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During a normal install the questions about localization are asked first, so these values can only be preseeded via the initrd or kernel boot parameter methods. Auto mode (Section B.2.3) includes the setting of auto-install/enable=true (normally via the auto preseed alias). This delays the asking of the localisation questions, so that they can be preseeded by any method.
The locale can be used to specify both language and country and can be any combination of a language supported by debian-installer and a recognized country. If the combination does not form a valid locale, the installer will automatically select a locale that is valid for the selected language. To specify the locale as a boot parameter, use locale=en_US.
Although this method is very easy to use, it does not allow preseeding of all possible combinations of language, country and locale2. So alternatively the values can be preseeded individually. Language and country can also be specified as boot parameters.
# Preseeding only locale sets language, country and locale. d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US
2. Preseeding locale to en_NL would for example result in en_US.UTF-8 as default locale for the installed system. If e.g.
en_GB.UTF-8 is preferred instead, the values will need to be preseeded individually.
# The values can also be preseeded individually for greater flexibility.
#d-i debian-installer/language string en
#d-i debian-installer/country string NL
#d-i debian-installer/locale string en_GB.UTF-8
# Optionally specify additional locales to be generated.
#d-i localechooser/supported-locales multiselect en_US.UTF-8, nl_NL.UTF-8
Keyboard configuration consists of selecting a keymap and (for non-latin keymaps) a toggle key to switch between the non-latin keymap and the US keymap. Only basic keymap variants are avail- able during installation. Advanced variants are available only in the installed system, through dpkg- reconfigure keyboard-configuration.
To specify the keymap as a boot parameter, use console-setup/ask_detect=false keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap=us. The keymap is an X layout name, as would be used in the XkbLayout option in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
# Keyboard selection.
# Disable automatic (interactive) keymap detection. d-i console-setup/ask_detect boolean false
d-i keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap select us
# To select a variant of the selected layout:
#d-i keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap select us(dvorak)
# d-i keyboard-configuration/toggle select No toggling
To skip keyboard configuration, preseed keymap with SKIP. This will result in the kernel keymap remaining active.