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How to Install CentOS 5.8 with the Netinstall ISO

Short steps for installing CentOS 5.8 from the netinstall image using the HTTP mirror settings. Historic: CentOS 5 reached end of life in 2017.

Written

From my Linux study notes, 2015. Some commands and versions here are old, so please reuse them carefully. Anything marked "added later", and the notes at the end, explain what has changed since.

Historic post. CentOS 5 reached end of life on 31 March 2017 and no longer receives security updates. Do not install it on a new server or anything connected to the internet. If you are starting with Linux today, install a current release such as Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, Debian or Ubuntu and follow that project’s own installation guide. See “Notes for today” at the end.

Steps

  1. Download the CentOS 5.8 netinstall image from:

    http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/5/isos/i386

    The netinstall image only starts the installer. The packages are downloaded from a mirror during installation, so the machine needs a working network connection. The i386 folder holds the 32-bit images; 64-bit machines used the x86_64 folder instead.

  2. Follow the instructions during installation. You will need the following information when the installer asks where to install from (the HTTP method):

    Web site:

    mirror.centos.org

    CentOS directory:

    /centos/5/os/i386

    Correction: the original post had /centos/5/os/i38s, which is a typo for i386. Use the directory that matches the image you downloaded: /centos/5/os/i386 for 32-bit or /centos/5/os/x86_64 for 64-bit.

In this way you should be able to install CentOS.

For download links for both architectures, see my earlier post, Installing CentOS 5.8: Netinstall ISO and Mirror Settings.

Notes for today

  • These settings no longer work. After CentOS 5 reached end of life, its files were removed from the normal CentOS mirrors, so the download address and the mirror directory above will not find CentOS 5. Old releases are kept only as an archive at vault.centos.org, for historic reference.
  • What to install instead. Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux are the common free replacements for CentOS; Debian and Ubuntu are popular alternatives. Download the current release from the project’s own website and follow its installation guide, for example the Rocky Linux documentation at https://docs.rockylinux.org/. Modern installers look different from CentOS 5, so do not follow these steps for them.