STARTING REFRACTA INSTALLER (9.1.0) Refracta Installer will install the operating system to hard drive from a running live-CD or live-USB session. The running system will be copied exactly - any changes you make to the running system, including desktop preferences, configuration changes, or added software will be copied to the installed system. There are currently three versions of Refracta Installer. If you select Refracta Installer from the System menu, you'll get one of the gui versions. The preferred script uses Yad for a graphical front end. If yad is not installed, there's a zenity-based script that will run. You can call either script from command line with 'refractainstaller-yad' or 'refractainstaller-gui'. If you run 'refractainstaller' from a terminal or console, you'll get the non-gui version. Unlike the gui version, the non-gui version does not give you the option to change the username. Instead, you can run change-username (as root) after you boot into the newly-installed system. See comments in /etc/refractainstaller.conf for various options that can be set there. Run pre-install scripts and Run post install scripts will enable any scripts in /usr/lib/refractainstaller/pre-install or post-install to run. See /usr/lib/refractainstaller/installer_exclude.list if you want to change the list of files/directories that won't be copied to the installed system. Do not format filesystems: prevents the script from automatically formatting the partitions you select. You can use this if you pre-formatted in gparted or cfdisk, and you can possibly use this option with other filesystem types, such as reiserfs or btrfs. (untested) INSTALLATION PROCEDURE Start the installer, choose Simple or Expert. Simple install puts the bootloader in the mbr of /dev/sda and lets you choose a single partition for the installation. That partition will be formatted as ext3. Expert install opens a window with a checklist of options. Change user name Create a separate /home partition Create a separate /boot partition Use existing swap partition (instead of swapfile.) Encrypt the root filesystem (separate /boot required) Encrypt the /home partition (separate /home required) Write random data to encrypted partitions (more secure) Write zeroes to all partitions (to erase previous data) Do not install bootloader. I'll handle it myself. Do not format filesystems. (You can format them ahead of time with gparted.) Use UUID in etc/fstab. (Useful if drive order changes.) Use filesystem labels (disk labels) in etc/fstab. Change hostname. Disable automatic login to desktop. Disable automatic login to console. (Use stock Debian inittab) Move selected directories to separate partitions. Run pre-install scripts Run post-install scripts Run the partitioner if you need to. Choose partition(s) and filesystem format(s) for installation. Enter information if requested (new host name, disk labels, passphrases for encryption) Sit back and watch for a few minutes. Enter new username and password, root password or choose sudo. Select any directories you want moved to another partition. Reboot into the new installation. CREATING ADDITIONAL SEPARATE PARTITIONS If you chose to put /boot or /home on a separate partition, it (or they) will be copied to the designated partition during the main part of the installation. If you want any directories other than /boot or /home on separate partitions, for the gui installer, check "Move selected directories to separate partitions" in the expert options window, and for the text installer, edit the config file to set additional_partitions="yes" You must create and format the extra partitions during the partitioning phase of the installation or before running the installer. At the end of the installation, you will be asked to select the directories you want separate, and they will be copied to the selected partitions. The contents of the original directory on the root filesystem will then be deleted.