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## Auto-converted by kwiki2moinmoin v2005-10-07
= Debian-Installer: FAQ =
'''Question''': Is the DebianInstaller project not going to use PGI because PGI only works for i386 ?

'''Answer''': PGI works not only in i386 but in other architectures, like ["IA64"], too - I've read this in PGI documentation. From http://www.progeny.com/products/pgi/guide.html#id2781733 :
{{{
 PGI is architecture-independent and has been designed for
 portability. In its first release, PGI supports the Intel x86
 and IA-64 architectures. Hooks are in place for developers on
 other architectures to add support for their platforms without
 having to make infrastructural changes to PGI.
[[TableOfContents([2])]]
----

== Note ==
Before attempting an installation or reporting a problem, remember to check the [http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/errata errata] page to see if your problem is already well known.

If you are experiencing problems with an older version of the installer, please try a more recent version from the [http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ Debian-Installer home page], as your problem might
already be solved.

Please don't edit this page to ask new questions here! This page is only for frequently asked questions. Please '''do''' edit this page to add questions that you know are frequently asked, or to improve the answers.

----


== Q: Why does DebianInstaller always use DHCP? I want a static address! ==

'''A:''' There are currently two different ways of configuring a static IP setup:

 1. Run in normal mode and wait when the DHCP step is performed, if it fails you are given the option of configuring a static setup. You can also cancel the dhcp probe using recent versions of the installer.
 1. Boot the installer in expert mode ("boot: expert"), and you will be able to configure a static address, and many other things besides. (Press F2 in boot screen for more information.)

Besides you may set your dhcpd to serve a fixed address to your chosen network card (identified by its mac).

== Q: But DHCP shouldn't run automatically, it breaks on my system/gets the wrong information/is not what I want. ==

'''A''': DebianInstaller is targeting a larger base of users than have historically installed Debian, including users who don't know what DHCP or static IP addresses are. Thus default behavior is chosen to use DHCP.

You can force static network configuration by providing boot parameter netcfg/disable_dhcp=true at the boot prompt. (Press F7 in boot screen for more information.)

== Q: Why are you doing this? Why not use Anaconda/PGI/whatever? Why reinvent the wheel? ==

'''A''': We're doing this because it's time. Debian has been burdened with a sub-par installer for a full decade, and it's time to change all that. Debian's installer needs to work on more platforms and more types of install media than any other. We need to support installs to S/390 mainframes that have only a teletype console. We need to support installs to m68k boxes that boot from floppies, as well as to netbooting Sun hardware.

And yes, we want to support flashy easy installs on Intel clones booting from CD (and USB sticks). And many more; all the currently targeted installation methods are listed [http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ports-status here].

PGI can't do this. Anaconda can't do this. Only a system designed from the ground up to be completely modular and highly flexible can do so. DebianInstaller is that installer.

== Q: Is the DebianInstaller going to be graphical in nature? / Is there any prebuilt/downloadable graphical DebianInstaller? ==

'''A''': The DebianInstaller is not graphical by nature, but modularity is a key in its design and allows the use of different kinds of frontends, including a graphical one.

Sarge didn't ship with any kind of graphical installer because, at the moment of its relase, its developement was still in early stages but actually a GTK+ based graphical frontend is being actively developed and instalation ISOs are already available for testing ( see ["DebianInstallerGUI"] ).

Plans are having the upcoming Etch release including the graphical frontend as default installation method, while still being able to install with the classic textual interface wherever the graphical installation system is not suitable.

== Q: Will the DebianInstaller support creating and installing to software RAID devices? ==

'''A''': The installer supports RAID 0, 1, and 5. Note that if you use RAID for /boot, you will be forced to use lilo since grub doesn't support RAID.
([http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=251905 #251905]).

