Using lxc Linux Containers on Debian 'Squeeze' - by Sebastiaan Giebels

I want to install Debian Linux with my USB stick. However, I don't have a linux machine at hand (hehe.. actually only a reboot away from my WindowsXP on which I'm working on currently, but I don't want to reboot as it will halt my downloads :) )

Note: although I'm downloading the 'Lenny' edition of Debian here, I need to upgrade to 'Squeeze' before I can use lxc! *

1. Download DD for Windows, and extract the dd.exe file to 'c:\'
2. Download debian/dists/lenny/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/boot.img.gz from any Debian mirror, any distribution (I just tested Lenny, but probably anything recent works). Extract (using 7zip) the boot.img.gz to 'c:\boot.img'.
3. Download http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/#netinst-stable from any Debian mirror, any distribution (I just tested Lenny, but probably anything recent works)
4. Open a DOS prompt and list the devices dd can use:

   dd --list

   This is the relevant extract of it's output, because my USB drive was recognised in Windows as 'drive e:':

   <BEGIN GeSHi>\\.\Volume{c6d6abd9-086c-11e0-8f9b-00163647b632}\<END GeSHi>
     link to \\?\Device\Harddisk1\DP(1)0-0+6
     removeable media
     Mounted on \\.\<BEGIN GeSHi>e:<END GeSHi>

5. Write the .img-file to usb disk.
   BE CAREFUL HERE! MAKE SURE YOU ARE CHOOSING YOUR USB DISK AND NOT YOUR HARD DISK DRIVE!!!
   I removed the last '\' from the '\\.\Volume' string, and used:

   C:\>dd if=c:\boot.img of=<BEGIN GeSHi>\\.\Volume{c6d6abd9-086c-11e0-8f9b-00163647b632}<END GeSHi> bs=1M

   It will end with the message:

   239+0 records in
   239+0 records out

6. Remove and re-insert your usb-stick
7. Copy 'debian-507-i386-netinst.iso' to your usb stick (which should now show some other files too).

References: Debian boot usb disk for installing an Eee PC

Boot to test and install!

If the installer loads, but complains that it can't load the ISO file, get another USB stick (I used my mobile phone as an USB stick by using an USB cable) and put the .iso file onto that.

note: don't use mini.iso