[CentOS-virt] Fedora 12 2.6.31.5-127.fc12 domU on CentOS 5.4 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5xen fails to boot

Mon Nov 23 20:41:01 UTC 2009
Charles J Gruener <cjg9411 at rit.edu>

Doing a kickstart install of Fedora 12 results in a non-bootable image.

>From a virt-maanger instance, the error produced when trying to run the domU is:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtManager/engine.py", line 498, in run_domain
    vm.startup()
  File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtManager/domain.py", line 573, in startup
    self.vm.create()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/libvirt.py", line 287, in create
    if ret == -1: raise libvirtError ('virDomainCreate() failed', dom=self)
libvirtError: POST operation failed: xend_post: error from xen daemon: (xend.err "Error creating domain: Boot loader didn't return any data!")

If you drop to the command line to see what pygrub gets back, you get:

# pygrub /var/lib/xen/images/fedora12.img
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/pygrub", line 677, in ?
    fs = fsimage.open(file, get_fs_offset(file))
IOError: [Errno 95] Operation not supported

The kickstart worked perfectly in Fedora 11 on a CentOS 5.4 dom0.

I've tried investigating all sorts of grub options and even tried copying kernel and initramfs files out from the domU to dom0 and booting from those with no luck.  The only thing that does work is if I install Fedora 11 and then perform an upgrade to Fedora 12.  I really don't want to have to deploy machines this way.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue?  I can provide any further information requested.  Basically, to repeat my error, install CentOS 5.4 with Virtualization, then try to install a Fedora 12 domU.  The installation finishes without error but you can't boot.  The systems are all x86_64.

Thanks.

Charles