How to Create Bootable Linux CD

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: December 20, 2007]

Q. I'm using CentOS Linux and I'd like to create bootable Linux CD for the same. How do I create an installation boot disk?

A. You need to find images/ directory located on CentOS / Fedora / RHEL or any other Linux distribution. This directory contains image files that can be used to create media capable of starting the Linux installation process.

More about images

boot.iso - The boot.iso file is an ISO 9660 image of a bootable CD-ROM. It is useful in cases where the CD-ROM installation method is not desired, but the CD-ROM's boot speed would be an advantage. To use this image file, burn the file onto CD-R (or CD-RW) media as you normally would.
diskboot.img - The diskboot.img file is a VFAT filesystem image that can be written to a USB pendrive or other bootable media larger than a floppy. Note that booting via USB is dependent on your BIOS supporting this. It should be written to the device using dd.

Step # 1: Copy boot.iso to /tmp

Type the following command,
# cp boot.iso /tmp
Unmount cdrom
# cd; eject

Step # 2: Insert blank CD R/RW media

Find device name:
# cdrecord -scanbus
Write /tmp/boot.iso to blank cd, enter:
# cdrecord -v -dao dev=1,0,0 /tmp/boot.iso
Replace 1,0,0 with your actual device name obtained using cdrecord -scanbus command. See how to burn ISO images to Cds and CD-RWs under Linux for more information.