Install the OS manually from your image
You can manually install an OS from your own image on a dedicated server. Unless you have special requirements for the OS, we recommend using standard images — of these can be install the OS by auto-installation or manually.
- Boot the server in Rescue mode.
- Install the OS from your image.
- Optional: configure the network interface.
- Change the upload template.
1. Boot the server in Rescue mode
-
В control panels go to Servers and hardware → Servers.
-
Open the server page → tab Operating system.
-
Click Change the upload template.
-
In the field Upload template select Boot to Rescue.
-
Click Save and reboot. The server will be rebooted.
2. Install the OS
The script is used to install the OS from its own image qemu-iso
.
The script downloads the iso image to the server, starts the VNC server and initiates the OS installation process.
The OS image can be uploaded to the server:
- via the URL of an image that is hosted on a publicly available resource. Script
qemu-iso
will load the OS image into the server's RAM; - or manually from the local computer to the disk or RAM of the server.
Install with image download via URL
Install by uploading the image to the server
-
Install a VNC client on the local computer. For a list of VNC clients for different operating systems, see subsection Connect via VNC instructions Connect to the server.
-
Open the CLI. On a local Windows computer, use PowerShell.
-
Connect to the server via SSH by forwarding the standard port for VNC — 5900:
ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 root@<ip_address>
Specify
<ip_address>
— the public IP address of the server. You can copy it to control panels: under Servers and hardware → Servers → server page → tab Operating system → in the field IP click . -
Copy the URL of the OS image you are going to install. The image must be hosted on a publicly available resource, and the image size must be at least 2 GB less than the server's RAM.
To make the image download faster, we recommend that you place the image in Selectel object storage — see the instructions for details Load object.
-
Run the script
qemu-iso
. The script will upload the installation files to the server, start the VNC server and initiate the OS installation process:qemu-iso <url>
Specify:
<url>
— path to the OS image you copied in step 4;- optional:
-nic_type <virtual_network_adapter>
— the type of network device to emulate in the virtual machine. For example, to install VMware ESXi, change the virtual network adapter tovmxnet3
. The full list of supported virtual network adapters can be viewed with the commandqemu-system-x86_64 -device help
.
-
Wait for a message that the OS image has been uploaded to the server and the VNC server is running:
VM has been created!
-
Open the VNC client on the local computer.
-
Connect to the server. The connection process depends on the selected VNC client. Parameters to connect:
- The IP address is.
localhost:5900
; - password — leave the field blank.
- The IP address is.
-
Go through all the steps of installing the OS.
-
In the Rescue console, click Ctrl + C to complete the process
qemu-iso
. -
Optional: without leaving Rescue mode, configure the network interface. We recommend that you configure the network interface immediately after installing the OS, otherwise the server may not be accessible over the network.
Download the image to disk
Load the image into RAM
-
Make sure you have an extra disk on your server. The OS image should be placed on a disk on which the OS will not be installed. If your server does not have an additional disk, you can Change the configuration of the dedicated server.
-
Install a VNC client on the local computer. For a list of VNC clients for different operating systems, see subsection Connect via VNC instructions Connect to the server.
-
Open the CLI. On a local Windows computer, use PowerShell.
-
Connect to the server via SSH by forwarding the standard port for VNC — 5900:
ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 root@<ip_address>
Specify
<ip_address>
— the public IP address of the server. You can copy it to control panels: under Servers and hardware → Servers → server page → tab Operating system → in the field IP click . -
Save the image to your local computer.
-
Upload the OS image to the server:
6.1 Look for the name of the disk to which you are going to load the OS image, to do this, print the disk information:
lsblk
6.2 Create a partition on the disk:
fdisk /dev/<partition>
Specify
<partition>
— disk partition on which the OS image will be loaded. For example, for a disk namedsdX
—sdX1
.6.3 Create a file system using the utility program
mkfs
(the partitioning format used isext4
):mkfs.ext4 /dev/<partition>
Specify
<partition>
— partition on the disk you created in step 6.2.6.4 Mount the file system:
mount /dev/<partition> /mnt
Specify
<partition>
— partition on the disk you created in step 6.2.6.5 Download the OS image from the local computer to the dedicated server using the utility
scp
:scp ./<iso_image_name> root@<ip_address>:/mnt/<partition>/
Specify:
<iso_image_name>
— name of the file with the OS image in the format.iso
;<ip_address>
— the public IP address of the server. You can copy it to control panels: under Servers and hardware → Servers → server page → tab Operating system → in the field IP click ;<partition>
— partition on the disk you created in step 6.2.
