What's in this directory?

These are files containing the installer and other software for the Debian GNU/Linux operating system. The files in this directory are specifically for the i386 architecture.

How do I use these files?

The files here are complete ISO images, ready to use.

Once you have downloaded all the ISO images you want, you will typically need to write them to installation media.

What size and type of media will I need?

The images described here are sized to be written to writeable CD media at a minimum, but may be written to larger media if needed.

For extra convenience, these images may also be written directly to a USB stick. So long as your computer will boot directly from that USB stick, it should start the Debian installer that way.

What is a netinst image?

The netinst CD here is a small CD image that contains just the core Debian installer code and a small core set of text-mode programs (known as "standard" in Debian). To install a desktop or other common software, you'll also need either an Internet connection or some other Debian CD/DVD images.

What is an edu netinst image?

The edu netinst CD here is a special version of the netinst CD image that is targeted specifically at 32-bit Intel machines. It provides a menu to install the Debian Edu Pure Blend. See the Debian Wiki for more information.

What is a mac netinst image?

The mac netinst CD here is a special version of the netinst CD image that is targeted specifically at older 32-bit Intel Macintosh machines. It will likely work on most other i386 machines too, but it does not contain UEFI boot files that some people need. See the Debian Wiki for more information.

How can I verify my download is correct and exactly what has been created by Debian?

There are files here (SHA512SUMS, etc.) which contain checksums of the images. These checksum files are also signed - see the matching .sign files. Once you've downloaded an image, you can check:

• that its checksum matches that expected from the checksum file; and
• that the checksum file has not been tampered with.

For more information about how to do these steps, read the verification guide.

Non-free Firmware

This is an official Debian image build and so only includes Free Software.

For convenience for some users, there is an alternative unofficial netinst CD build which includes non-free firmware for extra support for some awkward hardware. Look under /cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/ if you need that CD image instead.

Other questions?

See the Debian CD FAQ for lots more information about Debian CDs and installation.

The images here were put together by the Debian CD team , using debian-cd and other software.