If your computer will boot from USB, this will probably be the easiest route for installation. Assuming you have prepared everything from Section 3.6.2, “Boot Device Selection” and Section 4.3, “Preparing Files for USB Memory Stick Booting”, just plug your USB stick into some free USB connector and reboot the computer. The system should boot up, and unless you have used the flexible way to build the stick and not enabled it, you should be presented with a graphical boot menu (on hardware that supports it). Here you can select various installer options, or just hit Enter.

If you have a set of optical discs, and your machine supports booting directly off those, great! Simply insert the disc, reboot, and proceed to the next chapter.

Note that certain optical drives may require special drivers, and thus be inaccessible in the early installation stages. If it turns out the standard way of booting off an optical disc doesn't work for your hardware, revisit this chapter and read about alternate kernels and installation methods which may work for you.

Even if you cannot boot from optical disc, you can probably install the Debian system components and any packages you want from such disc. Simply boot using a different medium and when it's time to install the operating system, base system, and any additional packages, point the installation system at the optical drive.

If you have problems booting, see Section 5.4, “Troubleshooting the Installation Process”.