I need a CD or USB stick, that will install Ubuntu on a completely headless machine. Stick CD in and restart, no keyboard or screen should be involved.
There are a few obstacles:
- The language selection menu when you first boot the CD.
- The fact that the CD menu waits.
- The installer's asking questions during installation.
Best Answer
The complete solution is:
Remaster a CD, ie, download a non graphical ubuntu installation ISO (server or alternate installation CD), mount it
Copy the relevant files to a different directory
Prevent the language selection menu from appearing
Use GUI program to add a kickstart file named
ks.cfg
To add packages for the installation, add a
%package
section to theks.cfg
kickstart file, append to the end ofks.cfg
file something like this.This will install the ubuntu-server "bundle", and will add the
openssh-server
,ftp
andbuild-essential
packages.Add a preseed file, to suppress other questions
Set the boot command line to use the kickstart and preseed files
Search for
add
ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg
andpreseed/file=/cdrom/ks.preseed
to the append line. You can remove thequiet
andvga=788
words. It should look likeNow create a new iso
That's it. You'll have a CD that would install an Ubuntu system once you boot from it, without requiring a single keystroke.