[http://linux.yyz.us/sata/faq-sata-raid.html SATA RAID] Chipsets or PCI/PCIe-cards software RAIDs are not supported yet, or not completely, see dmraid [http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2005/11/msg00297.html 1] [http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/dmraid 2], if you do not need to dual boot to a MS Windows installed on a such software raid system, please use the DebianInstaller default raid manager, above mentioned, it is far more tested.

== Q: How do I install using LVM? Is there any more information about using the LVM installer? LVM installation doesn't work! ==

'''A''': LVM is fairly straightforward to configure using the menu item in the partitioner titled "Configure the Logical Volume Manager". Please note that it will probably help a lot if you know some [http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/ LVM terminology] - it's recommended that you know the following three concepts: volume group (VG), physical volume (PV) and logical volume (LV) and how these relate to each other.

You can even build an LVM on top of a RAID device even for root. Nevertheless Grub has still some troubles ([http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=251905 #251905]).

Recent versions of the installer can also set up LVM as part of the guided partitioning process.

== Q: Is installation on SATA harddrives supported by DebianInstaller? ==

'''A''': There are currently three options for SATA users:

 1. You can try the 2.4.27 kernel which is default in the sarge installer. This kernel includes some support for SATA.
 1. Install using the Linux 2.6 kernel which should have better support for your SATA hardware (boot the installer with "linux26"). A newer version of the 2.6 kernel than what was released in sarge is available in recent daily builds.
 1. See if you can change your SATA settings in the BIOS from something like "Native mode" to "Compatibility mode" (might be labeled differently)

For a list of supported chipsets and their status of support you may want to be assisted by [http://www.linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html]

If you have a Gigabyte GA-["K8NS"] Pro or similar mainboard, you may want to take a look at [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=281843 #281843] (for i386 installation) or [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=281839 #281839] (for ["AMD64"] installation).

== Q: DebianInstaller does not include a driver for my xyz network card, but I have (tarball) driver sources. What are the steps for building that driver? ==

'''A''': It's possible to do this, but we do not yet have good end-user docs explaining how to do so. We're waiting for an end user to accomplish it and write them from experience. We're glad to help you through the process when you mail us at debian-boot@lists.debian.org (do not forget to add lspci -v output).

== Q: Will there be support for Linux 2.6 kernels? ==

'''A''': Boot with "linux26". Note that 2.6 is the default for at least powerpc installs, is not yet available for all architectures, and is not available when booting i386 from floppies. It is the default in daily builds for more architectures, including i386.

== Q: How to install with boot floppies + netinst.iso mounted as a loop device in the ramdisk from a ext2 partition? ==

'''A''': You can boot the installer directly from a hard disk
using LILO or GRUB, and the hd-media initrd will find your netinst.iso. See the ["InstallationHOWTO"] for details

== Q: How can I create boot iso with my own set of packages? ==

'''A''': see DebianInstaller/Modify

== Q: How can I build the DebianInstaller? ==

'''A''': see DebianInstaller/Build

== Q: Why do I have to choose twice which mirror to use (at installation and later when base-config is performed)? ==

'''A''': This is fixed in recent builds of the installer, which remove the second stage of the installation process entirely.

== Q: Why doesn't the installer automatically choose the appropriate kernel to install (for example an i686 kernel instead of the generic i386)? ==

'''A''': The netinst CD image includes only the generic i386 kernel, so if you're using that you will always have install the proper kernel for your system manually after the installation if you want an optimised version. Including all the kernels on the netinst CD would use too much space.

If using any other installation method than the netinst CD you should get a kernel installed that is optimised for your hardware.

== Q: What about SMP support? ==

'''A''': The installer itself does not need any SMP support and will not boot with an SMP enabled kernel since it merely needs to install the system to your machine.

When the system is being installed, it would be nice if SMP was automatically detected and the appropriate kernel was chosen though (which would mean that SMP was enabled when you boot into your newly installed Debian system). The installer attempts to do this. If it fails to notice that it needs a SMP kernel on your machine, please file a detailed installation report.

