports dynamic address
negotiation and may be able to pick up this information directly from
your ISP if they support it.

You will also need to know how to use the various "AT commands" for
dialing out with your particular brand of modem as the PPP dialer
provides only a very simple terminal emulator.

If a hard-wired connection to another FreeBSD (2.0R or later) machine
is available, you might also consider installing over a "laplink"
style parallel port cable.  The data rate over the parallel port is
much higher than what is typically possible over a serial line (up to
50k/sec), thus resulting in a quicker installation.

Finally, for the fastest possible network installation, an ethernet
adaptor is always a good choice!  FreeBSD supports most common PC
ethernet cards, a table of supported cards (and their required
settings) being provided as part of the FreeBSD Hardware Guide (see
the Documentation menu on the boot floppy or the top level directory
of the CDROM).  If you are using one of the supported PCMCIA ethernet
cards, also be sure that it's plugged in _before_ the laptop is
powered on!  FreeBSD does not, unfortunately, currently support "hot
insertion" of PCMCIA cards.

You will also need to know your IP address on the network, the
"netmask" value for your address class and the name of your machine.
Your system administrator can tell you which values are appropriate to
your particular network setup.  If you will be referring to other
hosts by name rather than IP address, you'll also need a name server
and possibly the address of a gateway (if you're using PPP, it's your
provider's IP address) to use in talking to it.

If you do not know the answers to these questions then you should
really probably talk to your system administrator _first_ before
trying this type of installation!  Using a randomly chosen IP address
or netmask on a live network will almost certainly get you shot.

Once you have a network connection of some sort working, the
installation can continue over NFS or FTP.

2.5.1   Preparing for NFS installation:

        NFS installation is fairly straight-forward: Simply copy the
        FreeBSD distribution files you want onto a server somewhere
        and then point the NFS media selection at it.

        If this server supports only "privileged port" access (as is
        generally the default for Sun and Linux workstations), you
        will need to set this option in the Options menu before
        installation can proceed.

        If you have a poor quality ethernet card which suffers from very
        slow transfer rates, you may also wish to toggle the appropriate
        Options flag.

        In order for NFS installation to work, the server must also support
        "subdir mounts", e.g. if your FreeBSD 2.1 distribution directory
        lives on:  ziggy:/usr/archive/stuff/FreeBSD
        Then ziggy will have to allow the direct mounting of
        /usr/archive/stuff/FreeBSD, not just /usr or /usr/archive/stuff.

        In FreeBSD's /etc/exports file this is controlled by the
        ``-alldirs'' option.  Other NFS servers may have different
        conventions.  If you are getting `Permission Denied' messages
        from the server then it's likely that you don't have this
        properly enabled!


2.5.2   Preparing for FTP Installation

        FTP installation may be done from any mirror site containing a
        reasonably up-to-date version of FreeBSD 2.1.  A full menu of
        reasonable choices for almost any location in the world is
        provided in the FTP site menu.

        If you are installing from some other FTP site not listed in
        this menu, or you are having troubles getting your name server
        configured properly, you can also specify your own URL by
        selecting the ``Other'' choice in that menu.  A URL can
        contain a hostname or an IP address, so the following would
        work in the absence of a name server:

                ftp://192.216.191.11/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.0-RELEASE
        
        There are two FTP installation modes you can use:

           o FTP:

             For all FTP transfers, use the standard "Active" mode for
             transfers.  This will not work through most firewalls but
             will often work best with older ftp servers that do not
             support passive mode.  If your connection hangs with
             passive mode, try this one!

           o FTP Passive:

             For all FTP transfers, use "Passive" mode.  This allows
             the user to pass through firewalls that do not allow
             incoming connections on random port addresses.

        NOTE: ACTIVE AND PASSIVE MODES ARE NOT THE SAME AS A `PROXY'
        CONNECTIONS, WHERE A PROXY FTP SERVER IS LISTENING ON A
        DIFFERENT PORT!

