I know this is a well-known trick with the Debian package system, but I'm going to sum it up here. Suppose that you want to install the same set of packages on box A as box B. At box B, type the following command to get the list of installed packages.
dpkg --get-selections > select.txt
Then, take select.txt to box A and run on box A:
apt-get update
dpkg --set-selections < select.txt
apt-get -u dselect-upgrade
Many people want to try the new Windows 7, but they're not too sure if Windows 7 is worth it. After all, it doesn't make sense to buy a new computer to try Windows 7 and then find out it's another lame bloatware. This guide will help an average joe to download, install and activate Windows 7 with freely available tools.
First, you need to decide if your computer is capable of running Windows 7. According to Microsoft, Windows 7 has the following hardware requirements:
That means Windows 7 can run on most computers available. You may have to buy additional memory or a new video card to be able to run Windows 7. See the Windows 7 Compatibility site.
Next, decide which edition of Windows 7 you want to install on your computer. There are many editions of Windows 7, for example, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. For most people, Windows 7 Home Premium is good enough.
It is recommended that you use aria2, Halogenware Retriever or Free Download Manager to download Windows 7 so you can resume a download in the event of connection problems. On the Web, you can download DVD images of Windows 7 from the following locations:
I like using aria2 for download. Get my aria2 win32 build from here. To use aria2c to download Windows 7 Home Premium, open the Command Prompt and type the following command.
aria2c --file-allocation=prealloc http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65732/X15-65732.iso
To stop the download, press Ctrl+C twice. Later, you can resume download with the command:
aria2c -c http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65732/X15-65732.iso
After the download has finished, verify the checksums of the download with md5deep or HashCheck shell extension.
This is optional. If you want to create a single All-in-One DVD that can be used to install Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate edition, download and run eicfg_remover. This tool removes ei.cfg from the ISO file.
Then, burn the image to a blank DVD. You need to have a DVD burner and a blank DVD, of course. For free DVD-burning software, you can get ImgBurn, InfraRecorder or CDBurnerXP.
I am building a new PC from old spare parts. The new PC will be used mainly for the Internet, so a hard drive won't be necessary unless there's a need to download music and movies. I'm going to put together a computer with no internal storage, but use a USB stick as the main storage. Windows XP Professional will be installed on the USB stick, and the computer will boot up from the USB stick. Here I show how to install XP onto a USB stick and boot the PC from it. You should have the following ready.
Let's begin.
Get your Windows XP installation CD and copy its contents to an empty folder on the hard drive. If you don't have the CD, use utorrent or emule to download the ISO file.
Then, use 7-zip to extract the contents of the ISO file into an empty folder.
Start the Command Prompt, go to the I386 subfolder and type the following commands to uncompress the USB driver files:
CD I386
EXPAND -I USB.IN_
EXPAND -I USBPORT.IN_
EXPAND -I USBSTOR.IN_
We'll get 3 new files: USB.INF, USBPORT.INF and USBSTOR.INF. Remove the original .IN_ files.
ERASE USB.IN_ USBPORT.IN_ USBSTOR.IN_
[BootBusExtenders.Load]
pci = pci.sys
acpi = acpi.sys
isapnp = isapnp.sys
acpiec = acpiec.sys
ohci1394 = ohci1394.sys
usbehci = usbehci.sys
usbohci = usbohci.sys
usbuhci = usbuhci.sys
usbhub = usbhub.sys
usbstor = usbstor.sys
Likewise for [BootBusExtenders] and [InputDevicesSupport]:
[BootBusExtenders]
pci = "PCI Bus Driver",files.pci,pci
acpi = "ACPI Plug & Play Bus Driver",files.acpi,acpi
isapnp = "ISA Plug & Play Bus Driver",files.isapnp,isapnp
acpiec = "ACPI Embedded Controller Driver",files.none,acpiec
ohci1394 = "IEEE 1394 Bus OHCI Compliant Port Driver",files.ohci1394,ohci1394
usbehci = "Enhanced Host Controller",files.usbehci,usbehci
usbohci = "Open Host Controller",files.usbohci,usbohci
usbuhci = "Universal Host Controller",files.usbuhci,usbuhci
usbhub = "Generic USB Hub Driver",files.usbhub,usbhub
usbstor = "USB Storage Class Driver",files.usbstor,usbstor
Insert the following in the [HiveInfs.Fresh] section:
[HiveInfs.Fresh]
AddReg = hivedef.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hivesys.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hivesft.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hivecls.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hiveusd.inf,AddReg
AddReg = dmreg.inf,DM.AddReg
AddReg = usbboot.inf,usbservices
Then, in the [SourceDisksFiles] section:
[SourceDisksFiles]
usbboot.inf = 1,,,,,,_x,3,,3
bootvid.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
kdcom.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
Save and close TXTSETUP.SIF.