== Q: Why isn't the installed system configured to use the language I chose during installation? ==

'''A''': This problem has been fixed, so if you see it using any current image, please let us know.

== Q: Why isn't X configured to use the keyboard I chose during installation? ==

'''A''': This is a known problem, to check if it has been fixed or to track its progress, see bug report [http://bugs.debian.org/238778 238778].

== Q: When I run the DebianInstaller, my keyboard doesn't work! ==

'''A''': This seems to be especially common on laptops. Try booting with no APIC and no local APIC support ("boot: linux noapic nolapic").

== Q: Why isn't my NIC supported by DebianInstaller, I know the "tg3" driver supports it! ==

'''A''': As tg3 contains firmware which does not seem to meet the requirements of DFSG (the Debian Free Software Guidelines), a decision was made to remove the driver from debian packaged kernels (more information [http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/04/msg00405.html here] and [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=239952 here]). Now this has mostly been resolved with a version of the driver that does not contain such firmware and should work with most cards. You should not have problems with the latest version of the installer.

== Q: There seem to be errors reading the CD! ==

'''A''': First of all, check that the ["MD5"]-sum of the ISO file you downloaded is correct; the md5sum for each of the ["ISOs"] is available in the same directory as the ISO download. After booting the installer you can also check the CD-ROM: use the {{{<go back>}}} button to back up to the main menu and select the option to check the CD-ROM's integrity.

If you are positive that the CD is correct, it could be that the CD-ROM is old and/or flaky when using DMA. You can try disabling DMA for the CD-ROM (by booting with "linux ide=nodma"); unfortunately this boot option is currently broken (see bug [http://bugs.debian.org/226057 226057]).

You can also disable DMA using the following procedure.
 * switch to VT2 (using alt-F2)
 * {{{cd /proc/ide/hdX}}} ({{{X}}} varies depending on where your CD drive is connected)
 * {{{cat settings}}}
 * check the current setting for using_dma
 * change it using the command {{{echo "using_dma:0" >settings}}} (or ":1")
 * switch back to VT1 (using alt-F1)

A tightly folded IDE cable can also cause read errors, try repositioning the cable.

== Q: How can I install sid (unstable) with DebianInstaller? ==

'''A''': Start an installation in expert mode. Before||||After choosing the mirror you will be asked which distribution to install: stable, testing or unstable. We recommend using a daily build of the installer to install testing or unstable.

== Q: How do I copy d-i logfiles to a remote host? ==

'''A''': Use the included mini web server. This method requires a newer version of the installer than shipped with sarge, but it is the easiest way.

 1. Get to the main menu and choose the "Save debug logs" menu item.
 1. Tell it to start up the web server, and follow the prompts to download the logs from the web server to your other computer.

 If your other computer runs a version of debian after sarge, you can also use "apt-get install installation-report reportbug; reportbug installation-report" and follow the prompts to let it download the log files for you and produce a nice installation report.

== Q: How do I use netinst over ppp(oe)? ==

'''A''': You can't use PPP or PPPoE with the '''''businesscard''''' CD-ROM image! That's because these packages are not included in it.
With the '''''netinst''''' CD-ROM image, or a full CD or DVD, you can set up PPP or PPPoE after the system is installed.

'''PPP''' configuration is provide by {{{pppconfig}}}.
Be aware that so called winmodems are not supported yet!

'''["PPPoE"]''' configuration is provided by {{{pppoeconf}}}.

== Q: What do I do if I can no longer boot Windows after installing Debian? ==

'''A''': If all goes well, DebianInstaller should automatically add a working menu item for an existing Windows installation.

If no menu item was added, please file a detailed installation report.
If you are using GRUB as your bootloader, add the following lines at the end of the file /boot/grub/menu.lst:{{{
  title Windows
  root (hd0,0)
  savedefault
  makeactive
  chainloader +1
Line 13: Line 177:

'''Question''': Is the DebianInstaller going to graphical in nature?

