h1. OpenSolaris 2008.11 Installation FAQ
{toc:outline=false|minLevel=1}
h5. Question: Is it better for me to install OpenSolaris onto bare metal or into VirtualBox?
Answer: It depends.
* The advantage of installing on bare metal is better performance and better user experience (you get accelerated graphics, Compiz visual effects, etc.). The disadvantage is that some drivers may be missing for your computer and you need an extra primary partition.
* The advantage of installing into VirtualBox is that it overcomes all driver issues (you leverage drivers from your main OS) and you don't need to create a new primary partition. The disadvantages are worse performance (especially if you have less than 2 GB of RAM), worse user experience and you have to boot OpenSolaris if you want to use it, so you will probably use it less often than if you would install it on bare metal - optionally available, optionally used. However VirtualBox is the safest and easiest solution, so if you prefer an easy way, this is the way to go.
You can find out whether your hardware is supported by running the Device Driver Utility.
h5. Question: What is the Device Driver Utility?
Answer: It's an application that shows you whether OpenSolaris drivers will be available on your hardware.
You can boot from the OpenSolaris LiveCD and run the Device Driver Utility from the desktop. This utility is also available after installation in Applications \| System Tools \| Device Driver Utility.
h5. Question: Can I run the Device Driver Utility without booting into OpenSolaris/starting OpenSolaris?
Answer: Yes\! There is a webstartable Java application you can use to detect if your hardware will be supported. You can run it from [here|https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/CDS-CDS_SMI-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductRef=SDDT-2.1-G-F@CDS-CDS_SMI] (you need to have recent JRE installed).
h5. Question: Is there an installation guide for OpenSolaris 2008.11?
Answer: Right now there is only [a guide for 2008.05|http://dlc.sun.com/osol/docs/content/IPS/index.html], however installation of 2008.11 is very similar to 2008.05.
h5. Question: Where can I find release notes for OpenSolaris 2008.11?
See: [http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/indiana/resources/relnotes/200811/x86 |http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/indiana/resources/relnotes/200811/x86]
h5. Question: What is VirtualBox?
Answer: VirtualBox is Sun's desktop virtualization software. It is very popular in the open source community and came to Sun through the acquisition of Innotek. It lets you run multiple operating systems on a single computer. Installation of OpenSolaris into VirtualBox is the easiest way how to get OpenSolaris installed. Remember you need to allocate 768 MB or more memory for OpenSolaris, otherwise it won't run. You can download VirtualBox [here|http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads].
h5. Question: How do I install OpenSolaris into VirtualBox?
Answer: Follow [this guide|http://dlc.sun.com/osol/docs/content/IPS/virtualbox.html].
h5. Question: Can I install OpenSolaris into VMWare?
Answer: Yes, however we strongly recommend you to use VirtualBox instead. VirtualBox is open source, feature-rich, developed by Sun and OpenSolaris is well tested on VirtualBox.
h5. Question: Is there anything important I need to do before installing OpenSolaris?
Answer: If you OpenSolaris install onto bare metal, you should backup your data. You really should. If you install into VirtualBox you do not need to backup your data.
h5. Question: When do you recommend NOT to install onto bare metal?
Answer: If any of the following is valid:
* If you miss too many drivers. You can decide for yourself which of the drivers are critical for you (for example if you are the unlucky person with Broadcom network card and wifi, you won't be able to connect from OpenSolaris to the network). Driver detection utility can provide you with this information.
* If you are not sure how to do the partitioning or how to fix potential boot loader issues - learn about how to re-partition a disk using GParted and how to install GRUB before attempting the install.
h5. Question: How should I re-partition my disk?
Answer: If you install onto bare metal, you'll need to create a primary partition for OpenSolaris. *OpenSolaris can't be installed into an extended partition.* If you have extended partitions on your computer you are doing a dangerous operation because OpenSolaris' fdisk doesn't understand extended partitions. In this case we suggest to install OpenSolaris into VirtualBox or reinstall your computer with primary partitions only.
The easiest and safest way to repartition your disk is to use GParted, which is a LiveCD distribution which lets you repartition your disk easily. You need to create one free primary partition for OpenSolaris. OpenSolaris installer will then show you this partition as an option and you can choose it for installation of OpenSolaris. You can download GParted [here|http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=271779]. It needs to be burned on a CD and then you can run it by booting into this CD.
If you use VirtualBox just choose the whole disk to be used for OpenSolaris during installation.
h5. Question: How much disk space is needed for OpenSolaris?
Answer: We recommend at least 10GB. If you plan to use OpenSolaris as your main system 16GB\+ is recommended.
h5. Question: How much memory is required for OpenSolaris?
Answer: 768MB is required, 1024MB\+ is recommended.
h5. Question: Is there a guide for using GParted?
