This document gives information and necessary instructions on how to install SliTaz on a hard disk. This should take about 10 minutes, SliTaz core LiveCD expands to 80 MB, so we suggest a minimum of 120 MB of free space. This way you will be able to install a few more packages. If you can use the LiveCD, you should be able to install SliTaz. You may also do a frugal or unusual install.
SliTaz provides a simple to use Installer which can be launched from the menu on Tazpanel. SliTaz Installer messages are in English and can be used with these complimentary instructions.
The first step lets you choose the type of installation: new install or system upgrade. In most cases you will want a new and clean installation. On confirming this the installer will mount the master CD-ROM device and search for the compressed file-system (rootfs.gz). If no file-system is found, then the installation will abort.
If you get into trouble because the compressed file-system is not found, please check that SliTaz is in the master CD/DVD device. If the problem persists you can use a downloaded ISO image and mount it on /media/cdrom where the installer expects to find it:
# mount -o loop slitaz-3.0.iso /media/cdrom
Here you can choose the type of media to install SliTaz from. Either from a LiveCD, LiveUSB, a downloaded ISO file or directly from the web.
Next is the partition configuration. You will need to have a partition ready; the installer does not set-up your disk for you. If you already have a free partition you can use it; if not you will have to create one graphically using GParted, or from the command line using fdisk.
For example, if you want to install SliTaz on the second partition of the first disk recognized as hda:
/dev/hda2
The next step lets you format the target partition. Ext3 is a robust, stable and journalled file-system. If the partition is already formatted you can skip this step, if not just accept.
A separate home partition can be created and also formatted.
Hostname configuration lets you set the machine name. The hostname is used internally and to identify the computer on a network. This can be changed after the system is installed. It cannot be longer than 64 characters and can only contain letters, numbers, and dashes.
The root password can be configured here.
This allows you to configure a user name and password.
With the next step you have the option to install the GRUB boot-loader and enable a Windows dual-boot. GRUB is capable of booting almost any kind of operating system and can be configured through a human-readable text file; changes to this file are instant and do not require any additional commands to take effect.
If you want to use an existing GRUB installation, skip this step and add the correct lines to your GRUB configuration file (menu.lst); see below for more information. Note that the SliTaz Installer creates a configuration file on the target which can be used as an example (/mnt/target/boot/grub/menu.lst).
When the Installer has finally done its job you have the option to exit or directly reboot your new SliTaz GNU/Linux operating system. First boot is like the LiveCD, you will be prompted for options. Future reboots will not prompt you anymore for configuration details, but all the values can be changed either manually or with the project tools such as tazlocale or tazx.
SliTaz can also be installed 'by hand' from the command line. You can use a CD-ROM or an ISO image. The following commands can be copied/pasted from your web browser to the Terminal.
Firstly, prepare a target partition and mount it. For example, to use the second partition on the first disk drive (/dev/hda2), one would type:
# mkdir /mnt/target # mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/target
Mount the CD-ROM…
# mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
…or if you are using an ISO image:
# mount -o loop slitaz-3.0.iso /media/cdrom
With a target partition prepared and the installation media made accessible, we need to copy the files from the media into the target partition and then extract the compressed file-system (rootfs.gz).
# mkdir /mnt/target/boot # cp -a /media/cdrom/boot/vmlinuz-* /mnt/target/boot
# cp /media/cdrom/boot/rootfs.gz /mnt/target
# cp /media/cdrom/boot/rootfs* /mnt/target
You can also copy rootfs4.gz only to get minimum the text mode installation
Now the necessary files are present, change (cd) to the target directory and decompress the file-system. This is done with the lzma and cpio utilities:
# cd /mnt/target # unlzma < rootfs.gz | cpio -id # rm rootfs.gz init
# cd /mnt/target # unlzma < rootfs4.gz | cpio -id # unlzma < rootfs3.gz | cpio -id # unlzma < rootfs2.gz | cpio -id # unlzma < rootfs1.gz | cpio -id # rm rootfs* init
That's it; SliTaz is installed! Before rebooting to start your new SliTaz GNU/Linux installation, please check that you have a boot-loader (GRUB or Lilo) installed and add the necessary lines (see below) to boot SliTaz.
GRUB is an universal boot-loader capable of booting almost any operating system , including Linux, *BSD and Windows. GRUB uses a single configuration file named menu.lst.
If you used the SliTaz Installer and installed GRUB, you don't need to manually install GRUB – just reboot.
Otherwise, to install GRUB onto the MBR (Master Boot Record) using a root directory of /mnt/target (the target mounted partition) and the disk named hda, use the following command and note the lack of a partition number:
# grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/target /dev/hda
You can now create a GRUB configuration file and add the lines which will boot SliTaz. The menu.lst file can be edited with your favourite text editor such as Nano or Leafpad:
# leafpad /mnt/target/boot/grub/menu.lst
title SliTaz GNU/Linux 3.0 (Kernel 2.6.34-slitaz)
root(hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34-slitaz root=/dev/hda1 vga=normal
Verify again that everything is in place before rebooting with the reboot command:
# reboot
You should see GRUB with a SliTaz item in its menu.
A common query asked on the Community Forum is how to dual-boot SliTaz and Windows. This is a straight-forward task that just needs the following lines appended to the /boot/grub/menu.lst file:
title Microsoft Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
In this example, the Windows installation resides on the first hard disk (hd0) and the first partition (the second 0) within it. This may need modification to reflect individual cases. If it were the other way around and SliTaz proceeded Windows for instance, the line would read:
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
Most operating systems will either contain a boot-loader of their own (in the case of Windows and *BSD) or can be booted directly with GRUB.
If you want to install SliTaz on an USB device, you must give a little “rootdelay” to allow time for the Linux kernel to detect it.
To include this option, edit your menu.lst to include the argument :
title SliTaz GNU/Linux 3.0 (Kernel 2.6.34-slitaz)
root(hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34-slitaz root=/dev/sda1 vga=normal rootdelay=10
It is not always necessary to format a partition. You can share a partition with another OS and install SliTaz into a loop file or in a subdirectory.