Absolute OpenBSD: Unix for the Practical Paranoid

If you do not have an OpenBSD CD-ROM, or if your hardware does not boot from CD-ROM, you need to start your install with a boot floppy. The OpenBSD boot floppy actually contains a very small subset of OpenBSD, including just the tools needed to recognize your hardware, format your disks, and download and extract the appropriate distribution sets in the correct locations.

You'll find a few boot floppy images in the architecture release directory. The purpose of these images may change over time, so confirm in the release install document if you have any trouble. Each name includes the release number — for example, the images for OpenBSD 3.4 will be named floppy34.fs, floppy34B.fs, and floppy34C.fs. Download the disk image that most closely describes your system; you only need one.

Once you have the appropriate image file, you'll need to copy it onto a floppy disk. You cannot use basic file system-level copying, such as Windows drag and drop. These are image files, meaning that they include the file system and not just the files on the file system.

Creating Floppies on UNIX

If you're already running a UNIX-like system, dd(1) is the only command you need. You also need to know your floppy drive's device name, which is probably /dev/fd0, /dev/floppy, or /dev/rfd0. Once you have that, you just tell dd(1) to copy the image to the disk in that device. If the device name was /dev/fd0c, you'd enter

dd if=floppy33B.fs of=/dev/fd0c

to write the floppy33B.fs image to floppy disk.

If dd(1) runs for a while and then gives an error, you may have a bad floppy disk. Floppies tend to go bad very easily, and you should try another one. If dd gives you an error immediately or exits silently without writing to the floppy disk, you probably need to specify a different floppy device driver.

Creating Floppies on Windows 9x

If you're running a Microsoft Windows 9x-based operating system, such as Windows Me, Windows 98, or Windows 95, you'll need a program to copy the disk images. Microsoft doesn't provide one, but OpenBSD does, which you'll find in the "tools" directory of the release directory. The program fdimage.exe is specifically designed for these older Microsoft operating systems and does not work on Windows NT-based operating systems.

Fdimage.exe is a free program that can copy disk images and is quite easy to use. For example, to copy the floppy image floppy33.fs to the floppy in your a: drive, enter the following at a DOS prompt:

C:> fdimage floppy33.fs a:

The floppy will churn for a while, and finally spit out an OpenBSD boot floppy.

Windows 9x has restrictions on filenames; each filename is restricted to eight characters, with a three-character extension after a period. While the GUI desk-top displays long filenames, these are actually aliases for the names available in DOS mode. The names of floppyXXB.fs and floppyXXC.fs are nine characters long, with a two-character extension. This means that Windows will rename these files to something its innards can accept, retaining these names as aliases visible in the GUI. At a DOS prompt, however, you'll need to find out what DOS calls your floppy image before you can boot it. The file floppy33B.fs may well be called something like floppy~1.fs.

Again, if you have trouble, your floppy is probably bad.

Creating Boot Floppies on Modern Microsoft Systems

If your computer is running Windows NT or one of its descendants (such as Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, and so on), fdimage.exe will not work. OpenBSD includes a program for this, ntrw.exe, in the tools directory of the release directory. Like fdimage.exe, ntrw.exe is designed to copy a disk image to a disk. Windows NT-based systems do not rewrite filenames, so you should be able to open a command prompt and just type:

C:> ntrw floppy33C.fs a:

If it doesn't work, you probably have a bad floppy disk.

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