I just tried to create a CentOS 7 VM on a CentOS 6 host, but it crashes to the dracut prompt. I am using the PXEBoot installer. I *think* it is unhappy with the (virtual) graphics controller, but I am not sure.
The rdsosreport.txt file is available here: https://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/rdsosreport.txt
On 9/20/18 1:40 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
I just tried to create a CentOS 7 VM on a CentOS 6 host, but it crashes to the dracut prompt. I am using the PXEBoot installer. I *think* it is unhappy with the (virtual) graphics controller, but I am not sure.
The rdsosreport.txt file is available here: https://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/rdsosreport.txt
It looks like you just need to specify the location of the stage2 installer. The vmlinuz/initrd don't have any UI, they're just the stage1 boot component. The installation UI is in stage2, and its location is a required option. See isolinux/isolinux.cfg of the boot media for working examples, or https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/htm... for documentation.
I just tried a CentOS 7 install to a laptop over PXE and it failed in just the same way as for the VM.
So, is it not possible to install CentOS 7 via PXE? Or is there something missing? I just copied the images under os/x86_64/images/ to the tftpd directory (/var/lib/tftpboot/) and included in /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default this section:
label centos75-64 MENU LABEL CentOS 7.5 x86_64 kernel centos75x86_64vmlinuz append initrd=centos75x86_64initrd.img
Do I need anything more?
Things seem to die/fail at some point after initializing the graphics frame buffer. Is there a way to do a non-graphical install? I have a keyboard and really know how to use it and don't need some silly ("friendly"?) GUI to install Linux (I don't need hand-holding).
At Thu, 20 Sep 2018 16:40:45 -0400 (EDT) CentOS mailing list centos@centos.org wrote:
I just tried to create a CentOS 7 VM on a CentOS 6 host, but it crashes to the dracut prompt. I am using the PXEBoot installer. I *think* it is unhappy with the (virtual) graphics controller, but I am not sure.
The rdsosreport.txt file is available here: https://www.deepsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/rdsosreport.txt
On Thu, 27 Sep 2018, Robert Heller wrote:
I just tried a CentOS 7 install to a laptop over PXE and it failed in just the same way as for the VM.
So, is it not possible to install CentOS 7 via PXE? Or is there something missing? I just copied the images under os/x86_64/images/ to the tftpd directory (/var/lib/tftpboot/) and included in /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default this section:
label centos75-64 MENU LABEL CentOS 7.5 x86_64 kernel centos75x86_64vmlinuz append initrd=centos75x86_64initrd.img
Do I need anything more?
Things seem to die/fail at some point after initializing the graphics frame buffer. Is there a way to do a non-graphical install? I have a keyboard and really know how to use it and don't need some silly ("friendly"?) GUI to install Linux (I don't need hand-holding).
Yes, you can ask for a text installer by including "inst.text" (no quotes) on the APPEND line of pxe configuration file.
That said, the text installer in EL7 is considerably less functional than the graphical installer.
My suggestion, fwiw, is to write up a kickstart file and use that instead; it's easiest if you have a local web server that handles unauthenticated plain-text http. Your entry would would like this:
label centos75-64 MENU LABEL CentOS 7.5 x86_64 kernel centos75x86_64vmlinuz append initrd=centos75x86_64initrd.img inst.ks=http://192.168.110.144/ks/el7.ks inst.text
But you can try a the text installer and see where that gets you...
At Thu, 27 Sep 2018 09:34:15 -0700 (PDT) CentOS mailing list centos@centos.org wrote:
On Thu, 27 Sep 2018, Robert Heller wrote:
I just tried a CentOS 7 install to a laptop over PXE and it failed in jus=
t the
same way as for the VM.
So, is it not possible to install CentOS 7 via PXE? Or is there something missing? I just copied the images under os/x86_64/images/ to the tftpd directory (/var/lib/tftpboot/) and included in /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default this section:
label centos75-64 MENU LABEL CentOS 7.5 x86_64 kernel centos75x86_64vmlinuz append initrd=3Dcentos75x86_64initrd.img
Do I need anything more?
Things seem to die/fail at some point after initializing the graphics fra=
me
buffer. Is there a way to do a non-graphical install? I have a keyboard=
and
really know how to use it and don't need some silly ("friendly"?) GUI to install Linux (I don't need hand-holding).
Yes, you can ask for a text installer by including "inst.text" (no =
quotes) on the APPEND line of pxe configuration file.
That said, the text installer in EL7 is considerably less functional =
than the graphical installer.
I am not sure if I really agree with that... I ended up using a thumb drive, but needed to resort to using the shell to get the disk set up the way I wanted. *I* don't like GUI installers, since they generally impose limits on how to install the system.
My suggestion, fwiw, is to write up a kickstart file and use that =
instead; it's easiest if you have a local web server that handles =
unauthenticated plain-text http. Your entry would would like this:
label centos75-64 MENU LABEL CentOS 7.5 x86_64 kernel centos75x86_64vmlinuz append initrd=3Dcentos75x86_64initrd.img inst.ks=3Dhttp://192.168.110.14= 4/ks/el7.ks inst.text
But you can try a the text installer and see where that gets you...
When I install the VM later today, I'll try that, but might end up resorting to using the disk image instead.
-- =
Paul Heinlein heinlein@madboa.com 45=B038' N, 122=B06' W _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
On 9/27/18 8:21 AM, Robert Heller wrote:
So, is it not possible to install CentOS 7 via PXE? Or is there something missing?
Something is missing. I replied on 9/21:
It looks like you just need to specify the location of the stage2 installer. The vmlinuz/initrd don't have any UI, they're just the stage1 boot component. The installation UI is in stage2, and its location is a required option. See isolinux/isolinux.cfg of the boot media for working examples, or https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/htm... for documentation.
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Gordon Messmer -
Paul Heinlein -
Robert Heller