HP OpenVMS 8.x manual Respond to the Initialize or Preserve prompt as follows

? - to repeat an explanation

^- to change prior input (not always possible) Ctrl/Y - to exit the installation procedure

2.Create the System Disk: The procedure allows you to begin creating the system disk. First it displays the following information, followed by the prompt asking whether you want to initialize or preserve the disk:

There are two choices for Installation/Upgrade:

INITIALIZE - Removes all software and data files that were previously on the target disk and installs OpenVMS I64.

PRESERVE -- Installs or upgrades OpenVMS I64 on the target disk and retains all other contents of the target disk.

*NOTE: You cannot use preserve to install OpenVMS I64 on a disk on which any other operating system is installed. This includes implementations of OpenVMS for other architectures.

Do you want to INITIALIZE or to PRESERVE? [PRESERVE] INITIALIZE

Respond to the INITIALIZE or PRESERVE prompt as follows:

IF ...	THEN ...
Your disk is new	Type INITIALIZE and press Enter.
You want to remove all files from an existing system disk	Type INITIALIZE and press Enter.
You want to retain OpenVMS files on an existing disk	Press Enter to accept the default (PRESERVE);
	go to Chapter 6 (page 95).

NOTE: You cannot install OpenVMS on a disk where another operating system is installed. For example, you cannot take a UNIX disk, select the PRESERVE option, and then install OpenVMS on the disk. The UNIX disk is not structured in the format that OpenVMS requires.

During initialization of an OpenVMS I64 target system disk, the installation process creates a diagnostic partition, visible only at the console prompt. For more information about this partition and the options you can take, see Appendix I (page 269).

3.Specify the System Disk (Target Disk): The procedure next asks you for the name of the target disk. If you do not know the name of the disk, enter a question mark (?). The procedure displays a list of devices on your system. Select the appropriate disk and respond to the prompt. For example:

You must enter the device name for the target disk on which OpenVMS I64 will be installed.

Enter device name for target disk: (? for choices) DKB400

If this is the first installation on this system, no default device is indicated, as in this example. A default device name is listed if this is not the first installation (for example, [DKB400] or, for a Fibre Channel disk device, [$1$DGA567]).

If you select a device that is not available or that cannot be used for some other reason, the procedure displays information indicating why the device cannot be used. For example, if you enter MKA500, a tape device, a message similar to the following is displayed:

MKA500 is not a disk device

3.3 Installing the OpenVMS Operating System onto a System Disk 55