Your first post was to debian-user. Your reply was sent to debian-boot, where most people on this list will not see it. The reply has been made visible by bouncing it to -user. Please ensure any further mails come here. Sorry. On Sun 31 May 2015 at 16:48:51 -0700, Charles wrote: The results from fdisk -l /dev/sdb after: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=4M count=60 && sync dd if=debian-7.8.0-[arch]-netinst.iso && sync for both a i386 and amd64 netinst image, correct? Yes. for an i386 netinst ISO: Disk /dev/sdb: 15.5 GB, 15502147584 bytes 64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 14784 cylinders, total 30277632 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x178e0fca Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 * 64 567295 283616 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS 1. Create a second partition with fdisk or cfdisk. Done. By default, fdisk created a Type 83 partition. I added "mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdc2" after physically removing/reinserting the drive to give it a file system. This causes problems later on. I changed the partition type to Type 7 (HPFS/NTFS/exFat) and formatted as such because it mounts when I get to step 6. 1a. Mount the partition and copy preseed.cfg to it. Done. I also ran "chmod 777 preseed.cfg" to eliminate any possible permissions problems. 2. Boot into the installer. Select expert mode from the Advanced menu. Selected advanced options, cursor down to Expert Install. Done. 3. Press TAB and add file=/mnt/preseed.cfg to end of the displayed command. Done. 4. Boot the kernel. Done. 5. At the first screen switch to a console (ALT-F2). 'ls -l /dev/sdb*' should help identify the second partition on the USB stick. Mount this partition; e.g: mount -t vfat /dev/sdc2 /mnt. The first screen of the install is to select language, for which there is an option in preseed.cfg. At this point, the install does not appear to be parsing preseed.cfg, but I haven't yet customized preseed.cfg. However, setting the partition type of /dev/sdb2 to Type 7 lets me mount /dev/sdb2 on /mnt as vfat, so I have some progress. 6. Proceed with the install. What makes it go? The objective is a totally hands off install, but I exit the console and I'm still on the first screen of the Expert Install with the process awaiting input. ========================= For an amd64 netinst ISO: Disk /dev/sdb: 15.5 GB, 15502147584 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1884 cylinders, total 30277632 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x42a6671b Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 * 0 454655 227328 0 Empty /dev/sdb2 3440 4335 448 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32) Both look somewhat odd, but not so bad. I'd prefer using the amd64 image, if it gets that far. The Dells are all 64- bit. As above, but make sure the third partition starts after the end of the first partition. I tried. Each and every attempt to create /dev/sdb3 ends up with the tool trying to replace /dev/sdb1. I understand clearly that I may use space from sector 454656 to the end of the drive, but what tool best sets up that third partition? I tried fdisk, cfdisk, GNU parted, Kparted, and Gparted. |