This post is about how to install Debian GNU Linux from your hard disk, with the help of your Ubuntu GNU Linux operating system and without using CDrom, floppy, or any other removeable media.

I have tried a few Linux distros and of course Microsoft Windows and I can say confidently that Ubuntu’s installation is the easiest and the best. All my hardware works out of the box like they were made for Ubuntu (They were not actually my hardware is very Windowish). This time, I was now trying to install Debian (testing) on one of the remaining partitions on my hard disk. Debian’s net install cd booted just fine but failed to deal with my CD-ROM drive. I was asked to provide drivers for it or manually select a driver. I didn’t have a floppy with drivers and none of the Debian drivers worked. After spending a few hours to get the installation media work, I finally gave up and opted to install from USB flash drive. Once again for some unknown reasons I failed to boot from USB.

Then I tried to install Debian from hard disk and it worked smoothly. I think you can install Debian from any operating system but not from an NTFS partition. In my case, I installed it from Ubuntu and it was much easier this way because Ubuntu itself is a GNU/Linux/Debian based operating system. Instructions to do that are available on the official Debian Installer Manual (Debian Installer Manual’s instructions are not Ubuntu specific but it does not matter). I would just try to make it a little more simpler. Please note that there are many other ways to do this, it will be a good idea to review other methods before trying this one.

In this example we are trying to Install Debian tesing. You need to download:

• initrd.gz
• vmlinuz
• debian-testing-i386-netinst.iso

Place these three files in /boot/newinstall directory. Now open Grub menu.lst located at /boot/grub/menu.lst with your favorite text editor.

Scroll down until you see something like this:


title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=3599efe8-de32-4c9f-aed1-33c1c61d4bdf ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet


Note the root (hd0,6) line this is the partition where your Ubuntu is installed. It could be different for you depending your partition location. And now, we are going to boot Debian Installer from here. Add the following lines to your Grub.lst file.

title New Install
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/newinstall/vmlinuz
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/newinstall/initrd.gz


Now save the file and reboot your computer and you will see Grub showing you “New Install” as an option in the menu. Select it to boot Debian Installer and install it.

There is a similar way to install Ubuntu from a GNU/Linux based operating system. You can also Install Ubuntu, Debian and many other Linux distributions from your Windows or anyother operating system by using UNetbootin. To be very honest, I am kind of surprised to find out the many ways to install freedom for my computing needs.