What's in this directory?

These are files containing live images of 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 ISO images, ready to use. Simply copy the ISO file directly to a USB flash drive, or write it to a DVD. Reboot your computer and watch it go!

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

There are files here (SHA1SUMS, SHA256SUMS, etc.) which contain checksums of the images. These checksum files are also signed - see SHA1SUMS.sign, SHA256SUMS.sign, etc. Once you've downloaded an image, you can check:

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

Known issues with live images

Initial release testing found a few issues with our images:

1. KDE live desktop unstable on some (tested) hardware

Status: still a problem with 9.0.1

There is a segmentation fault in kmanage - the first obvious symptom will be a failure to automatically log in. A workaround is to switch to VT1 and wait for the desktop to start there. This has been reproduced on hardware (using Intel graphics?), but not when testing in a virtual machine.

See #865382.

2. Live images isolinux menu display problems

Status: Fixed in 9.0.1

When booted in BIOS mode (using isolinux), some of the localisation options from the "Debian Live with Localisation Support" submenu are displayed incorrectly. They may appear intermittently and then disappear. They can still be selected and used and will work - just be careful when selecting one.

See #861421.

3. Live images are not configuring UTF-8 console correctly

Status: still a problem with 9.0.1

After boot, X-based terminal programs will display non-ASCII characters correctly, but the Linux console does not. The system is configured to use UTF-8 locales, but the console is defaulting to ISO-8859-15. There is a quick workaround: "dpkg-reconfigure console-setup" and select "UTF-8".

See #864955.

4. Installation from the live image boot menu does not work

Status: Fixed in 9.0.1

There is a bug in the Packages files included on the live images, causing the included Debian Installer code to fail with the error "There was an error reading data from the CD-ROM. Please make sure it is in the drive. If retrying does not work, you should check the integrity of your CD-ROM."

See #865015.

5. Incorrect Volume ID used for all live images

Status: Fixed in 9.0.1

live-wrapper does not currently set the Volume ID on images it creates, so they use the default supplied by xorriso: "ISOIMAGE".

See #865384.

6. The root directory of the live images has very restrictive permissions

Status: Fixed in 9.0.1

The root directory is mode 0700 (i.e. drwx------)

See #865386.

Other questions?

Other questions can be forwarded to the Debian CD team: debian-cd at lists.debian.org.