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 Faq Downloading

German Version: FaqDownloadingDeutsch


Tipp: Use CD-RWs instead of CD-Rs every time you can - save your budget and our enviroment!

Q: How do I get the CD/current beta?

A: Several possibilities:

Q: What are these strange MD5 files that accompany the ISO CD images?

A: The files with the .md5 extension contain checksums for the actual CD images. A checksum is a "matching number" for checking files. One can verify that the file matches its original down to the smallest detail. When you download both the ISO image for the CD and its corresponding .md5 file, you can verify that your download was complete and that the contents are unchanged by typing "md5sum -c filename.md5" under Linux/Unix. Further information about MD5 and programs for various OS's can be found at httphttp://www.fourmilab.ch/md5/. You can download a Windows(TM) version at httphttp://www.toast442.org/md5gui.shtml.

Q: I have downloaded the ISO file, Now what ?

A: You need to burn it to CD. You will need a 700M blank cd. Under windows, use a program such as nero burning rom. To burn with this program, skip the wizard and choose "burn image" from the file menu, and choose the KNOPPIX.xx.xx.xx.iso file, then burn. Under linux you can use the command cdrecord -v speed=4 dev=0,3,0 filename where dev=0,3,0 is your cdwriter (Attention, use "cdrecord -scanbus" before cdrecord to be shure that dev=0,3,0 is you cd-writer. If you own SCSI hds, you could lost all datas of one hd when you use cdrecord with a worng dev=(controler,id,partiton) !)

Q: How do I burn a bootable CD in Windows?

A: This question does not really belong into a KNOPPIX-FAQ. Of course the answer depends on the individual program you are using to burn CDs, but all common CD-Writing programs should support the option of burning bootable ISO-Images, you probably just have to find the right menu option. At the address httphttp://www.knopper.net/knoppix/docs/ and on some of the KNOPPIX-Mirrors in a directory with the same name, you may find some examples written as short step-by-step documentations from users who successfully completed the procedure. KNOPPIX_Vxxxxxxxxxx.iso -files are ISO-Images, wich are using "El Torito"-Specification (httphttp://www.phoenix.com/resources/specs-cdrom.pdf). In the ISO-Image there are not only the user-data, there are also Informations about the structure of the CD. If you want to see the structure, have a look at Isobuster (httphttp://www.IsoBuster.com).

To get the image-file on CD use RAW-Mode of your burning-software (have a look at Bild 1 WinOnCD German Edition).

Select the KNOPPIX_Vxxxxxxxxx.iso as filename of the image. Select 2048 Bytes/Sector as the correct data format (see Bild 2 WinOnCD German Edition).

Burn your CD as a "Single Session CD" or select finalize. The Mode "Disk at once" or "Track at once" should be irrelevant for a data-CD (have a look at the Online-Help of your burning software). If the CD boots, but they are read errors, try "Disk at once".

In Nero burning rom it is easy : Load the program, and exit the wizard if it is there. Then in the file menu select "Burn Image" and select the KNOPPIX_v3.1-2002-XXetc .img file

Q: My computer won't boot from CD. What should I do?

A1: Look in your computer's BIOS (on most computers you need to push the "delete" key during the RAM test) to see whether it is set to boot from CD. If this is already set, your computer may not be able to read the CD (some notebooks have problems with black-coated CD's, for example). Some computers will only use the new BIOS settings after a hard reset. If your computer doesn't support booting from CD, you can create a boot floppy using the "rawrite" program in the "KNOPPIX" directory on the CD.

A2: Get the Smart Boot Manager, and install to floppy, this should let you boot from any bootable CD. httphttp://btmgr.gnuchina.org/index.php3?body=download.html

Q: I downloaded KNOPPIX via WWW/FTP or got a downloaded version from a friend. My PC will boot off of it, but the bootup stalls after a bit or I only see the background picture, and nothing else happens. What's going on?

A: You possibly only got a partial download, or the download was (silently) interrupted. If this is the case the ISO image is defective, and the data in the missing parts cannot be accessed (sometimes one can even "hear" this because of the sound the CD-ROM drive makes due to repeated read attempts). This is fatal because the directory tree is written at the beginning of the CD, so it is usually complete. Thus, you can correctly read the directory tree of the CD. However, reading the actual contents of the missing parts is impossible (in other words, accessing the contents fails). Some possible solutions can be found in the section "What are MD5 files?" and "How can I get the CD?".

Q: After I've used KNOPPIX, my "other" OS suddenly shows a blue screen with the message "File kernel.exe not found or defective" and "reinstall..." shortly after boot.

A: Simply take the KNOPPIX CD out of the CD-Rom drive and restart the computer.

Q: I see the partitions from my hard disk on the desktop and can access their contents when I click on them, but if I try to write to them I always get the error message "access denied". How can I write to my existing partitions?

A: The general philosophy of KNOPPIX is to allow as little write access as possible. For this reason, existing partitions are either not mounted or only mounted "read only". If you click with your right mouse button on an icon, the "read-only" attribute under item "device" can be un-checked. After this, the partition can be mounted "read-write" (for already mounted partitions, first click on "unmount"!). CAUTION: writing to NTFS partitions can lead to data loss, since Linux does not really support this file system! However, DOS and FAT32 file systems are safe for write access. Tip: In the shell the command "mount -o remount,rw /mnt/" can allow already-mounted file systems to be "made writeable".

Q: I have a fast access to a Knoppix-mirror. How can I burn with GNU/Linux this ISO file directly to CD-RW?

(Attention, use "cdrecord -scanbus" before cdrecord to be sure that dev=0,3,0 is your cd-writer. If you own SCSI hds, you could lost all datas of one hd when you use cdrecord with a worng dev=(controler,id,partiton) !)

Q: Must I burn Knoppix on CD-RW to be able to test it?

A: When you run another GNU/Linux system, you can copy the content of the Iso-file to your hd and boot it directly from hd. See HdBasedHowTo.


Last edited on April 19, 2003 1:25 pm.