        In such instances, you should specify the URL as something like:

                ftp://foo.bar.com:1234/pub/FreeBSD

        Where "1234" is the port number of the proxy ftp server.



3.0      Installing FreeBSD
---      ------------------

Once you've taken note of the appropriate preinstallation steps, you
should be able to install FreeBSD without any further trouble.

Should the installation fail at some stage, then you may wish to go
back and re-read the relevant preparation section (section 2.x) for
the installation media type you're trying to use.  Perhaps there's a
helpful hint there that you missed the first time?  If you're having
hardware trouble or FreeBSD refuses to boot at all, then read the
Hardware Guide again for a list of possible solutions.

The FreeBSD boot floppy contains all the on-line documentation you
should need to be able to navigate through an installation, and if it
doesn't then I'd like to know what you found most confusing so that I
can fix it in future releases!  It is the objective of the FreeBSD
installation program (sysinstall) to be self-documenting enough that
painful "step-by-step" guides are no longer necessary.

You may also find the following "typical installation sequence" to be
useful reading:

o Boot the boot floppy.  After a boot sequence which can take
  anywhere from from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, depending on the
  speed of your hardware, you should be presented with a menu of
  initial choices.  If the floppy doesn't boot at all, or the boot
  hangs at some stage, go read the Q&A section of the Hardware
  Guide for some possible causes.

o Press F1.  You should see some basic usage instructions on
  the menu system and general navigation within it.  If you haven't
  used this installation system before then PLEASE read this
  thoroughly!

o Select the Novice installation and follow the instructions.  Even
  if you're moderately familiar with UNIX, chose the Novice install!
  "Novice" in this context means new to the FreeBSD installer, not
  computers in general!  The other installation types (Custom and
  Express) assume that you've installed FreeBSD using *this* version
  of the installation utility and know *exactly* what you are doing!

  Novice users and 25 year veterans of UNIX alike can benefit from the
  tips provided by the Novice install, so don't be proud - be a novice! :)


Installation type overview:

o Custom installation:

You can do anything you like in this menu without altering your system
_except_ for "Commit", which will perform any pending actions you may
have selected.  Some of the menu options will also have direct `Write'
commands available for commiting an operation immediately, but they
should only be used if you're *absolutely sure* it's necessary.  It's
generally safer to stack up your changes and then commit them all at
once so that you're left with the option of changing your mind up to
the very last moment.  In particular, the (W)rite options in the fdisk
and label screens WILL NOT WORK for a new installation!  They're meant
for tweaking *existing* installations, not doing new ones.  Use the
final commit option as there is no advantage whatsoever to be gained
in writing the information out stage by stage in a new installation.

If you're confused at any point, the F1 key will pull up what is
hopefully some helpful information for the screen you're in.


o Express installation:

This installation will invoke all the appropriate steps in order as if
you'd selected them one by one from the custom installation menu.  It
assumes that you *know what you are doing* and have run the
installation at least once before.  If this is not the case, the
Novice installation method is recommended.


o Novice installation:

As previously mentioned, the Novice installation leads you through the
required stages in the proper order and presents you with various
helpful prompts in between.  Once the system is installed, it will
also present you with the opportunity to perform a variety of "post
install" actions.

A quick synopsis of the stages involved in a novice installation
follows:

        o The first step is the `Partition Editor', which allows
          you to chose how your drives will be used for FreeBSD.
          If you're dedicating an entire drive to FreeBSD, the
          `A' command is probably all you need to type here, otherwise
          move to a partition marked `Unused' (or delete an existing one)
          and use the `C' command to create a FreeBSD partition in its
          place.

        o Next, with the `Label Editor', you can specify how the space
          in any FreeBSD partitions should be used by FreeBSD.  You
          can also mount any non-FreeBSD partitions (such as DOS) in this
          screen.  If you want the standard layout, simply type `A' for
          the defaults.

        o Next, the `Distributions' menu allows you to specify how much
          of FreeBSD you'd like to load.  A good choice is the "User"
          distribution for a small system or the "Developer" distribution
          for someone wanting a more programmer-oriented configuration.
          If none of the existing collections seem applicable, select
          Custom to choose the component distributions yourself.

        o Next, the `Media' menu allows you to specify what kind of
          media you wish to install from.  If a given media type requires
          extra information, such as networking information for an FTP
          or NFS install, it will also be asked for at this point.

        o Finally, you'll be prompted to commit all of these actions at
          once (nothing has been written to your disk so far, nor will
          it until you give the final confirmation).

