Method and system for installing an operating system
First Claim
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1. A method in a computer for booting a computer, the method comprising:
- installing a Linux-based operating system on a hard drive of the computer;
creating a FAT partition on the hard drive using services of the installed Linux-based operating system, the FAT partition having a boot record and an initiate installation program;
setting the computer to boot in accordance with the boot record of the FAT partition; and
booting the computer wherein the computer boots in accordance with the boot record of the FAT partition and executes the initiate installation program.
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Abstract
A method and system for selectively installing different operating systems on computers. The configuration system initially installs a first operating system, such as a Linux-based operating system, on each of the computers. This installation process may require the manual insertion of a floppy disk or CD-ROM into the computer. Once the first operating system is installed, the second operating system, such as the NT operating system, can be installed without manual intervention at the computer. The configuration system directs the installation of the second operating system via a local area network that is connected to an installation server.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. A method in a computer for booting a computer, the method comprising:
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installing a Linux-based operating system on a hard drive of the computer;
creating a FAT partition on the hard drive using services of the installed Linux-based operating system, the FAT partition having a boot record and an initiate installation program;
setting the computer to boot in accordance with the boot record of the FAT partition; and
booting the computer wherein the computer boots in accordance with the boot record of the FAT partition and executes the initiate installation program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for installing an NT operating system on a computer with a different operating system currently installed on the computer, the method comprising:
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creating a FAT partition on the computer, the FAT partition having a boot record for booting to DOS, having a network device driver, and having a DOS-based initiate installation program;
setting the computer to boot to DOS in accordance with the boot record of the created FAT partition; and
booting the computer wherein the computer boots to DOS in accordance with the boot record and the DOS-based initiate installation program uses the network device driver to initiate installation of the NT operating system from a network device onto the computer. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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15. A method for selectively installing different operating systems on computers, the method comprising:
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installing a first operating system on each of the computers;
using services of the first operating system, creating a file system partition on a storage device of the computers, the file system partition having information for installing the second operating system on the computer; and
upon receiving an indication that the second operating system is to be installed on a computer, setting the computer to boot in accordance with the created file system partition; and
booting the computer wherein the computer boots in accordance with the created file system partition and installs the second operating system on the computer using the information of the file system partition.
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21. An apparatus for selectively installing different operating systems on computers, each computer installed with a first operating system, comprising:
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means for creating a file system partition on the computers, the file system partition having information for installing the second operating system on the computer;
means for setting the computer to boot in accordance with the created file system partition; and
means for booting the computer wherein the computer boots in accordance with the created file system partition and installs the second operating system on the computer in accordance with the information of the file system partition. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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28. A computer-readable medium including instructions for controlling a computer installed with a Linux-based operating system to install an NT operating system by a method comprising:
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creating a FAT partition on the computer, the FAT partition having a boot record for booting to DOS, having a network device driver, and having a DOS-based initiate installation program;
setting the computer to boot to DOS in accordance with the boot record of the FAT partition; and
booting the computer wherein the computer boots to DOS in accordance with the boot record and the DOS-based initiate installation program uses the network device driver to install the NT operating system from a network device onto the computer.
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34. A method of selectively installing different operating systems on computers, the method comprising:
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installing a first operating system on the computers; and
upon receiving an indication that a computer is to be configured with a second operating system, setting the computer to boot in accordance with a file system partition, the file system partition having information for installing the second operating system on the computer, the second operating system being installed from a network device; and
booting the computer to effect the installation of the second operating system from the network onto the computer.
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Specification