This is only a checklist for a full-install (option 2). See other sources for details.
For an explanation on partitioning see PartitioningForPuppy
For more on installing Puppy to your hard drive see Installing
This is for users who want a Puppy full hard drive install and decide to wipe out the old windows xp, or any other operating system (OS). The steps in many sources are rather outdated, which can cause confusion. These are exact steps that worked in an install. These steps are very brief and are meant only as a Checklist.Credits to the sources, esp to HardDiskInstall
note: The partition you wish to install to needs to be formatted as a linux type (e.g. ext2, ext3, reiserfs, NOT fat32, vfat, ntfs)
0. Download and burn puppy 2.13 to cd (known as live cd)
1. Pop live cd into target machine's cd-rom. make sure that the cd-rom is bootable (check bios settings if necessary).
2. At prompt "boot: " either wait or press enter.
3. Select keyboard="us", video="xvesa" (or xorg). it doesn't matter at this stage.
4. After less than a minute, you should be in Puppy GUI now. If using XVESA, select the proper resolution if you want. At this point it doesn't matter either way because it can be changed later.
5. Click start->utilities->Pdisk.
6. Click "hda" (assuming that's the harddisk you're installing to)
7. Click cfdisk. *note: partitioning removes all data!*
8. DELETE all the partitions you can see. Use simple cursor keys (arrow buttons) to move thru the menu.
9. After deleting all the partitions, select "Write partitions".
10. Select "quit".
11. Click start->utilities->Gparted
12. You should see the harddisk as all one single unallocated partition now. Click on the partition.
13. Click the "New" button. Enter the size of the partition ("hda1") you want to use, leaving some space for the linux swap file.
14. Click on unallocated space again and followed by "New". now set the size of your swap partition. The file system MUST BE linux-swap. This is often recomended as twice your RAM quantity, however, the size depends on your computer and how you use it. For details see other resources.
15. Click "Apply" button. If you can't see it (which can happen due to the large icons), go through the menu on top and find "Apply".
16. Follow instructions to start the partitioning.
17. IMPORTANT STEP! REBOOT! Many online sources never state this step which can then cause failed installations. Select 'DON'T save changes' when asked.
18. After reboot, you should come back to the boot prompt again. Press enter and repeat steps 3 and 4. * DON'T REMOVE CD *
19a. Format the swap partition as file system linux swap, type 82. See other sources for details.
19b. Click Start-> System-> Puppy Universal Installer.
* steps 20 to 24 may be not be in the proper order. The general guide is just to follow the installation program. Go to the credit link for more information: [url] http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HardDiskInstall∞ [/url] *
20. Choose the NORMAL install (i.e. option-2 as said in other sources).
21. Click "install to hda1".
22. After some time, the GRUB installation menu will appear. Select "simple" and wait for GRUB to say 'installation successful'. Make sure to select "MBR" when there's the choice.
23. The cd-rom should have popped open by now. remove cd now. REBOOT!
24. Grub should come up. Select 'Install GRUB to Linux Partition'. Things should all work fine up to now.
25. Select first option, that is, boot into linux. *note: if you receive an error starting wrong vga resolution like, ignore it and just press space*
The following steps are optional. They will make your computer skip the GRUB menu and boot directly into Puppy. Do this if Puppy is your only OS and you don't want to bother with the GRUB booting menu.
26. Click Home on the desktop. Click parent directory->boot->grub->menu.lst. Click on the eye icon to view hidden files if necessary.
27. Open the menu.lst file.
28. Remove # from the timeout line. Set time limit to whatever you want. I set mine to 0 (zero), so it boots immediately into puppy without pause.
29. Make sure this line "kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro vga=normal" has "vga=normal". if it's vga=790, it causes the error in step 25.
30. Save and exit. now REBOOT and test out your installation. it should work just fine!
Notes: The linux-swap may be either primary or extended. It may be better to have extended since these are not hiden by default at boot time under any OS. The swap partition must be visible and NOT hidden.
