Debian 5 (lenny) Step-by-Step Installation with Screenshots

This guide will help you installing a minimal version of Debian 5 (lenny) from the netinst cd image version, available, for example, here

Netinst means that only the base system is present on the ISO cd image:
the rest will be downloaded from the Internet during the installation.

Minimal means that only the least will be installed: just to allow the system to boot.
No graphic interface will be installed nor any service.

The resulting system will use the ext3 file system.

The hard disk drive of the pc should be empty: without any other operating system and without partitions.
If that’s not your case, the installation will be slighty different;
proceed with caution because it’s possible to loose the whole hard disk drive data.

Burn the ISO cd image and boot the target PC with it.
You should see the “Installer boot menu”:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Installer boot menu

Choose the language of the installation process:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Language of the installation process

Choose your language:

Debian 5 (lenny) installation - Choose your language

Select your keyboard layout:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Select your keyboard layout

Choose the hostname:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Choose the hostname

Choose the domain name:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Choose the domain name

Select your time zone:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Select your time zone

Select the partitioning method:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Select the partitioning method

Select the disk to partition:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Select the disk to partition

Select the partitioning scheme:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Select the partitioning scheme

Confirm the overview:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Confirm the overview

Write the changes to disks:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Write the changes to disks

Installing the base system:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Installing the base system

Setup the root password:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Setup the root password

Verify the root password:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Verify the root password

Name of the new user:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Name of the new user

Username of the new user:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Username of the new user

Setup user password:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Setup user password

Verify the user password:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Verify the user password

Choose the mirror country:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Choose the mirror country

Choose the mirror archive:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Choose the mirror archive

Enter proxy information:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Enter proxy information

Doing initial configuration …

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Doing initial configuration ...

Installing the base OS …

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Installing the base OS ...

Configuring popularity contest:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Configuring popularity contest

Install collections of software:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Install collections of software

Install the GRUB boot loader:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Install the GRUB boot loader

Finishing the installation …

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Finishing the installation ...

Installation complete:

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - Installation complete

After the reboot, the system is ready.

Debian 5 (lenny) Installation - System Ready.

This guide is also available in Italian