'''Answer''': The DebianInstaller will not be graphical by nature, but modularity is a key in his design. It would allow the use of different kinds of frontends, including those of a graphical nature.
You should change (hd0,0) to refer to the correct partition: (hd0,0) is Grub's notation for the first partition on the first harddisk ({{{/dev/hda1}}} or {{{/dev/sda1}}}); (hd1,3) is the fourth partition on the second harddisk ({{{/dev/hdb4}}}).
If you are using LILO as your bootloader, add the following lines at the end of the file {{{/etc/lilo.conf}}}:{{{
  other=/dev/hda1
        label=Windows
}}}
Again, change {{{/dev/hda1}}} to refer to your Windows partition. After updating this file, you will need to run 'lilo' as root.

If there is a menu entry, but you get errors when you try to boot Windows
There could be different reasons for this. First you should check that the configuration of your bootloader is correct. See above for some pointers.

== Q: Can I use d-i as a rescue system? What pitfalls are there? ==

'''A''': Yes, you can use d-i to mount your hard disks and fix {{{/etc/shadow}}} if you forgot your password.

And you can also use d-i to boot your system to chroot into your installation and execute your boot-loader (grub, lilo, yaboot, ...) if you cannot boot from hard disk any more.

If you have a version of the installer that is later than that released in sarge, proper rescue support is included, just boot the installer with "rescue" and follow the prompts until it mounts your hard disk and gives you a shell
chrooted into your system.

Otherwise, just boot the installation system as if you were starting a new installation, proceed to the point where you get to partitioning harddisks and '''stop there'''. Next switch to ["VT2"] (using alt-F2) or back out to the menu and start a shell from there. Create a directory {{{/target}}}, manually mount the partition(s) where you installed Debian on {{{/target}}} and execute {{{chroot /target}}}.
Note: the installer uses ''devfs'', so you will find your harddisks under {{{/dev/discs}}}. You cannot use the d-i menu item "install boot-loader" because the menu systems uses dependencies which require a Debian install (on a clean partition...) which you don't want.

== Q: How to use preseeding? How to use network console with preseeding? ==

'''A''': see DebianInstaller/Preseed and DebianInstaller/NetworkConsole

== Q: How to shrink an existing windows installation? ==

'''A''': Please see the manual, chapter 6.3.2. Basically, you need to select the item displaying the size of the partition to change the size. Please make sure that you check the partition for correctness before (best with chkdsk), and that you have a backup of your data, and also are able to re-install Windows (or forget about it totally) in case something breaks.

== Q: What types of media are available? What versions are available? Where to download? ==

'''A''': See http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

== Q: Your amd64 CD does not boot. I downloaded it from http://someplace/foo/ia64/bar ==

'''A''': The ia64 architecture is not the same as the amd64 achitecture and you downloaded the wrong CD image.

?TableOfContents([2])


Note

Before attempting an installation or reporting a problem, remember to check the [http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/errata errata] page to see if your problem is already well known.

If you are experiencing problems with an older version of the installer, please try a more recent version from the [http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ Debian-Installer home page], as your problem might already be solved.

Please don't edit this page to ask new questions here! This page is only for frequently asked questions. Please do edit this page to add questions that you know are frequently asked, or to improve the answers.


Q: Why does DebianInstaller always use DHCP? I want a static address!

A: There are currently two different ways of configuring a static IP setup:

  1. Run in normal mode and wait when the DHCP step is performed, if it fails you are given the option of configuring a static setup. You can also cancel the dhcp probe using recent versions of the installer.
  2. Boot the installer in expert mode ("boot: expert"), and you will be able to configure a static address, and many other things besides. (Press F2 in boot screen for more information.)

Besides you may set your dhcpd to serve a fixed address to your chosen network card (identified by its mac).

Q: But DHCP shouldn't run automatically, it breaks on my system/gets the wrong information/is not what I want.

