This step is required when booting the installation system from a disk image (ISO) like a CD, USB drive, or a USB key. After inserting the CD, USB drive, or USB key boot the device from this drive.
Note: If the image is flashed onto a compact flash drive or similar, skip this step and go directly to Step 4: Initial setup.
Press enter to run the installation system. If you prefer an other installation option, you can pick that from the menu.
Note: If you are connected to your router via a serial cable to do the install, you will need to select Serial console options, then Install IPFire (serial).
Language Selection
After the installer system has booted select the language to use for the installation.
Welcome
View the Welcome message and click Start installation.
Accept the license agreement.
Partitioning and Formatting
In the next step, the system will format your disk in order to install the IPFire system on it. Beware! All data will be erased from the system.
If you have only one hard drive, it will automatically be used for the installation.
If you have more than one hard drive plugged in, you can select which one should be used to install IPFire on. And you can even create a RAID Array Installation.
After selecting the right hard drive, you will need to select the filesystem you want to use. If you are not sure, stick with the default.
Filesystem options
IPFire can be installed on various filesystems. Each have their advantages and disadvantages.
| filesystem | description |
|---|---|
| ext4 | The standard filesystem for Linux machines. Well tested and stable. (recommended) |
| ext4 without journal | The same as ext4 but does not use a journal for filesystem transaction. This will write less data to disk but will lose data when not shut down correctly. Don't use this unless you know exactly what you are doing. |
| XFS | A robust server filesystem. |
| BTRFS | EXPERIMENTAL - A copy on write filesystem for Linux with fault tolerance, repair and easy administration See: https://www.ipfire.org/blog/ipfire-2-29-core-update-186-released#experimental-support-for-btrfs |
Installation
The installer will start partitioning and formatting your hard drive and install the IPFire system on it. Depending on the size of the hard drive and the speed of your system, this will take a few moments.
Time to Reboot!
After the installation process has been finished you will need to reboot and go on with the next step: Step 4: Initial setup.