4.6 Booting the first time

If you start the VM (from the batch file), and get to the “Boot menu” of the LiveCD, then you can proceed with this subsection. Otherwise, you should diagnose the problem before going any further.

Move the cursor to either “Live” or “Live 686”, then press the TAB key. This lists all the boot parameters on a line, and you can edit it. Append “text” at the end so that the GUI of the LiveCD does not get started. The GUI consumes quite a bit more RAM and processing power, and it should be avoided unless you need it.

Press ENTER to continue.

You should see a lot of messages scrolling by, and occasionally the system pauses for 6 seconds or more. Don’t be alarmed, just let the boot sequence complete. The actual amount of time needed varies depending on the performance of the computer.

Note that if you click in the QEMU window, it captures the mouse cursor. You need to press control+alt to release the mouse cursor.

If all works, you should get a command shell prompt (CLI) like the following:

user@debian:~$