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<sect1 id="automatic-install">
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<title>Automatic Installation</title>
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For installing on multiple computers it's possible to do fully
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automatic installations. Debian packages intended for this include
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<classname>fai</classname> (which uses an install server),
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<classname>replicator</classname>,
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<classname>systemimager</classname>,
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<classname>autoinstall</classname>, and
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the Debian Installer itself.
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<title>Automatic Installation Using the Debian Installer</title>
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The Debian Installer supports automating installs via preconfiguration
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files. A preconfiguration file can be loaded from the network or from
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removable media, and used to fill in answers to question asked during the
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Although most dialogs used by &d-i; can be preseeded using this method,
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there are some notable exceptions. You can (re)partition an entire disk
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or use available free space on a disk; it is not possible to use existing
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partitions. You currently cannot use preseeding to set up RAID and LVM.
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<phrase condition="sarge">Also, with the exception of network driver modules,
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it is not possible to preconfigure kernel module parameters.</phrase>
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The preconfiguration file is in the format used by the
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debconf-set-selections command. A well documented and working example that
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you can edit is in <xref linkend="example-preseed"/>.
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Alternatively, one way to get a complete file listing
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all the values that can be preseeded is to do a manual install,
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and then use <filename>debconf-get-selections</filename>,
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from the <classname>debconf-utils</classname> package,
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to dump both the debconf database and the cdebconf
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database in /var/log/debian-installer/cdebconf to a single file:
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<informalexample><screen>
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$ debconf-get-selections --installer > <replaceable>file</replaceable>
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$ debconf-get-selections >> <replaceable>file</replaceable>
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</screen></informalexample>
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However, a file generated in this manner will have some items that should
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not be preseeded, and the file in <xref linkend="example-preseed"/> is a
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better starting place for most users.
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Once you have a preconfiguration file, you can edit it if necessary, and
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place it on a web server, or copy it onto the installer's boot media. Wherever
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you place the file, you need to pass a parameter to the installer at boot
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time to tell it to use the file.
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To make the installer use a preconfiguration file downloaded from the
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network, add preseed/url=http://url/to/preseed.cfg to the kernel boot
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parameters. Of course the preconfiguration will not take effect until the
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installer manages to set up the network to download the file, so this is
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most useful if the installer can set up the network via DHCP without asking
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any questions. You may want to set the installation priority to critical to
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avoid any questions while the network is being configured. See
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<xref linkend="installer-args"/>.
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To place a preconfiguration file on a CD, you would need to remaster the
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ISO image to include your preconfiguration file. See the manual page for
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mkisofs for details. Alternatively, put the preseed file on a floppy, and
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use preseed/file=/floppy/preseed.cfg
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</para><para arch="i386">
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If you'll be booting from a USB memory stick, then you can simply copy your
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preconfiguration file onto the memory stick's filesystem, and edit the
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syslinux.cfg file to add preseed/file=/hd-media/preseed.cfg to the kernel boot
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<sect3 condition="etch">
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<title>Using Preseeding to Change Default Values</title>
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It is also possible to use preseeding to change the default answer for a
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question, but still have the question asked. To do this the
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<firstterm>seen</firstterm> flag must be reset to <quote>false</quote> after
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setting the value for a template.
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<informalexample><screen>
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d-i foo/bar string value
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d-i foo/bar seen false
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</screen></informalexample>