[Files]
d1,usbboot.inf
d1,_default.pif
d1,12520437.cpx
d1,12520850.cpx
Edit USB.INF as follows:
[StandardHub.AddService]
DisplayName = %StandardHub.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[CommonClassParent.AddService]
DisplayName = %GenericParent.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbccgp.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
Modify USBPORT.INF like this.
[EHCI.AddService]
DisplayName = %EHCIMP.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbehci.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[OHCI.AddService]
DisplayName = %OHCIMP.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbohci.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[UHCI.AddService]
DisplayName = %UHCIMP.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbuhci.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[ROOTHUB.AddService]
DisplayName = %ROOTHUB.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
Edit USBSTOR.INF:
[USBSTOR.AddService]
DisplayName = %USBSTOR.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1
StartType = 0
Tag = 3
ErrorControl = 1
ServiceBinary = %12%\USBSTOR.SYS
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
Create a new file USBBOOT.INF with the following contents:
[usbservices]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB Mass Storage Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\USBSTOR.SYS"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbehci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB2 Enabled Hub"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Universal Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbuhci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Open Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbohci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Type",0x00010001,1
If you haven't erased the original .IN_ files, do so now.
erase USB.IN_
erase USBPORT.IN_
erase USBSTOR.IN_
Compress the modified files with cabarc.
cabarc n USB.IN_ usb.inf
cabarc n USBPORT.IN_ usbport.inf
cabarc n USBSTOR.IN_ usbstor.inf
You'll get 3 compressed files with IN_ extension.
You'll need this boot sector (w2ksect.bin) to make your new CD bootable. Put w2ksect.bin inside the main folder containing XP files.
Now, let's burn a new CD containing Windows XP files. Start ImgBurn and select Write files/folders to disc. Click the Browser for a folder... icon and select the folder containing Windows XP files. Then, set up options as follows.
Insert a blank CD into your optical drive and burn it.
Plug in your USB flash drive or USB hard drive to your computer and run the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool. On Windows Vista or Windows 7, run it as administrator.
From the I386 folder of XP installation CD, copy the following files to the USB drive:
Then, create a new file boot.ini with the following contents. Put it on the USB drive.
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
Run the Partition Table Editor (PTEDIT32.EXE) as administrator. Select your USB drive from Hard Disk pulldown menu.
Change the type of primary partition on the USB drive from 00 to 80. Click the Save Changes button.
Partition Information should read FAT16X, Bootable
Remove your hard drive from the computer. Then, connect your USB flash drive directly to your computer.
Change the boot order in the BIOS so that your computer can boot from a USB drive. Typical BIOS options are as follows:
Insert your new Windows XP CD your burned above and boot your computer with it. During installation, don't format the USB drive. Just leave it as is.
After successfully installing Windows XP on your USB drive, install the EWF or FBWF filter.
Using the official CD from Debian or Ubuntu to install a fresh new system can be tedious if you just want a minimal or customized system. An alternative way to install Debian or Ubuntu is to use cdebootstrap. cdebootstrap is a simple command-line program that downloads packages from a Debian/Ubuntu archive, unpacks them into a mounted filesystem, and set 'em up. But it's not a full-fledged installer, so you need to take care of partitioning and setting up bootloader in order to complete the installation.
In order to use cdebootstrap, you need to have an already-running Linux system. However, any Linux live CD will suffice. Fortunately, I have created my own Debian Live CD with included cdebootstrap. I booted my Debian Live and opened mlterm.
If you don't have cdebootstrap, there are many ways to install it. Download a cdebootstrap-static package from http://packages.debian.org/sid/cdebootstrap-static that matches your architecture. If you are running an rpm-based system, such as Fedora, use ar, tar and gzip to unpack the package. For example:
wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/c/cdebootstrap/cdebootstrap-static_0.5.5_i386.deb
ar xv cdebootstrap-static_0.5.5_i386.deb
gzip -dc data.tar.gz > /tmp/data.tar
cd /; tar xvf /tmp/data.tar
Before running cdebootstrap, make sure that you have an empty partition and have mounted it. GParted can be used to create an empty partition. In the following example, I used cdebootstrap-static to install Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper into a filesystem mounted on /mnt.
