CentOS - Jun 2011 - virt-install hell: how to *force* a local CD-ROM install?

I have a CentOS 5.6 system with a AMD Sempron(tm) Processor LE-1300
(which does not provide hardware virtualization support, so I can't use
the --cdrom option) and I am *trying* to install FC15 as a guest O/S
using a local FC15 DVD-ROM image.  Everything work until the installer
*insists* on firing up the network to get the repo data, etc.  I have a
*dial-up* Internet connection and this is a *desktop* machine and is
thus pretty much anchored where it is. I have googled this, but it
seems no one uses local DVD images.  (Of cource *everyone* in the world,
except for rural America, has broadband.)

I was able to install FC15 on a old IDE disk connected via a USB port
after booting a burned copy of the DVD.  *Everything* needed to install
the *minimual* system I want to install is there on the DVD, but I can't
seem to get the FC15 installer to believe that.  I *don't* want or need
the updates at this time (maybe later).

Oh, and the virt-viewer is chopping off the right third of the graphical
display. Is there any way to fix that?  It would let me resize the
viewer window and does not provide scroll bars, etc.  Or is the FC15
installer having a stupid idea of the virtual machine virtual monitor
size? Can *that* be changed (the virtual machine's virtual monitor size)?

The command line I am using is:

sudo virt-install --name=fc15guest --ram=1024 --os-type=linux \
	--os-variant=fedora12 \
	--location=/distrocds/Fedora/Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso \
	--disk="path=/dev/sauron/fc15guest"

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
Deepwoods Software        -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
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> The command line I am using is:
>
> sudo virt-install --name=fc15guest --ram=1024 --os-type=linux \
> 	--os-variant=fedora12 \
> 	--location=/distrocds/Fedora/Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso \
> 	--disk="path=/dev/sauron/fc15guest"
I have never used virt-install or Fedora 15 but, maybe you have to do the
same here like when installing RHEL6 using the iso image on a NFS server:
In the directory where the ISO is, you have to create a directory called
images and put the install.img from the DVD there. For RHEL6.1 the
dirlisting looks like this:

[root at blubb i386]# ll -R
.:
total 3496772
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       4096 May 19 18:20 images
-rw-r--r--  1 root root        204 May 19 18:13 MD5SUMS
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  218103808 May 12 12:53 rhel-server-6.1-i386-boot.iso
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 3066486784 May 13 07:13 rhel-server-6.1-i386-dvd.iso
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  292583424 May 13 15:33
rhel-server-supplementary-6.1-i386-dvd.iso

./images:
total 132152
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 135184384 May 11 00:30 install.img

Just a guess but you could give it a try.

Simon

On 1.6.2011 19.52, Robert Heller wrote:
> I have a CentOS 5.6 system with a AMD Sempron(tm) Processor LE-1300
> (which does not provide hardware virtualization support, so I can't use
> the --cdrom option) and I am *trying* to install FC15 as a guest O/S
> using a local FC15 DVD-ROM image.  Everything work until the installer
> *insists* on firing up the network to get the repo data, etc.  I have a
> *dial-up* Internet connection and this is a *desktop* machine and is
> thus pretty much anchored where it is. I have googled this, but it
> seems no one uses local DVD images.  (Of cource *everyone* in the world,
> except for rural America, has broadband.)
>
> I was able to install FC15 on a old IDE disk connected via a USB port
> after booting a burned copy of the DVD.  *Everything* needed to install
> the *minimual* system I want to install is there on the DVD, but I
can't
> seem to get the FC15 installer to believe that.  I *don't* want or need
> the updates at this time (maybe later).
>
> Oh, and the virt-viewer is chopping off the right third of the graphical
> display. Is there any way to fix that?  It would let me resize the
> viewer window and does not provide scroll bars, etc.  Or is the FC15
> installer having a stupid idea of the virtual machine virtual monitor
> size? Can *that* be changed (the virtual machine's virtual monitor
size)?
>
> The command line I am using is:
>
> sudo virt-install --name=fc15guest --ram=1024 --os-type=linux \
> 	--os-variant=fedora12 \
> 	--location=/distrocds/Fedora/Fedora-15-x86_64-DVD.iso \
> 	--disk="path=/dev/sauron/fc15guest"
I never could do a virt-install using only optical media, and I tried 
many times (couple of months ago). Also I could not get the --connect 
clause to work for me.

This kind of procedure did work:

# first, mount the DVD:
mount -o loop /root/centos56_64.iso /mnt/centos56

# then...
virt-install --name mail \
--os-variant rhel5.4 --ram 1024 \
--vcpus 2  --accelerate \
--nographics -v \
--location /mnt/centos56/  --network bridge:br0 \
--disk path=/kvmail/mail.img,size=290 \
--extra-args "console=ttyS0";

# and when the installer asks, select "http" and a repo

You can create a local http repo on the host itself and give that to the 
installer, for example http://127.0.0.1/centos/etc...

Maybe you could build a local repo using the materials on the DVD. I 
think I did not try that.

Http install with the CentOS 4 installer was *very* strict and quirky 
about slashes in the http repo address. Not sure about FC. Check this 
thread:

http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?24,193648,194173#msg-194173

- Jussi