A: DebianInstaller is targeting a larger base of users than have historically installed Debian, including users who don't know what DHCP or static IP addresses are. Thus default behavior is chosen to use DHCP.

You can force static network configuration by providing boot parameter netcfg/disable_dhcp=true at the boot prompt. (Press F7 in boot screen for more information.)

Q: Why are you doing this? Why not use Anaconda/PGI/whatever? Why reinvent the wheel?

A: We're doing this because it's time. Debian has been burdened with a sub-par installer for a full decade, and it's time to change all that. Debian's installer needs to work on more platforms and more types of install media than any other. We need to support installs to S/390 mainframes that have only a teletype console. We need to support installs to m68k boxes that boot from floppies, as well as to netbooting Sun hardware.

And yes, we want to support flashy easy installs on Intel clones booting from CD (and USB sticks). And many more; all the currently targeted installation methods are listed [http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ports-status here].

PGI can't do this. Anaconda can't do this. Only a system designed from the ground up to be completely modular and highly flexible can do so. DebianInstaller is that installer.

Q: Is the DebianInstaller going to be graphical in nature? / Is there any prebuilt/downloadable graphical DebianInstaller?

A: The DebianInstaller is not graphical by nature, but modularity is a key in its design and allows the use of different kinds of frontends, including a graphical one.

Sarge didn't ship with any kind of graphical installer because, at the moment of its relase, its developement was still in early stages but actually a GTK+ based graphical frontend is being actively developed and instalation ISOs are already available for testing ( see ["DebianInstallerGUI"] ).

Plans are having the upcoming Etch release including the graphical frontend as default installation method, while still being able to install with the classic textual interface wherever the graphical installation system is not suitable.

Q: Will the DebianInstaller support creating and installing to software RAID devices?

A: The installer supports RAID 0, 1, and 5. Note that if you use RAID for /boot, you will be forced to use lilo since grub doesn't support RAID. ([http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=251905 #251905]).

[http://linux.yyz.us/sata/faq-sata-raid.html SATA RAID] Chipsets or PCI/PCIe-cards software RAIDs are not supported yet, or not completely, see dmraid [http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2005/11/msg00297.html 1] [http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/dmraid 2], if you do not need to dual boot to a MS Windows installed on a such software raid system, please use the DebianInstaller default raid manager, above mentioned, it is far more tested.

Q: How do I install using LVM? Is there any more information about using the LVM installer? LVM installation doesn't work!

A: LVM is fairly straightforward to configure using the menu item in the partitioner titled "Configure the Logical Volume Manager". Please note that it will probably help a lot if you know some [http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/ LVM terminology] - it's recommended that you know the following three concepts: volume group (VG), physical volume (PV) and logical volume (LV) and how these relate to each other.

You can even build an LVM on top of a RAID device even for root. Nevertheless Grub has still some troubles ([http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=251905 #251905]).

Recent versions of the installer can also set up LVM as part of the guided partitioning process.

Q: Is installation on SATA harddrives supported by DebianInstaller?

A: There are currently three options for SATA users:

  1. You can try the 2.4.27 kernel which is default in the sarge installer. This kernel includes some support for SATA.
  2. Install using the Linux 2.6 kernel which should have better support for your SATA hardware (boot the installer with "linux26"). A newer version of the 2.6 kernel than what was released in sarge is available in recent daily builds.
  3. See if you can change your SATA settings in the BIOS from something like "Native mode" to "Compatibility mode" (might be labeled differently)

For a list of supported chipsets and their status of support you may want to be assisted by [http://www.linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html]

If you have a Gigabyte GA-["K8NS"] Pro or similar mainboard, you may want to take a look at [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=281843 #281843] (for i386 installation) or [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=281839 #281839] (for ["AMD64"] installation).

Q: DebianInstaller does not include a driver for my xyz network card, but I have (tarball) driver sources. What are the steps for building that driver?