cdebootstrap-static --allow-unauthenticated --flavour=minimal dapper /mnt http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
--allow-unauthenticated option is used in case ubuntu-archive-keyring or debian-archive-keyring is not installed. There are three flavours to choose from: minimal, standard and build. For suites other than dapper, you can choose one among etch, lenny, squeeze, sid, breezy, dapper, edgy, feisty, gutsy, hardy, intrepid, oldstable, stable, testing, unstable.. The URL at the end of command line is optional. For Debian, you can type http://archive.debian.org/debian.
cdebootstrap downloaded and installed the following set of packages into the new filesystem mounted at /mnt. This list is for a minimal flavour.
apt
base-files
base-passwd
bash
belocs-locales-bin
bsdutils
coreutils
debconf
debconf-i18n
debianutils
diff
dpkg
e2fslibs
e2fsprogs
findutils
gcc-4.0-base
gnupg
grep
gzip
hostname
initscripts
libacl1
libattr1
libblkid1
libbz2-1.0
libc6
libcap1
libcomerr2
libdb4.3
libgcc1
libgcrypt11
libgnutls12
libgpg-error0
libldap2
liblocale-gettext-perl
liblzo1
libncurses5
libopencdk8
libpam-foreground
libpam-modules
libpam-runtime
libpam0g
libreadline5
libsasl2
libsasl2-modules
libselinux1
libsepol1
libslang2
libss2
libssl0.9.8
libstdc++6
libtasn1-2
libtext-charwidth-perl
libtext-iconv-perl
libtext-wrapi18n-perl
libusb-0.1-4
libuuid1
locales
login
lsb-base
makedev
mawk
mount
ncurses-base
ncurses-bin
perl-base
python-minimal
python2.4-minimal
readline-common
sed
sysv-rc
sysvinit
tar
ubuntu-keyring
util-linux
zlib1g
In order to fine-tune the newly installed system, chroot into it and install additional packages.
chroot /mnt /bin/bash
You can download installation files of OpenBSD 5.1 from ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/5.1/i386/ or an OpenBSD mirror
to install OpenBSD. The following files are recommended for download.
INSTALL.i386
INSTALL.linux
SHA256
base51.tgz
bsd
bsd.mp
bsd.rd
comp51.tgz
etc51.tgz
floppy51.fs
game51.tgz
man51.tgz
xbase51.tgz
xetc51.tgz
xfont51.tgz
xserv51.tgz
xshare51.tgz
Save these files on a FAT partition. Later, the OpenBSD installer will mount the FAT partition and extract the downloaded files.
At the SYSLINUX prompt, type the following command:
memdisk initrd=floppy51.fs
Alternatively, GRUB can be used to start the OpenBSD installer:
kernel (hd0,3)/syslinux/memdisk raw
initrd (hd0,3)/OpenBSD/5.1/i386/floppy51.fs
boot
The kernel and all the programs
OpenBSD uses to install itself will be loaded into memory.
Welcome to the OpenBSD/i386 5.1 installation program.
(I)nstall, (U)pgrade or (S)hell? I
Choose your keyboard layout ('?' or 'L' for list) [default] us
During installation, you can run a shell command at any prompt via '!foo'
or escape to a shell by simply typing '!'. In the shell, you can restart
the installation by typing install.
OpenBSD installer asks for some network settings.
System hostname? (short form, e.g. 'foo') lenovo-s12
DNS domain name? (e.g. 'bar.com') [my.domain] openbsd.org
DNS nameservers? (IP address list or 'none') [none] 72.235.80.12 72.235.80.4
Do you want to do any manual network configuration? [no]
Password for root account? (will not echo)
Start sshd(8) by default? [yes]
Answer No to the ntpd question if your computer is not always online or has Windows installed.
Start ntpd(8) by default? [no] Enter
It is recommended for desktop users to have xdm start X Windows at boot time.
Do you expect to run the X Window System? [yes] Enter
Do you want the X Window System to be started by xdm(1)? [no] yes
Create additional users other than root:
Setup a user? (enter a lower-case loginname, or 'no') [no] jocelyn
In OpenBSD, we use fdisk(8) and disklabel(8) for partitioning hard drives and USB drives. When you are shown the partition table and given the following question, DON'T answer whole! Instead, type O or E to edit the partition table so you can keep any existing OS and data.
Available disks are: wd0.
Which one is the root disk? (or 'done') [wd0] Enter
Use (W)hole disk, use the (O)penBSD area, or (E)dit the MBR? [whole] E
wd0 points to an IDE disk. If your disks are SCSI, you will use sd0 instead.
If you choose not to use the whole disk for OpenBSD, you will need to use
fdisk(8) to create an OpenBSD entry (A6) in BIOS partition table.
Then, use disklabel to split the OpenBSD partition into several pieces.
