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.

SliTaz provides a simple to use Installer which can be launched from the “System Tools” menu. SliTaz 3.0 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 cdrom device and search for the compressed filesystem (rootfs.gz). If no filesystem is found, then the installation will abort.

If you get into trouble because the compressed filesystem 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 HD Installer expects to find it:

 # mount -o loop slitaz-1.0.iso /media/cdrom 

Second step is the partition configuration. If you already have a free partition you can directly use it, if not you will have to create one graphically using Gparted or from the command line with fdisk. For example if you want to install SliTaz on the first partition of the first disk recognized as hda:

 /dev/hda1 

The next step lets you format the target partition into ext3. Ext3 is a robust, stable and journaled filesystem. If the partition is already formated you can skip this step, if not just accept. Warning formating a partition will destroy all current data.

Hostname configuration lets you set the machine name. The hostname is used internally to identify the host on the network. This value can be changed after the system is installed.

When the installation process is finished you have the option to install the GRUB bootloader which is capable of booting almost any kind of operating system. If you want to use an existing GRUB installation, skip this step and add the correct lines to your GRUB configuration file (menu.lst). 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 locale, keyboard, sound card and screen selection. 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. To install SliTaz by hand you can use a cdrom or an ISO image. The following commands can be copied/pasted from Firefox to Xterm.

The first thing you have to do is prepare a target partition and mount it. Example using partition /dev/hda1:

 # mkdir /mnt/target
 # mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/target

Now you have to mount the cdrom:

 # mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom 

Or an ISO image:

 # mount -o loop slitaz-1.0.iso /media/cdrom 

The goal now is to copy needed files from the media into the target partition and then extract the compressed filesystem (rootfs.gz). Create a boot directory and install the Linux Kernel:

 # mkdir /mnt/target/boot
 # cp -a /media/cdrom/boot/vmlinuz-* /mnt/target/boot

Copy the rootfs:

 # cp /media/cdrom/boot/rootfs.gz /mnt/target 

Now the necessary files are present so you can change (cd) to the target directory and uncompress the filesystem with lzma and cpio:

 # cd /mnt/target
 # lzma d rootfs.gz -so | cpio -id 
 # rm rootfs.gz init

That's all, SliTaz is installed. Before rebooting on your new SliTaz GNU/Linux installation, please check that you have a bootloader (GRUB or Lilo) and add the necessary lines to boot SliTaz.

GRUB is an universal bootloader capable of booting almost any operating system such as Linux, BSD or Windows. GRUB uses a single configuration file named menu.lst, if you used the SliTaz Installer and installed GRUB you dont need to manually install GRUB, just reboot.

Installation of GRUB onto the mbr, using root directory /mnt/target (the target mounted partition) and the disk named hda:

 # grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/target /dev/hda 

You can now create a GRUB configuration file and add the lines which will boot SliTaz. Menu.lst can be edited with your favorite text editor such as Nano or Leafpad:

 # leafpad /mnt/target/boot/grub/menu.lst 

title  SliTaz GNU/Linux 1.0 (Kernel 2.6.25.5-slitaz)
       root(hd0,0)
       kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.5-slitaz root=/dev/hda1 vga=normal

Verify again that everything is in place before rebooting:

 # reboot

A common query asked on the Community Forum is how to dual-boot SliTaz and Windows. This is an 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 other 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)

If you want to install SliTaz on an USB device, you must give a little “rootdelay” to the Linux kernel to detect it.

Then edit your menu.lst like this:

title  SliTaz GNU/Linux 3.0 (Kernel 2.6.30.6-slitaz)
       root(hd0,0)
       kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30.6-slitaz root=/dev/sda1 vga=normal rootdelay=10