          All new or changed partition information will be written
          out, file systems will be created and/or non-destructively
          labelled (depending on how you set their newfs flags in the
          Label Editor) and all selected distributions will be
          extracted.

        o After the system is fully installed, you'll then have the
          option to configure the system in various ways, install a
          WEB server, etc.

At this point, you're generally done with the sysinstall utility and
can reboot the system.  If you elected to install the boot manager,
you should now see a small boot menu with an `F?' prompt.  Press the
function key corresponding to the BSD partition and you should boot up
into FreeBSD off the hard disk.

If this fails to happen for some reason, see the Q & A section of the
Hardware Guide for possible clues!  The most likely problem is a
mis-matched disk geometry, which will have to be corrected with a
second pass through the install, using the (G) command in the fdisk
menu to properly set the geometry the next time.

Should you wish to re-enter this installation later, you will find it
under /stand/sysinstall on the installed system.

Good luck!  If you really get stuck, you may send mail to our support
mailing list - questions@FreeBSD.org.  We'll do our best to help you!


3.1     Repairing an existing FreeBSD installation.
---     -------------------------------------------

FreeBSD 2.1 now features a "Fixit" option in the top menu of the boot
floppy.  To use it, you will also need a fixit.flp image floppy,
generated in the same fashion as the boot floppy.

To invoke fixit, simply boot the boot floppy, chose the "Fixit"
item and insert the fixit floppy when asked.  You will then be placed
into a shell with a wide variety of commands available (in the /stand
and /mnt2/stand directories) for checking, repairing and examining file
systems and their contents.  Some UNIX administration experience *is*
required to use the fixit option!


3.2     Upgrading from FreeBSD 2.0.5
---     ----------------------------

It must first be said that this upgrade DOES NOT take a particularly
sophisticated approach to the upgrade problem, it being more a question
of providing what seemed "good enough" at the time.  A truly polished
upgrade that deals properly with the broad spectrum of installed 2.0.5
systems would be nice to have, but until that gets written what you get is
this - the brute-force approach!

What this upgrade will attempt to do is best summarized thusly:

  1.  fsck and mount all file systems chosen in the label editor.
  2.  Ask for a location to preserve your /etc directory into and do so.
  3.  Extract all selected distributions on top of your existing system.
  4.  Copy certain obvious files back from the preserved /etc, leaving the
      rest of the /etc file merge up to the user.
  5.  Drop user in a shell so that they may perform that merge before
      rebooting into the new system.

And that's it!  This "upgrade" is not going to hold your hand in all
major respects, it's simply provided to make one PART of the upgrade
easier.

IMPORTANT NOTE: What this upgrade procedure may also do, in fact, is
completely destroy your system (though much more quickly than you
would have been able to destroy it yourself). It is simply impossible
to guarantee that this procedure's crude form of upgrade automation
will work in all cases and if you do this upgrade without proper
BACKUPS for any important data then you really must like living life
close to the edge, that's all we can say!

NOTE to 2.0 users: We're sorry, but the "slice" changes that were
added in FreeBSD 2.0.5 made automated upgrades pretty difficult due to
the fact that a complete reinstall is pretty much called for.  Things
may still *work* after a 2.1 upgrade, but you will also no doubt
receive many warnings at boot time about non-aligned slices and such;
we really do recommend a fresh installation for 2.0 systems!  (But
back up your user data first :-).

                                        Jordan

---- End of Installation Guide ---