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7.2. Preparing for a driver update during installation

If a driver update is necessary and available for your hardware, Red Hat or a trusted third party such as the hardware vendor will provide it in the form of an image file in ISO format. Some methods of performing a driver update require you to make the image file available to the installation program, others require you to use the image file to make a driver update disk, and one requires you to prepare an initial RAM disk update:
Methods that use the image file itself
  • local hard drive (IDE only)
  • USB storage device (for example, USB flash drive)
  • network (HTTP, FTP, NFS)
Methods that use a driver update disk produced from an image file
  • floppy disk
  • CD (IDE only)
  • DVD (IDE only)
  • USB storage device (for example, USB flash drive)
Methods that use an initial RAM disk update
  • PXE
Choose a method to provide the driver update, and refer to Section 7.2.1, “Preparing to use a driver update image file”, Section 7.2.2, “Preparing a driver update disk” or Section 7.2.3, “Preparing an initial RAM disk update”. Note that you can use a USB storage device either to provide an image file, or as a driver update disk.

SATA and SCSI

During installation, you cannot provide driver updates on media that is read by a device with a SATA or SCSI connection. For example, if the only optical drive on your system is a DVD drive with a SATA connection, you cannot provide a driver update on CD or DVD.

7.2.1. Preparing to use a driver update image file

7.2.1.1. Preparing to use an image file on local storage

To make the ISO image file available on local storage, such as a USB flash drive, USB hard drive, or local IDE hard drive, simply copy the file onto the storage device. You can rename the file if you find it helpful to do so, but you must not change the filename extension, which must remain .iso. In the following example, the file is named dd.iso:
Content of a USB flash drive holding a driver update image file
File browser window displaying a single file, named dd.iso
Figure 7.1. Content of a USB flash drive holding a driver update image file

Note that if you use this method, the storage device will contain only a single file. This differs from driver update disks on formats such as CD and DVD, which contain many files. The ISO image file contains all of the files that would normally be on a driver update disk.
Refer to Section 7.3.2, “Let the installer prompt you for a driver update” and Section 7.3.3, “Use a boot option to specify a driver update disk” to learn how to use the driver update disk during installation.
If you change the file system label of the device to OEMDRV, the installation program will automatically examine it for driver updates and load any that it detects. This behavior is controlled by the dlabel=on boot option, which is enabled by default. Refer to Section 7.3.1, “Let the installer automatically find a driver update disk”.

7.2.1.2. Preparing to use an image file available through a network

To make the ISO image file available on a local network, place it in a publicly accessible folder on a HTTP, FTP, or NFS server. If you plan to use an image file that is already publicly available through the Internet, no special preparation is necessary. In either case, take note of the URL and verify that you can access the file from another machine on your network before commencing installation.
Refer to Section 7.3.2, “Let the installer prompt you for a driver update” and Section 7.3.4, “Use a boot option to specify a driver update image file on a network” to learn how to specify this network location during installation.