Install Ubuntu 8.04 ( Hardy Heron) without a CD-ROM

Things you'll Need

1) Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04) ALTERNATE .iso (see below)

2) At least 2 partitions on your HD

3) vmlinuz & initrd.gz files from Hardy - NOT the ones included on the .iso (see below)




Steps:

1) Download the ALTERNATE .iso from the Ubuntu download site:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

REMEMBER: mark the "Check here if you need the alternate desktop CD." option, on the botton.

2) Download both vmlinuz & initrd.gz files, Hardy's version, from this site:

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/

3) Create an /boot folder on your secondary HD partition, and move the alternate .iso and the vmlinuz & initrd.gz from step (2) onto it.

4) If you don't have Grub already installed, install it on a removable media or Hard Disk. Then, edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst and add the following entry:


title Install Ubuntu Hardy
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=normal ramdisk_size=149720 root=/dev/rd/0 rw --
initrd /boot/initrd.gz


**(hd0,2) refers to the 1st hard drive 'hd0' and the 3rd partition '2'.

The counting of partitions and hard drives starts at zero. Linux loves making life complicated

Change (hd0,2) to match the drive and partition of your .iso file.

e.g (hd1,3) Refers to drive 2 and partition 4.

5) OK! You are ready to go! Now reboot your system (with the removeable media if you installed Grub on it) and choose the "Install Ubuntu Hardy" entry.


6) Now follow the installation as usual, which should be working as if the disk was in the CD-ROM tray.