Installationsmedia

Installationsmedia refers to any removable or virtual medium used to install software, including an operating system, on a computer or device. Common forms are optical discs (CD, DVD, Blu-ray), USB flash drives, external hard drives, and memory cards. In contemporary practice, installation media is typically delivered as disc images such as ISO or IMG files that can be written to a physical medium or mounted directly by a installer or virtualization software.

They enable booting into an installer independent of the existing system, and are used for initial OS installations, software deployments, system recovery, and firmware or driver updates in some cases.

Creation and verification: Vendors provide official installation media. Users download a disc image and create a bootable drive or burn a disc using appropriate tools. Integrity and authenticity are verified via checksums and digital signatures to protect against tampering.

Compatibility and safety: Booting from installation media requires suitable hardware support and settings, such as BIOS or UEFI mode; Secure Boot may apply. Some devices lack optical drives, making USB or network-based media more common. Because media can carry malware, supply from trusted sources and scanning is advised; in organizations, deployment may be coordinated through management tools.

See also: Installation image, Bootable USB, ISO image, Recovery drive.