system installation - How do I create a completely unattended install of Ubuntu?

I need a CD or USB stick, that will install Ubuntu on a completely headless machine. Stick CD in and restart, no keyboard or screen should be involved.

There are a few obstacles:

1. The language selection menu when you first boot the CD.


2. The fact that the CD menu waits.


3. The installer's asking questions during installation.

The complete solution is:

Remaster a CD, ie, download a non graphical ubuntu installation ISO (server or alternate installation CD), mount it

$ sudo su -
# mkdir -p /mnt/iso
# mount -o loop ubuntu.iso /mnt/iso

Copy the relevant files to a different directory

# mkdir -p /opt/ubuntuiso
# cp -rT /mnt/iso /opt/ubuntuiso

Prevent the language selection menu from appearing

# cd /opt/ubuntuiso
# echo en >isolinux/lang

Use GUI program to add a kickstart file named ks.cfg

# apt-get install system-config-kickstart

# system-config-kickstart # save file to ks.cfg

To add packages for the installation, add a %package section to the ks.cfg kickstart file, append to the end of ks.cfg file something like this.

%packages
@ ubuntu-server
openssh-server
ftp
build-essential

This will install the ubuntu-server "bundle", and will add the openssh-server, ftp and build-essential packages.

Add a preseed file, to suppress other questions

# echo 'd-i partman/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
d-i partman/choose_partition \
select Finish partitioning and write changes to disk
d-i partman/confirm boolean true' > ks.preseed

Set the boot command line to use the kickstart and preseed files

# vi isolinux/txt.cfg

Search for

label install

  menu label ^Install Ubuntu Server
  kernel /install/vmlinuz
  append  file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu-server.seed vga=788 initrd=/install/initrd.gz quiet --

add ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg and preseed/file=/cdrom/ks.preseed to the append line. You can remove the quiet and vga=788 words. It should look like

  append file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu-server.seed \
     initrd=/install/initrd.gz \
     ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg preseed/file=/cdrom/ks.preseed --

Now create a new iso

# mkisofs -D -r -V "ATTENDLESS_UBUNTU" \
     -cache-inodes -J -l -b isolinux/isolinux.bin \
     -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 \
     -boot-info-table -o /opt/autoinstall.iso /opt/ubuntuiso

That's it. You'll have a CD that would install an Ubuntu system once you boot from it, without requiring a single keystroke.