Fedora Linux

Installing with Kickstart

In a normal Fedora Core installation, Anaconda asks a number of questions before beginning the actual installation procedure, which then runs without any user intervention (except for changing CDs, if that is the chosen installation method).

Kickstart is a Fedora installation option that uses a text file to supply basic configuration information so that Anaconda can skip all of the questions normally asked during installation.

How Do I Do That?

To use Kickstart, you must create a Kickstart file using any regular text editor. A Kickstart file contains a number of options, one per line, with arguments.

These options are required:

auth or authconfig

Configures the authentication system. For normal password authentication, use the arguments --enableshadow --enablemd5.

bootloader

The GRUB installation location and password. For an upgrade, use --upgrade; for a new installation, use --location=mbr --md5pass= encryptedpassword (I cover how to generate encrypted passwords shortly).

lang

Selects the language to be used during installation. Possible values are listed in /usr/share/system-config-language/locale-list; for U.S. English, use the argument en_US.

keyboard

The keyboard type to be used. Specify us for a standard North American English keyboard, or use one of the codes found in /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rhpl/keyboard_models.py (such as cf for Canadian French).

rootpw

The root password. Use the arguments --iscrypted encryptedpassword.

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