preseed

Table of Content

preseed¶

brief steps¶

You can feed the preseed configuration file to let Debian installer complete the OS installation.

Prepare preseed.cfg files, each with machine-specific parameters such as hostname and NIC settings
Host the preseed files on plain http
- quick one would be to just run python -m http.server 8080
On Debian Installation menu, enter grub menu and run three lines below

grub command line

linux /install.amd/vmlinuz auto=true preseed/url={IPADDR of the server hosting the preseed file}:8080/{preseed file name} priority=critical ---
initrd /install.amd/initrd.gz
boot

Debian official docs¶

https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/index.en.html

Appendix B. Automating the installation using preseeding

Example¶

Here is my preseed.cfg I used to install Debian 12.4 on [Hyper-V].

lang is English
country is Japan
keymap is jp
tz is utc
nic ipv4 static address
root user password set
user name and password set
disk is lvm, guided
installation packages are standard and ssh

preseed.cfg

# static nic configuration
d-i preseed/early_command string kill-all-dhcp; netcfg

# language, keymap, and locale
d-i debian-installer/language string en
d-i debian-installer/country string JP
d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US.UTF-8
d-i keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap select jp

# nic
d-i netcfg/choose_interface select auto
d-i netcfg/use_autoconfig boolean false
d-i netcfg/disable_autoconfig boolean true
d-i netcfg/disable_dhcp boolean true
d-i netcfg/dhcp_failed note
d-i netcfg/dhcp_options select Configure network manually
d-i netcfg/get_ipaddress string 192.168.1.71
d-i netcfg/get_netmask string 255.255.255.0
d-i netcfg/get_gateway string 192.168.1.1
d-i netcfg/get_nameservers string 192.168.1.55 192.168.1.59
d-i netcfg/confirm_static boolean true
d-i netcfg/get_hostname string vcp
d-i netcfg/get_domain string v.blink-1x52.net
d-i netcfg/hostname string vcp
d-i netcfg/wireless_wep string

# hardware firmware
d-i hw-detect/firmware-lookup string never
d-i hw-detect/load_firmware boolean false

# apt mirror and proxy
d-i mirror/country string manual
d-i mirror/http/hostname string deb.debian.org
d-i mirror/http/directory string /debian
d-i mirror/http/proxy string

# root
# generate password string using mkpasswd
d-i passwd/root-password-crypted password {root password crypted string using mkpasswd here}

# user
d-i passwd/user-fullname string {username here}
d-i passwd/username string {username here}
d-i passwd/user-password-crypted password {user password crypted string using mkpasswd here}

# clock, ntp
d-i clock-setup/utc boolean true
d-i time/zone string UTC
d-i clock-setup/ntp boolean true

# disk
d-i partman-auto/method string lvm
d-i partman-auto-lvm/guided_size string max
d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm boolean true
d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true
d-i partman-lvm/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select atomic
d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
d-i partman/confirm boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
d-i partman-md/confirm boolean true
d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
d-i partman/confirm boolean true
d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true

# package installation - standard and ssh-server
d-i apt-setup/cdrom/set-first boolean false
tasksel tasksel/first multiselect standard, ssh-server

# grub
d-i grub-installer/only_debian boolean true
d-i grub-installer/with_other_os boolean true

# done
d-i finish-install/reboot_in_progress note