A: It's possible to do this, but we do not yet have good end-user docs explaining how to do so. We're waiting for an end user to accomplish it and write them from experience. We're glad to help you through the process when you mail us at debian-boot@lists.debian.org (do not forget to add lspci -v output).

Q: Will there be support for Linux 2.6 kernels?

A: Boot with "linux26". Note that 2.6 is the default for at least powerpc installs, is not yet available for all architectures, and is not available when booting i386 from floppies. It is the default in daily builds for more architectures, including i386.

Q: How to install with boot floppies + netinst.iso mounted as a loop device in the ramdisk from a ext2 partition?

A: You can boot the installer directly from a hard disk using LILO or GRUB, and the hd-media initrd will find your netinst.iso. See the ["InstallationHOWTO"] for details

Q: How can I create boot iso with my own set of packages?

A: see DebianInstaller/Modify

Q: How can I build the DebianInstaller?

A: see DebianInstaller/Build

Q: Why do I have to choose twice which mirror to use (at installation and later when base-config is performed)?

A: This is fixed in recent builds of the installer, which remove the second stage of the installation process entirely.

Q: Why doesn't the installer automatically choose the appropriate kernel to install (for example an i686 kernel instead of the generic i386)?

A: The netinst CD image includes only the generic i386 kernel, so if you're using that you will always have install the proper kernel for your system manually after the installation if you want an optimised version. Including all the kernels on the netinst CD would use too much space.

If using any other installation method than the netinst CD you should get a kernel installed that is optimised for your hardware.

Q: What about SMP support?

A: The installer itself does not need any SMP support and will not boot with an SMP enabled kernel since it merely needs to install the system to your machine.

When the system is being installed, it would be nice if SMP was automatically detected and the appropriate kernel was chosen though (which would mean that SMP was enabled when you boot into your newly installed Debian system). The installer attempts to do this. If it fails to notice that it needs a SMP kernel on your machine, please file a detailed installation report.

Q: Why isn't the installed system configured to use the language I chose during installation?

A: This problem has been fixed, so if you see it using any current image, please let us know.

Q: Why isn't X configured to use the keyboard I chose during installation?

A: This is a known problem, to check if it has been fixed or to track its progress, see bug report [http://bugs.debian.org/238778 238778].

Q: When I run the DebianInstaller, my keyboard doesn't work!

A: This seems to be especially common on laptops. Try booting with no APIC and no local APIC support ("boot: linux noapic nolapic").

Q: Why isn't my NIC supported by DebianInstaller, I know the "tg3" driver supports it!

A: As tg3 contains firmware which does not seem to meet the requirements of DFSG (the Debian Free Software Guidelines), a decision was made to remove the driver from debian packaged kernels (more information [http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/04/msg00405.html here] and [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=239952 here]). Now this has mostly been resolved with a version of the driver that does not contain such firmware and should work with most cards. You should not have problems with the latest version of the installer.

Q: There seem to be errors reading the CD!

A: First of all, check that the ["MD5"]-sum of the ISO file you downloaded is correct; the md5sum for each of the ["ISOs"] is available in the same directory as the ISO download. After booting the installer you can also check the CD-ROM: use the <go back> button to back up to the main menu and select the option to check the CD-ROM's integrity.

If you are positive that the CD is correct, it could be that the CD-ROM is old and/or flaky when using DMA. You can try disabling DMA for the CD-ROM (by booting with "linux ide=nodma"); unfortunately this boot option is currently broken (see bug [http://bugs.debian.org/226057 226057]).

You can also disable DMA using the following procedure.

  • switch to VT2 (using alt-F2)
  • cd /proc/ide/hdX (X varies depending on where your CD drive is connected)

  • cat settings

  • check the current setting for using_dma
  • change it using the command echo "using_dma:0" >settings (or ":1")

  • switch back to VT1 (using alt-F1)

A tightly folded IDE cable can also cause read errors, try repositioning the cable.