-
Run the script
qemu-iso
. The script will start the VNC server and initiate the OS installation process:qemu-iso <path_to_image>
Specify:
<path_to_image>
— path to the OS image file you uploaded to the server in step 6.5. For example,/mnt/sdX1/Win_Server_2022.iso
;- optional:
-nic_type <virtual_network_adapter>
— the type of network device to emulate in the virtual machine. For example, to install VMware ESXi, change the virtual network adapter tovmxnet3
. The full list of supported virtual network adapters can be viewed with the commandqemu-system-x86_64 -device help
.
-
Wait for a message that the VNC server is running:
VM has been created!
-
Open the VNC client on the local computer.
-
Connect to the server. The connection process depends on the selected VNC client. Parameters to connect:
- The IP address is.
localhost:5900
; - password — leave the field blank.
-
In the Rescue console, click Ctrl + C to complete the process
qemu-iso
. -
Optional: without leaving Rescue mode, configure the network interface. We recommend that you configure the network interface immediately after installing the OS, otherwise the server may not be accessible over the network.
-
Install a VNC client on the local computer. For a list of VNC clients for different operating systems, see Connect via VNC instructions Connect to the server.
-
Open the CLI. On a local Windows computer, use PowerShell.
-
Connect to the server via SSH by forwarding the standard port for VNC — 5900:
ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 root@<ip_address>
Specify
<ip_address>
— the public IP address of the server. You can copy it to control panels: under Servers and hardware → Servers → server page → tab Operating system → in the field IP click . -
Save the OS image on your local computer. The image size must be smaller than the server RAM by at least 2 GB.
-
Load the OS image into the RAM of the dedicated server using the following utility
scp
:scp ./<iso_image_name> root@<ip_address>:/tmp/
Specify:
<iso_image_name>
— name of the file with the OS image in the format.iso
;<ip_address>
— the public IP address of the server. You can copy it to control panels: under Servers and hardware → Servers → server page → tab Operating system → in the field IP click .
-
Run the script
qemu-iso
. The script will start the VNC server and initiate the OS installation process:qemu-iso <path_to_image>
Specify:
<path_to_image>
— path to the OS image you uploaded to the server in step 5. For example,/tmp/Win_Server_2022.iso
;- optional:
-nic_type <virtual_network_adapter>
— the type of network device to emulate in the virtual machine. For example, to install VMware ESXi, change the virtual network adapter tovmxnet3
. The full list of supported virtual network adapters can be viewed with the commandqemu-system-x86_64 -device help
.
-
Wait for a message that the VNC server is running:
VM has been created!
-
Open the VNC client on the local computer.
-
Connect to the server. The connection process depends on the selected VNC client. Parameters to connect:
- The IP address is.
localhost:5900
; - password — leave the field blank.
- The IP address is.
-
Go through all the steps of installing the OS.
-
In the Rescue console, click Ctrl + C to complete the process
qemu-iso
. -
Optional: without leaving Rescue mode, configure the network interface. We recommend that you configure the network interface immediately after installing the OS, otherwise the server may not be accessible over the network.
3. configure the network interface
After manually installing the OS, the network configuration file may contain the interface name that was used in the virtual environment, e.g. eth0
.
After a reboot on the physical server, the network interface may receive a different name, such as enp1s0
.
Because of this mismatch, the server may not be accessible over the network until the network interface name is corrected to the correct one. We recommend correcting the name immediately after installing the OS without exiting Rescue mode.
You can also configure the network interface и synchronize time with an external NTP server later. Additional OS settings depend on the configuration of the image you are installing.
Ubuntu
Debian
Windows
-
In the Rescue console, look up the name of the network interface by bringing up the network interface information:
ip a
In the response, find the interface in the UP state that has a public IP address. Memorize or copy the name of the network interface in the field
altname
. For example:1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
link/ether 00:0c:00:0f:0:f0 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
altname enp1s0
inet 203.0.113.0/24 brd 203.0.113.255 scope global eth0
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 fe00::000c:00ff:fe0f:00f0/64 scope link proto kernel_ll
valid_lft forever preferred_lft foreverHere.
enp1s0
— the name of the desired network interface. -
Connect to the OS installed on the server, to do this run the script
qemu-iso
without specifying an image:qemu-iso
-
Change the values of the interface parameters:
3.1 Open the utility configuration file
netplan
word processorvi
:vi /etc/netplan/00-installer-config.yaml
3.2 Change the parameter values. The correct values can be found in control panels: under Servers and hardware → server page → tab Network → click on the desired subnet. The type of configuration file depends on the Ubuntu version:
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS
network:
ethernets:
<eth_name>:
addresses:
- <ip_address>/<mask>
renderer: networkd
version: 2Specify:
<eth_name>
— name of the network interface of the public network, value from the fieldaltname
that you looked at in step 1;<ip_address>
— the public IP address of the server. You can copy it to control panels: under Servers and hardware → Servers → server page → tab Operating system → in the field IP click ;<mask>
— subnet mask.
network:
version: 2
renderer: networkd
ethernets:
<eth_name>:
addresses:
- <ip_address>/<mask>Specify:
<eth_name>
— name of the network interface of the public network, value from the fieldaltname
that you looked at in step 1;<ip_address>
— the public IP address of the server. You can copy it to control panels: under Servers and hardware → Servers → server page → tab Operating system → in the field IP click ;<mask>
— subnet mask.