Answer: Yes, you can read it [here|http://opensolaris.org/os/project/caiman/Slim_Install/project_documents/slim_install_getstarted/slim_install_GetStarted_GParted/].
h5. Question: Can I use OpenSolaris installer to create a partition for OpenSolaris?
Answer: If you have a simple partitioning scheme - e.g. only one Windows partition and free space for OpenSolaris you can just use the installer and create a new partition over there. However for any more complex scenarios I recommend to use GParted.
h5. Question: Can I use Linux fdisk to create a partition for OpenSolaris.
Answer: Yes, this is similar approach as using GParted, only GParted provides you with a GUI.
h5. Question: What is the partition type ID for Solaris/OpenSolaris?
Answer: 191(0xbf).
h5. Question: Help\! There's not enough space on my disk to create a new partition. How can I free up some space?
Answer: If you run Windows, you can resize your NTFS partition. Windows Vista can do it using the disk manager. You can also use GParted to resize partitions, but it's slower than Vista disk manager. For Windows XP use GParted.
If you use Linux the easiest way to get free partition space is to delete an existing partition or do a complete reinstall with better planning of partition table.
h5. Question: Which boot manager is used by OpenSolaris?
Answer: OpenSolaris uses GRUB boot manager.
*Warning: any existing boot manager will get overwritten by the OpenSolaris installer.* Backup your existing boot loader configuration if you already use a boot loader. This is especially critical if you run Linux which uses it's own boot loader.
If you use GRUB in Linux it is vital to save a copy of GRUB's menu.lst. This file is usually stored in /etc/boot/menu.lst on Linux or in /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst on OpenSolaris. Copy this file on a USB stick, it will be easy for you to get it back in case you need it (you can also copy it onto the network, however you may have initial issues with accessing network from OpenSolaris so a USB stick works better).
If you use Lilo, Windows boot loader or other custom boot loader follow backup instructions for these boot loaders.
h5. Question: Does OpenSolaris installer support dual boot OpenSolaris + Windows?
Answer: Yes, this configuration is supported and you will get two options (Windows or OpenSolaris) in the GRUB boot menu screen.
h5. Question: Does OpenSolaris installer support dual boot OpenSolaris + Linux?
Answer: You can install OpenSolaris next to Linux, but:
* Do it only when primary partitions are used by Linux and OpenSolaris (no extended partitions are defined).
* You need to update your GRUB boot loader configuration to provide a boot option for Linux (see a FAQ entry below which explains how to do it).
h5. Question: Help\! OpenSolaris overwrote my boot loader and I cannot boot into Linux anymore.
Answer: You should have made a backup of your boot loader configuration, as explained in a FAQ entry above. You can take the Linux section of the boot loader configuration (menu.lst) and add it into OpenSolaris' GRUB configuration which is located in /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst. Then you will be able to boot into Linux. If you didn't make a copy of the boot loader configuration you can still boot from a Linux LiveCD (e.g. Ubuntu) and mount your Linux partition and locate the original menu.lst file.
h5. Question: Is it possible to install two instances of Solaris / OpenSolaris on one machine?
Answer: This is not supported, but you can use [this workaround|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/tip_installing_two_instances_of] to achieve such installation.
h5. Question: Are there any instructions for a triple-boot configuration (Windows + Linux + OpenSolaris)?
Answer: Yes, Gregg Sporar wrote several blog entries on this topic. See:
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_1_planning|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_1_planning]
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_2_install|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_2_install]
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_3_install|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_3_install]
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_4_access|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_4_access]
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_5_reinstalling|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_5_reinstalling]
h5. Question: I have a Sony VAIO laptop which uses the Marvell Yukon network card and it doesn't seem to be supported by OpenSolaris. Can I download the driver from somewhere?
Answer: Yes, you can get it [here|http://www.marvell.com/drivers/search.do]. For dual core CPUs make sure you choose the 64bit version of the driver.
h5. Question: Is it possible to install OpenSolaris on bare metal if I have a Mac?
Answer: Yes, however some extra work is necessary. Also Apple keeps changing their hardware so driver availability depends on which Mac you have. There's a [nice blog entry|http://weblogs.java.net/blog/bleonard/archive/2008/05/_opensolaris_20.html] which describes how to install OpenSolaris on a Mac on bare metal written by Brian Leonard.
h5. Question: Is there a good user oriented blog for OpenSolaris?
Answer: Yes, add The Observatory to your RSS reader:
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory]
h5. Question: Where can I find documentation for OpenSolaris?
Visit the [OpenSolaris documentation community|http://opensolaris.org/os/community/documentation].
h5. Question: I have a question which hasn't been covered in this FAQ and I think it should be here, or I found some incorrections in this FAQ. Who should I contact?
Answer: Contact Roman Strobl via e-mail: roman.strobl@sun.com .
