CentOS - Sep 2018 - Failed to get to installer for CentOS 7 VM under CentOS 6...

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

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services

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/html/installation_guide/chap-anaconda-boot-options
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 at
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
> 
-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services

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...

-- 
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
45?38' N, 122?6' W

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/html/installation_guide/chap-anaconda-boot-options
for documentation.