-
Click ESC.
-
Exit the text editor
vi
with the changes intact::wq
-
Apply the configuration:
netplan apply
-
In the Rescue console, look up the name of the network interface by bringing up the network interface information:
ip a
In the response, find the interface in the UP state that has a public IP address. Memorize or copy the name of the network interface in the field
altname
. For example:1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
link/ether 00:0c:00:0f:00:f0 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
altname enp1s0
inet 203.0.113.0/24 brd 203.0.113.255 scope global eth0
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 fe00::000c:00ff:fe0f:00f0 /64 scope link proto kernel_ll
valid_lft forever preferred_lft foreverHere.
enp1s0
— the name of the desired network interface. -
Connect to the OS installed on the server, to do this run the script
qemu-iso
without specifying an image:qemu-iso
-
Change the values of the interface parameters:
3.1 Open the configuration file of the network interfaces with a text editor
vi
:vi /etc/network/interfaces
3.2 Change the parameter values. The correct values can be found in control panels: under Servers and hardware → server page → tab Network → click the desired subnet.
auto <eth_name>
iface <eth_name> inet static
address <ip_address>
netmask <mask>Specify:
<eth_name>
— name of the network interface of the public network, value from the fieldaltname
that you looked at in step 1;<ip_address>
— the public IP address of the server, e.g.203.0.113.0
. You can copy it into control panels: under Servers and hardware → Servers → server page → tab Operating system → in the field IP click ;<mask>
— subnet mask.
-
Click ESC.
-
Exit the text editor
vi
with the changes intact::wq
-
Restart the network:
service networking restart
-
Initialize the network interfaces, to do so bring back the old server loading pattern or reboot the server from the OS. When you reboot the server from the OS, the boot template will automatically change to the one that was set before the server booted into the Rescue mode.
-
Boot the server in Rescue:
2.1. В control panels go to Servers and hardware → Servers.
2.2 Open the server page → tab Operating system.
2.3. Press Change the upload template.
2.4 In the field Upload template select Boot to Rescue.
-
Connect to the server via SSH by forwarding the standard port for VNC — 5900.
ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 root@<ip_address>
Specify
<ip_address>
— the public IP address of the server. You can copy it to control panels: under Servers and hardware → Servers → server page → tab Operating system → in the field IP click . -
Look up the name of the network adapter, to do this, bring up the Ethernet network device information:
lspci | grep Ethernet
The response will show the name of the network adapter. Memorize or copy it.
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)Here.
Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection
— the name of the network adapter. -
Connect to the OS installed on the server, to do this run the script
qemu-iso
without specifying an image:qemu-iso
-
Open the VNC client on the local computer.
-
Connect to the server. The connection process depends on the selected VNC client. Parameters to connect:
- The IP address is.
localhost:5900
; - password — leave the field blank.
- The IP address is.
-
Open it up
cmd
. -
Open it up Registry Editor:
regedit
-
Find the interface you want:
10.1 Expand the registry section:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
The list will list the network interfaces from address 0000 before 0013.
10.2. Find an interface that has in the value of the parameter
Driver Desс
are the names of the network adapters obtained in step 4. Save the value of the parameterNetCfgInstanceId
of the network adapter with the lowest number in the list. -
Change the values of the interface parameters:
11.1. Go to the registry section:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{<net_cfg_instance_id>}
Specify
<net_cfg_instance_id>
— parameter valueNetCfgInstanceId
that you saved in step 10.2.11.2 Change the parameter values. The correct values can be found in control panels: under Servers and hardware → server page → tab Network → click the desired subnet.
IPAddress
— the public IP address of the server, e.g.203.0.113.0
;SubnetMask
— subnet mask;DefaultGateway
— default gateway;EnableDHCP
— enter0
If you're not using DHCP, if you are.1
.
-
Configure the remote connection in Server Manager.
4. change the upload template
Bring back the old server loading template or reboot the server from the OS. When you reboot the server from the OS, the boot template will automatically change to the one that was set before server booting in Rescue mode.