Build-in package selection during Suse Linux install (autoyast, network install)

First published April 4, 2007 • Last modified on July 18, 2026 • 2 min read • 252 words When you install Suse Linux, the installer offers you only three choices: minimal, KDE and Gnome. Everytime I do an install I end up manually selecting lots of packages (and I forget often many which I have to add later). Yast offers the possibility to save the package selection of a currently installed system. But how to I load such a selection file (*.sel) during installation? Apparently you can load it from the hard disk or the floppy disk. But the hard disk is usually formatted for a new install and many computers (especially portables) don’t have floppy drives anymore. I doubt that I can load such list from a USB stick.Obviously when one does a network install one could put such *.sel file onto the server, but a network install is quite more demanding as it needs a server with the installer data. Suse Linux 9.2 offers a mini installer on CD, that can be used but it apparently requires the 9.2 DVD as nfs export (and then there is again no possibility to load a custom package selection file unless I modify the DVD which is again lots of work). The closest info I could come up with were the instructions how to make your own Suse distribution  . This uses autoyast  , especially Custom package Selections"  which is probably overkill and additionally not very flexible as I need to create a new installation CD every time I change my package selection.Other documents useful concerning autoinstallation/network installation: Autoinstall  Network Installation