{toc:outline=false|minLevel=1}
h5. Question: Is it better for me to install OpenSolaris onto bare metal or into VirtualBox?
Answer: It depends.
* The advantage of installing on bare metal is better performance and better user experience (you get accelerated graphics, Compiz visual effects, etc.). The disadvantage is that some drivers may be missing for your computer and you need an extra primary partition.
* The advantage of installing into VirtualBox is that it overcomes all driver issues (you leverage drivers from your main OS) and you don't need to create a new primary partition. The disadvantages are worse performance (especially if you have less than 2 GB of RAM), worse user experience and you have to boot OpenSolaris if you want to use it, so you will probably use it less often than if you would install it on bare metal - optionally available, optionally used. However VirtualBox is the safest and easiest solution, so if you prefer an easy way, this is the way to go.
You can find out whether your hardware is supported by running the Device Driver Utility.
h5. Question: What is the Device Driver Utility?
Answer: It's an application that shows you whether OpenSolaris drivers will be available on your hardware.
You can boot from the OpenSolaris LiveCD and run the Device Driver Utility from the desktop. This utility is also available after installation in Applications \| System Tools \| Device Driver Utility.
h5. Question: Can I run the Device Driver Utility without booting into OpenSolaris/starting OpenSolaris?
Answer: Yes\! There is a webstartable Java application you can use to detect if your hardware will be supported. You can run it from [here|https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/CDS-CDS_SMI-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductRef=SDDT-2.1-G-F@CDS-CDS_SMI] (you need to have recent JRE installed).
h5. Question: Is there an installation guide for OpenSolaris 2008.11?
Answer: Right now there is only [a guide for 2008.05|http://dlc.sun.com/osol/docs/content/IPS/index.html], however installation of 2008.11 is very similar to 2008.05.
h5. Question: Where can I find release notes for OpenSolaris 2008.11?
See: [http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/indiana/resources/relnotes/200811/x86 |http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/indiana/resources/relnotes/200811/x86]
h5. Question: What is VirtualBox?
Answer: VirtualBox is Sun's desktop virtualization software. It is very popular in the open source community and came to Sun through the acquisition of Innotek. It lets you run multiple operating systems on a single computer. Installation of OpenSolaris into VirtualBox is the easiest way how to get OpenSolaris installed. Remember you need to allocate 768 MB or more memory for OpenSolaris, otherwise it won't run. You can download VirtualBox [here|http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads].
h5. Question: How do I install OpenSolaris into VirtualBox?
Answer: Follow [this guide|http://dlc.sun.com/osol/docs/content/IPS/virtualbox.html].
h5. Question: Can I install OpenSolaris into VMWare?
Answer: Yes, however we strongly recommend you to use VirtualBox instead. VirtualBox is open source, feature-rich, developed by Sun and OpenSolaris is well tested on VirtualBox.
h5. Question: Is there anything important I need to do before installing OpenSolaris?
Answer: If you OpenSolaris install onto bare metal, you should backup your data. You really should. If you install into VirtualBox you do not need to backup your data.
h5. Question: When do you recommend NOT to install onto bare metal?
Answer: If any of the following is valid:
* If you miss too many drivers. You can decide for yourself which of the drivers are critical for you (for example if you are the unlucky person with Broadcom network card and wifi, you won't be able to connect from OpenSolaris to the network). Driver detection utility can provide you with this information.
* If you are not sure how to do the partitioning or how to fix potential boot loader issues - learn about how to re-partition a disk using GParted and how to install GRUB before attempting the install.
h5. Question: How should I re-partition my disk?
Answer: If you install onto bare metal, you'll need to create a primary partition for OpenSolaris. *OpenSolaris can't be installed into an extended partition.* If you have extended partitions on your computer you are doing a dangerous operation because OpenSolaris' fdisk doesn't understand extended partitions. In this case we suggest to install OpenSolaris into VirtualBox or reinstall your computer with primary partitions only.
The easiest and safest way to repartition your disk is to use GParted, which is a LiveCD distribution which lets you repartition your disk easily. You need to create one free primary partition for OpenSolaris. OpenSolaris installer will then show you this partition as an option and you can choose it for installation of OpenSolaris. You can download GParted [here|http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=271779]. It needs to be burned on a CD and then you can run it by booting into this CD.
If you use VirtualBox just choose the whole disk to be used for OpenSolaris during installation.
h5. Question: How much disk space is needed for OpenSolaris?
Answer: We recommend at least 10GB. If you plan to use OpenSolaris as your main system 16GB\+ is recommended.
h5. Question: How much memory is required for OpenSolaris?
Answer: 768MB is required, 1024MB\+ is recommended.
h5. Question: Is there a guide for using GParted?
