If you have any other operating systems on your system that you wish to keep (dual boot setup), you should make sure that they have been properly shut down before you boot the installer. Installing an operating system while another operating system is in hibernation (has been suspended to disk) could result in loss of, or damage to the state of the suspended operating system which could cause problems when it is rebooted.
For information on how to boot the graphical installer, see 節 D.6, “The Graphical Installer”.
The easiest route for most people will be to use a set of Debian CDs. If you have a CD set, and if your machine supports booting directly off the CD, great! Simply configure your system for booting off a CD as described in 節 3.6.2, “選擇開機設備”, insert your CD, reboot, and proceed to the next chapter.
注意某些特定的光碟機需要一些特殊的驅動程式，因為他們可能在安裝的早期步驟中無法被存取。如果標準的光碟開機的方法不能用於您的硬體，閱讀本章中關於其他種類的核心以及安裝方法，它們有可能能解決問題。
即便您不能從光碟開機，依然可以安裝光碟上面的 Debian 系統組件和所有軟體套件。只需要使用不同的媒介，例如軟碟來開機即可。當安裝作業系統、基礎系統和任意附加的軟體套件時只需指向安裝系統至光碟機即可。
如果您遇到開機方面的問題，請參閱 節 5.4, “安裝過程中的障礙排除”。
To start the installer from Windows, you must first obtain CD-ROM/DVD-ROM or USB memory stick installation media as described in 節 4.1, “Debian GNU/Linux 官方光碟套件” and 節 4.3, “準備從 USB 隨身碟開機的檔案”.
If you use an installation CD or DVD, a pre-installation program should be launched automatically when you insert the disc. In case Windows does not start it automatically, or if you are using a USB memory stick, you can run it manually by accessing the device and executing setup.exe.
After the program has been started, a few preliminary questions will be asked and the system will be prepared to start the Debian GNU/Linux installer.
為了從硬碟開機安裝程式，您首先必須按照要求下載並且放置所需的文件，請參閱 節 4.4, “準備從硬碟開機的檔案”。
If you intend to use the hard drive only for booting and then download everything over the network, you should download the netboot/debian-installer/i386/initrd.gz file and its corresponding kernel netboot/debian-installer/i386/linux. This will allow you to repartition the hard disk from which you boot the installer, although you should do so with care.
Alternatively, if you intend to keep an existing partition on the hard drive unchanged during the install, you can download the hd-media/initrd.gz file and its kernel, as well as copy a CD (or DVD) iso to the drive (make sure the file is named ending in .iso). The installer can then boot from the drive and install from the CD/DVD image, without needing the network.
如果採用 LILO，您需要在 /etc/lilo.conf 中設定兩件最基本的事情:
在開機時載入 initrd.gz 安裝程式﹔
讓 vmlinuz 核心使用一個記憶體虛擬磁碟作為它的根分割區。
這裡是一個 /etc/lilo.conf 的例子：
image=/boot/newinstall/vmlinuz
label=newinstall
initrd=/boot/newinstall/initrd.gz
欲獲知更多細節，請參閱 initrd(4) 和 lilo.conf(5) man 手冊。現在執行 lilo 並且重新啟動。
The procedure for GRUB is quite similar. Locate your menu.lst in the /boot/grub/ directory (or sometimes /boot/boot/grub/) and add an entry for the installer, for example (assuming /boot is on the first partition of the first disk in the system):
title New Install root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/newinstall/vmlinuz initrd /boot/newinstall/initrd.gz
From here on, there should be no difference between GRUB or LILO.
假設您已經準備好了從 節 3.6.2, “選擇開機設備” 到 節 4.3, “準備從 USB 隨身碟開機的檔案” 的所有步驟。現在只需要插入您的 USB 隨身碟到一個空的 USB 插槽並且重新啟動電腦。系統應該能夠開機，並且您會看到 boot: 提示符號。您可以輸入一些開機選項，或者只是按下 Enter。
要從網路開機，您的機器必須連接上網路和一台 TFTP 網路開機伺服器 (DHCP, RARP 以及 BOOTP)。
支援的網路開機安裝方法在 節 4.5, “準備以 TFTP 網路開機用的檔案”。
在 i386 架構上有很多方法用 TFTP 進行開機。
It could be that your Network Interface Card or Motherboard provides PXE boot functionality. This is a Intel™ re-implementation of TFTP boot. If so, you may be able to configure your BIOS to boot from the network.
您的網卡很有可能提供了 TFTP 開機功能。
請讓我們知道 (<debian-boot@lists.debian.org>) 您如何操作，並參考此文件。
etherboot project 提供了為 TFTP 開機所需要的開機軟碟甚至是開機 ROMS 。
When the installer boots, you should be presented with a friendly graphical screen showing the Debian logo and a menu:
Installer boot menu Install Graphical install Advanced options > Help Press ENTER to boot or TAB to edit a menu entry
Depending on the installation method you are using, the “Graphical install” option may not be available.
For a normal installation, select either the “Install” or the “Graphical install” entry — using either the arrow keys on your keyboard or by typing the first (highlighted) letter — and press Enter to boot the installer.
The “Advanced options” entry gives access to a second menu that allows to boot the installer in expert mode, in rescue mode and for automated installs.
If you wish or need to add any boot parameters for either the installer or the kernel, press Tab. This will display the default boot command for the selected menu entry and allow to add additional options. The help screens (see below) list some common possible options. Press Enter to boot the installer with your options; pressing Esc will return you to the boot menu and undo any changes you made.
Choosing the “Help” entry will result in the first help screen being displayed which gives an overview of all available help screens. Note that it is not possible to return to the boot menu after the help screens have been displayed. However, the F3 and F4 help screens list commands that are equivalent to the boot methods listed in the menu. All help screens have a boot prompt at which the boot command can be typed:
Press F1 for the help index, or ENTER to boot:
At this boot prompt you can either just press Enter to boot the installer with default options or enter a specific boot command and, optionally, boot parameters. A number of boot parameters which might be useful can be found on the various help screens. If you do add any parameters to the boot command line, be sure to first type the boot method (the default is install) and a space before the first parameter (e.g., install fb=false).
The keyboard is assumed to have a default American English layout at this point. This means that if your keyboard has a different (language-specific) layout, the characters that appear on the screen may be different from what you'd expect when you type parameters. Wikipedia has a schema of the US keyboard layout which can be used as a reference to find the correct keys to use.
If you are using a system that has the BIOS configured to use serial console, you may not be able to see the initial graphical splash screen upon booting the installer; you may even not see the boot menu. The same can happen if you are installing the system via a remote management device that provides a text interface to the VGA console. Examples of these devices include the text console of Compaq's “integrated Lights Out” (iLO) and HP's “Integrated Remote Assistant” (IRA).
To bypass the graphical boot screen you can either blindly press Esc to get a text boot prompt, or (equally blindly) press “H” followed by Enter to select the “Help” option described above. After that your keystrokes should be echoed at the prompt. To prevent the installer from using the framebuffer for the rest of the installation, you will also want to add fb=false to the boot prompt, as described in the help text.