Q: How can I install sid (unstable) with DebianInstaller?

A: Start an installation in expert mode. Before||||After choosing the mirror you will be asked which distribution to install: stable, testing or unstable. We recommend using a daily build of the installer to install testing or unstable.

Q: How do I copy d-i logfiles to a remote host?

A: Use the included mini web server. This method requires a newer version of the installer than shipped with sarge, but it is the easiest way.

  1. Get to the main menu and choose the "Save debug logs" menu item.
  2. Tell it to start up the web server, and follow the prompts to download the logs from the web server to your other computer. If your other computer runs a version of debian after sarge, you can also use "apt-get install installation-report reportbug; reportbug installation-report" and follow the prompts to let it download the log files for you and produce a nice installation report.

Q: How do I use netinst over ppp(oe)?

A: You can't use PPP or PPPoE with the businesscard CD-ROM image! That's because these packages are not included in it. With the netinst CD-ROM image, or a full CD or DVD, you can set up PPP or PPPoE after the system is installed.

PPP configuration is provide by pppconfig. Be aware that so called winmodems are not supported yet!

["PPPoE"] configuration is provided by pppoeconf.

Q: What do I do if I can no longer boot Windows after installing Debian?

A: If all goes well, DebianInstaller should automatically add a working menu item for an existing Windows installation.

If no menu item was added, please file a detailed installation report. If you are using GRUB as your bootloader, add the following lines at the end of the file /boot/grub/menu.lst:

  title           Windows
  root            (hd0,0)
  savedefault
  makeactive
  chainloader     +1

You should change (hd0,0) to refer to the correct partition: (hd0,0) is Grub's notation for the first partition on the first harddisk (/dev/hda1 or /dev/sda1); (hd1,3) is the fourth partition on the second harddisk (/dev/hdb4). If you are using LILO as your bootloader, add the following lines at the end of the file /etc/lilo.conf:

  other=/dev/hda1
        label=Windows

Again, change /dev/hda1 to refer to your Windows partition. After updating this file, you will need to run 'lilo' as root.

If there is a menu entry, but you get errors when you try to boot Windows There could be different reasons for this. First you should check that the configuration of your bootloader is correct. See above for some pointers.

Q: Can I use d-i as a rescue system? What pitfalls are there?

A: Yes, you can use d-i to mount your hard disks and fix /etc/shadow if you forgot your password.

And you can also use d-i to boot your system to chroot into your installation and execute your boot-loader (grub, lilo, yaboot, ...) if you cannot boot from hard disk any more.

If you have a version of the installer that is later than that released in sarge, proper rescue support is included, just boot the installer with "rescue" and follow the prompts until it mounts your hard disk and gives you a shell chrooted into your system.

Otherwise, just boot the installation system as if you were starting a new installation, proceed to the point where you get to partitioning harddisks and stop there. Next switch to ["VT2"] (using alt-F2) or back out to the menu and start a shell from there. Create a directory /target, manually mount the partition(s) where you installed Debian on /target and execute chroot /target. Note: the installer uses devfs, so you will find your harddisks under /dev/discs. You cannot use the d-i menu item "install boot-loader" because the menu systems uses dependencies which require a Debian install (on a clean partition...) which you don't want.

Q: How to use preseeding? How to use network console with preseeding?

A: see DebianInstaller/Preseed and DebianInstaller/NetworkConsole

Q: How to shrink an existing windows installation?

A: Please see the manual, chapter 6.3.2. Basically, you need to select the item displaying the size of the partition to change the size. Please make sure that you check the partition for correctness before (best with chkdsk), and that you have a backup of your data, and also are able to re-install Windows (or forget about it totally) in case something breaks.

Q: What types of media are available? What versions are available? Where to download?

A: See http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

Q: Your amd64 CD does not boot. I downloaded it from http://someplace/foo/ia64/bar

A: The ia64 architecture is not the same as the amd64 achitecture and you downloaded the wrong CD image.