Answer: Yes, you can read it [here|http://opensolaris.org/os/project/caiman/Slim_Install/project_documents/slim_install_getstarted/slim_install_GetStarted_GParted/].
h5. Question: Can I use OpenSolaris installer to create a partition for OpenSolaris?
Answer: If you have a simple partitioning scheme - e.g. only one Windows partition and free space for OpenSolaris you can just use the installer and create a new partition over there. However for any more complex scenarios I recommend to use GParted.
h5. Question: Can I use Linux fdisk to create a partition for OpenSolaris.
Answer: Yes, this is similar approach as using GParted, only GParted provides you with a GUI.
h5. Question: What is the partition type ID for Solaris/OpenSolaris?
Answer: 191(0xbf).
h5. Question: Help\! There's not enough space on my disk to create a new partition. How can I free up some space?
Answer: If you run Windows, you can resize your NTFS partition. Windows Vista can do it using the disk manager. You can also use GParted to resize partitions, but it's slower than Vista disk manager. For Windows XP use GParted.
If you use Linux the easiest way to get free partition space is to delete an existing partition or do a complete reinstall with better planning of partition table.
h5. Question: Which boot manager is used by OpenSolaris?
Answer: OpenSolaris uses GRUB boot manager.
*Warning: any existing boot manager will get overwritten by the OpenSolaris installer.* Backup your existing boot loader configuration if you already use a boot loader. This is especially critical if you run Linux which uses it's own boot loader.
If you use GRUB in Linux it is vital to save a copy of GRUB's menu.lst. This file is usually stored in /etc/boot/menu.lst on Linux or in /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst on OpenSolaris. Copy this file on a USB stick, it will be easy for you to get it back in case you need it (you can also copy it onto the network, however you may have initial issues with accessing network from OpenSolaris so a USB stick works better).
If you use Lilo, Windows boot loader or other custom boot loader follow backup instructions for these boot loaders.
h5. Question: Does OpenSolaris installer support dual boot OpenSolaris + Windows?
Answer: Yes, this configuration is supported and you will get two options (Windows or OpenSolaris) in the GRUB boot menu screen.
h5. Question: Does OpenSolaris installer support dual boot OpenSolaris + Linux?
Answer: You can install OpenSolaris next to Linux, but:
* Do it only when primary partitions are used by Linux and OpenSolaris (no extended partitions are defined).
* You need to update your GRUB boot loader configuration to provide a boot option for Linux (see a FAQ entry below which explains how to do it).
h5. Question: Help\! OpenSolaris overwrote my boot loader and I cannot boot into Linux anymore.
Answer: You should have made a backup of your boot loader configuration, as explained in a FAQ entry above. You can take the Linux section of the boot loader configuration (menu.lst) and add it into OpenSolaris' GRUB configuration which is located in /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst. Then you will be able to boot into Linux. If you didn't make a copy of the boot loader configuration you can still boot from a Linux LiveCD (e.g. Ubuntu) and mount your Linux partition and locate the original menu.lst file.
h5. Question: Is it possible to install two instances of Solaris / OpenSolaris on one machine?
Answer: This is not supported, but you can use [this workaround|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/tip_installing_two_instances_of] to achieve such installation.
h5. Question: Are there any instructions for a triple-boot configuration (Windows + Linux + OpenSolaris)?
Answer: Yes, Gregg Sporar wrote several blog entries on this topic. See:
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_1_planning|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_1_planning]
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_2_install|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_2_install]
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_3_install|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_3_install]
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_4_access|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_4_access]
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_5_reinstalling|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/triple_boot_part_5_reinstalling]
h5. Question: I have a Sony VAIO laptop which uses the Marvell Yukon network card and it doesn't seem to be supported by OpenSolaris. Can I download the driver from somewhere?
Answer: Yes, you can get it [here|http://www.marvell.com/drivers/search.do]. For dual core CPUs make sure you choose the 64bit version of the driver.
h5. Question: Is it possible to install OpenSolaris on bare metal if I have a Mac?
Answer: Yes, however some extra work is necessary. Also Apple keeps changing their hardware so driver availability depends on which Mac you have. There's a [nice blog entry|http://weblogs.java.net/blog/bleonard/archive/2008/05/_opensolaris_20.html] which describes how to install OpenSolaris on a Mac on bare metal written by Brian Leonard.
h5. Question: Is there a good user oriented blog for OpenSolaris?
Answer: Yes, add The Observatory to your RSS reader:
[http://blogs.sun.com/observatory|http://blogs.sun.com/observatory]
h5. Question: Where can I find documentation for OpenSolaris?
Visit the [OpenSolaris documentation community|http://opensolaris.org/os/community/documentation].
h5. Question: I have a question which hasn't been covered in this FAQ and I think it should be here, or I found some incorrections in this FAQ. Who should I contact?
Answer: Contact Roman Strobl via e-mail: roman.strobl@sun.com .