Install Oracle Solaris 11.x from Live Media: Archived OEM Guide

Archived Oracle Solaris 11.x OEM guide, with 11.3 x86 live-media examples. Six original English figures are retained; sixteen figures are English instructional localizations or clearly marked reconstructions, not official English screen captures. Selected languages, masked/blank password fields and progress states remain source examples. No firmware, disk, installation or account operation was performed while preparing this article.

I. Overview

This archived OEM article outlines three Oracle Solaris installation approaches: Live Media, the text installer and Automated Installer (AI). Its GRUB and disc examples identify Oracle Solaris 11.3 on x86; the figures come from different source stages and are not a verified sequence from one server.

Live Media: boot the x86 graphical live environment into RAM, then launch the installer separately if an installation is intended. Booting the live environment alone is distinct from installing to storage. GParted, the installer and other tools can change disks when their write operations are confirmed; the live desktop is not a guarantee that every later action leaves existing systems untouched.

Text Installation Method: The text installer can use the entire disk. If the entire disk option is selected, partitions or slices covering the target device will be created. Regardless of the scenario, the installation will overwrite any content on the target partition or slice. If the text installer is used, additional packages may need to be installed later.

Automated Installer (AI): media can boot an automated installation configured for the target environment. This article does not configure or validate an AI deployment.

The following archived walkthrough covers the x86 Live Media graphical workflow where the graphics hardware and storage drivers are supported; it is not a universal recommendation for every Solaris server.

II. Preparation Before Installation

Before installation, the following preparations are required:

Obtain the appropriate Oracle Solaris x86 Live Media image from Oracle under the applicable entitlement and license, and verify its release and integrity before preparing boot media. The original article references an approximately 1.1 GB image and an obsolete Chinese download URL; that size and URL are historical details, not a current download contract. Its example uses an internal or external optical drive.

Boot the intended installation medium using the actual server firmware controls. The source BIOS example puts a Lenovo optical drive first, a PCI RAID adapter second and the UEFI shell third. Confirm the supported boot mode and actual controller-presented target rather than applying this device order to unrelated hardware.

III. Successful Loading of Disc into RAM and Booting

Boot the live medium and respond to the keyboard, language and any required driver prompts. A supported graphical environment is required for the GUI workflow; merely reaching a console does not establish that a GUI installation succeeded.

Firmware boot screen: the source shows keys for Setup, Boot Menu and PXE. This precedes GRUB and does not itself confirm a healthy disk or successful OS installation.

Enter Grub Boot

GRUB: select the intended Oracle Solaris 11.3 live entry. The source highlights its first entry and shows a seven-second automatic countdown, so the original claim that no action prevents live boot is incorrect. Boot from Hard Disk is a different menu choice.

Keyboard selection: 27 is US-English in this source menu; choose it or accept the displayed default only if it matches the actual keyboard. The same terminal image reports a corrupt primary disk label and use of its backup. Investigate that warning and confirm target identity and required data before partitioning; it is not evidence that the storage is healthy.

Language selection: 3 is English and 1 is Simplified Chinese in this source menu. The subsequent console shows that the example entered 1, although the article recommends English. The later Chinese locale and English instructional labels are therefore not evidence of an English-language installation.

Console login prompt: the source shows the selected Chinese language and hostname solaris. It contains no demonstrated successful console login; use the appropriate authorized account and keep credentials private.

The desktop may ask whether to update standard folder names for the selected language. The source dialog offers Keep Old Names and Update Names. Choose according to the intended naming policy; do not treat unrelated warnings as harmless or infer that selecting a language authorizes dismissing all errors.

Audio notification: the source reports unavailable sound or volume-control hardware. Closing that notification does not repair a driver and does not confirm the storage or installer state. Check required device support separately.

Live desktop: the source shows Device Driver Utility, GParted Partition Editor and Install Oracle Solaris. They have different purposes; opening a disk tool is not the same as installing the OS.

Inspect storage with GParted if appropriate for the actual environment. Review the actual device, existing partitions and warning details; do not apply pending operations merely to inspect. The small original partition table cannot support a reliable transcription of every path and number, so the English figure is explicitly schematic.

English instructional reconstruction of the storage-inspection step. The low-resolution source has warning icons; unreadable device identifiers, file-system names and capacities are not transcribed. The schematic rows and desktop chrome are illustrative. Inspect the actual disk and resolve warnings before any changes.

IV. Installing Solaris to the Server

Double-click "Install Oracle Solaris" on the desktop to enter the installation interface.

Welcome: review the release information and workflow before choosing Next. The English figures illustrate the controls; background disk-tool details are not a verified description of the installation target.

Disk Discovery: the example selects Local Disks. The separate iSCSI option is for remote block targets and requires its own configuration; leave it unselected for this local-disk example.

Disk Selection: identify the actual local disk and intended Solaris partition. The source selects a partition rather than the whole-disk option and shows a formatting warning. Confirm the target, preserve needed data and review every proposed change before installation. The English reconstruction intentionally omits blurred capacities and model strings instead of inventing them.

English instructional reconstruction of the source disk-selection step: the first local disk, partition mode and Solaris partition are selected. Generic disk labels and dashes replace unreadable identifiers and capacities. This is not a partitioning prescription; the selected partition will be formatted during installation.

Time Zone, Date and Time: set the actual intended zone and clock. This source displays GMT/UTC, no selected location and an old example clock; the illustration retains that state rather than substituting the current date or Shanghai time.

Users: enter an appropriate login name, password and hostname, following the installer’s validation and the applicable password policy. The original one-English-character rule is not sufficient guidance. The source account fields are blank and the hostname is solaris; no example password is supplied.

Support Registration: review the OCM/ASR registration and network choices before proceeding. The source shows a public anonymous registration address, security updates unchecked and direct Internet connection selected, with password/proxy fields blank. Registration can transmit system configuration to Oracle. Choose deliberately according to the intended environment; preparing this guide did not submit any registration.

Installation Summary: review the actual disk and formatting plan, OS, time zone, locale, user and support settings before choosing Install. The source summary retains UTC, Chinese locale zh_CN.UTF-8 and hostname solaris. Its blurred disk and account details are not reconstructed in the English schematic; inspect those values on the actual server.

English instructional reconstruction of the installation summary. Unreadable source disk details and the user name are not reconstructed. The source locale remains Chinese (zh_CN.UTF-8), the time zone UTC and the hostname solaris; English labels do not imply those settings were changed.

Installation progress: the source shows 5% and VarShareDataSet completed. That status concerns one task and does not mean the installation is finished. Wait for the final result and review failures or logs before rebooting.

Finished: the next source figure separately reports completion and provides the installation log and Reboot control. Review the actual result and log before following the requested restart. This archived illustration does not mean an OS was installed while translating the article.

After a successful installation, remove the live medium at the appropriate boot stage or select the installed disk. Confirm the installed system boots as intended. The last source figure is a login prompt with a masked password, not proof of a completed login or a recommendation for routine privileged login.

English reference and source scope

Oracle Solaris 11.3: How to Perform a GUI Installation provides the corresponding official English workflow. No equivalent complete English screenshot set for this OEM article was verified. The marked storage and summary reconstructions omit unreadable details; they are not replacements for checking the actual server.