7.2. Preparing for a driver update during installation
- 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
Important
7.2.1. Preparing to use a driver update image file
7.2.1.1. Preparing to use an image file on local storage
.iso
. In the following example, the file is named dd.iso
:
![Content of a USB flash drive holding a driver update image file](https://access.redhat.com/webassets/avalon/d/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux-5-Installation_Guide-en-US/images/764c6c5a0f6fce5cdbaecabb3908b6a6/USB_stick.png)
Figure 7.1. Content of a USB flash drive holding a driver update image file
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
7.2.2. Preparing a driver update disk
7.2.2.1. Creating a driver update disk on CD or DVD
Important
- Use the desktop file manager to locate the driver update ISO image file supplied to you by Red Hat or your hardware vendor.
Figure 7.2. A typical .iso file displayed in a file manager window
- Right-click on this file and choose. You will see a window similar to the following:
Figure 7.3. CD/DVD Creator's Write to Disc dialog
- Click the CD/DVD Creator will prompt you to insert one.button. If a blank disc is not already in the drive,
![Contents of a typical driver update disc on CD or DVD](https://access.redhat.com/webassets/avalon/d/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux-5-Installation_Guide-en-US/images/96989506bed6d28f2d15fe96f8767d6c/verifying_disc.png)
Figure 7.4. Contents of a typical driver update disc on CD or DVD
.iso
, then you have not created the disk correctly and should try again. Ensure that you choose an option similar to burn from image if you use a Linux desktop other than GNOME or if you use a different operating system.
7.2.2.2. Creating a driver update disk on floppy disk, or USB storage device
Important
Warning
- Insert a blank, formatted floppy disk into an available drive, or connect an empty USB storage device (such as a USB flash drive) to your computer. Note the device name allocated to this disk, for example,
/dev/fd0
for a floppy disk in the first floppy drive on your system.If you do not know the device name, become root and use the commandfdisk -l
on the command line. You will see a list of all storage devices available on your system. Compare the output offdisk -l
when the disk inserted or the storage device is attached with the output of this command when the disk is removed or the storage device is disconnected. - At the command line, change into the directory that contains the image file.
- At the command line, type:
dd if=image of=device
where image is the image file, and device is the device name. For example, to create a driver disk on floppy disk/dev/fd0
from driver update image filedd.iso
, you would use:dd if=dd.iso of=/dev/fd0
7.2.3. Preparing an initial RAM disk update
Important
- Place the driver update image file on your PXE server. Usually, you would do this by downloading it to the PXE server from a location on the Internet specified by Red Hat or your hardware vendor. Names of driver update image files end in
.iso
. - Copy the driver update image file into the
/tmp/initrd_update
directory. - Rename the driver update image file to
dd.img
. - At the command line, change into the
/tmp/initrd_update
directory, type the following command, and press Enter:find . | cpio --quiet -c -o | gzip -9 >/tmp/initrd_update.img
- Copy the file
/tmp/initrd_update.img
into the directory the holds the target that you want to use for installation. This directory is placed under the/tftpboot/pxelinux/
directory. For example,/tftpboot/pxelinux/r5su3/
might hold the PXE target for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 Server. - Edit the
/tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg/default
file to include an entry that includes the initial RAM disk update that you just created, in the following format:label target-dd kernel target/vmlinuz append initrd=target/initrd.img,target/dd.img
Where target is the target that you want to use for installation.
Example 7.1. Preparing an initial RAM disk update from a driver update image file
driver_update.iso
is a driver update image file that you downloaded from the Internet to a directory on your PXE server. The target that you want to PXE boot from is located in /tftpboot/pxelinux/r5su3
$ cp driver_update.iso /tmp/initrd_update/dd.img $ cd /tmp/initrd_update $ find . | cpio --quiet -c -o | gzip -9 >/tmp/initrd_update.img $ cp /tmp/initrd_update.img /tftpboot/pxelinux/r5su3/dd.img
/tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg/default
file and include the following entry:
label r5su3-dd kernel r5su3/vmlinuz append initrd=r5su3/initrd.img,r5su3/dd.img