If you are not sure how to split it, at least create / (at least 80MB or 5%)
and swap partition (256 to 512MB). Optionally, you may create /var (at least
240MB or 10%), /usr (at least 1600MB or 75%), /home (at least 250MB or 10%),
/tmp and /usr/local partitions.
You can type ? at the prompt to get help. Useful commands are:
p [unit] - print label.
a [part] - add new partition.
d [part] - delete partition.
w - write label to disk.
q - quit and save changes.
x - exit without saving changes.
You can use the m suffix to denote megabytes and g for gigabytes.
Without suffix, the number will indicate sectors.
If you have saved installation packages to DOS, Linux or OpenBSD partitions
on local disk, answer d to the following question.
Location of sets? (cd disk ftp http or 'done') [ftp] disk
You will be given a list of packages to install. You should at least install
base46, etc46, man46 and bsd to have a working system.
By this moment, installation is all done. Just type 'reboot' at the shell.
I installed OpenBSD on the first primary partition. Since I already had Windows installed on the hard drive, I had to run Acronis Disk Director to resize and move Windows partition to the right. After installing OpenBSD, I used the following GRUB commands to boot into OpenBSD.
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
boot
One of the first things to read after installing OpenBSD is afterboot(8).
If there's a problem with your OpenBSD system, you can boot the rescue kernel by typing bsd.rd at the OpenBSD boot prompt.
boot> bsd.rd
At the following prompt, type s to start the shell.
erase ^?, werase ^W, kill ^U, intr ^C
(I)nstall, (U)pgrade or (S)hell? s
I booted Linux on my Toshiba Mini NB205 netbook. My Linux system is installed on a USB memory stick and I boot it by plugging it in and using GRUB to load the Linux kernel and a custom initrd image. My Linux system doesn't have network connection yet because it doesn't have the driver for Atheros AR9285 wireless LAN adapter. It can't start X Windows either because I haven't installed the X.org driver package for Intel chipsets yet. Once I set up my wireless connection, I'll update my system, install the Intel video driver, and then set up X Windows.
I tried to install the Windows driver for my Atheros Wireless LAN card which will be loaded by ndiswrapper. First, I had to mount the NTFS partition which is hosting my Windows 7 system.
fdisk -l /dev/sda
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt
I changed my working directory to DriverStore/FileRepository.
cd /mnt/Windows/System32/DriverStore/FileReposity
I tried to find the Vendor ID and Device ID of my wireless LAN card by reading the output of lspci -nn.
lspci -nn
The command above gave me the following output.
03:00.0 Network Controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002b]
In order to make it easy to find the driver for my wireless LAN card, I created a script file /usr/local/bin/findmydrv.sh with the following contents:
#!/bin/sh
FILETYPE=`file $1`
case "$FILETYPE" in
*UTF-16*)
iconv -f utf16 -t utf8 $1 | \
grep -i $2 | \
grep -iq $3 && \
echo "Found the driver for your device $2:$3 in $1"
;;
*)
grep -i $2 $1 | \
grep -iq $3 && \
echo "Found the driver for your device $2:$3 in $1"
;;
esac
Then, I used the following command.
find -type f -iname \*.inf -exec findmydrv.sh \{\} 168c 002b \;
The previous command will show the location of the .INF file that contains the driver setup information. Once I found the folder that contains the Atheros driver, I went there and installed the driver.
cd netathr.inf_x86_neutral_*
ls -l
ndiswrapper -i netathr.inf
I checked whether the driver was successfully installed by running:
ndiswrapper -l
This displayed the following.
netathr : driver installed
device (168C:002B) present
I tried the newly installed Windows driver.
modprobe ndiswrapper
Toshiba NB205 comes pre-installed with Windows XP. I wiped out windows XP from the netbook and installed both Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium. I will use Windows Vista as my primary workspace and Windows 7 as my experimental workspace.
Installation of Windows Vista requires the SATA driver to be installed at the partition selection step (See the picture below). Download f6flpy3289 from Intel and unpack it onto a USB floppy or a USB thumb drive. Plug it into a USB port, click Load Driver and choose Intel(R) ICH7M/MDH SATA AHCI Controller. If you don't load the SATA driver, Vista will crash after reboot. This problem doesn't happen with Windows 7.
This post serves as a journal I keep in order to keep track of the installed software and configuration. It'll ease the task of reinstalling Windows Vista or Windows 7.
If you don't want to wait for Windows to update itself, download the following service packs and hotfixes.
This blog is about current events and issues concerning general population. Thanks for visiting the blog and posting your comments.
