Disclaimer :
I now use virt-manager to create and manage my VM and it is really a life saver. It can be used remotely (from a third machine, typically your workstation) if the host does not have graphical display.
The occurrences of vnc in the installation tutorials I found made me think that the “recommended” procedure required X stuff either on host, guest or both. Absolutely not. My mistake. If you are in the same situation, think twice before trying to install the VM from command line.
I’m trying to install a Debian VM in a Debian host using virt-install and I don’t know how to pass it the .iso image.
virt-install --connect qemu:///system --virt-type kvm --name prod --ram 6144 --disk /srv/vm/prod.qcow,format=qcow2,size=10 --location=/home/jerome/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso --network bridge=br0 --os-type linux --os-variant debianwheezy --extra-args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial' Starting install... Retrieving file info... | 160 B 00:00 ... ERROR Could not find an installable distribution at '/home/jerome/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso' The location must be the root directory of an install tree. Domain installation does not appear to have been successful. If it was, you can restart your domain by running: virsh --connect qemu:///system start prod otherwise, please restart your installation. <a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a0d2cfcfd4e0d6c5d2d3c1c9ccccc5d3">[email protected]</a>:/etc#
The solutions I have seen seem quite twisted, like using apache to serve locally the .iso image as if it was from a distant place.
- Linux Mint 14 : install Ubuntu 12.10 Server within KVM via CLI ( no GUI )
- [Xen-users] installing a vm with virt-install (It is Xen but it looks like it is the same issue anyway.
I can’t believe it is that complicated. Is it?
man virt-install says:
If you want to use those options with CDROM media, you have a few options:
* Run virt-install as root and do --location ISO
* Mount the ISO at a local directory, and do --location DIRECTORY
* Mount the ISO at a local directory, export that directory over local http, and do --location http://localhost/DIRECTORY
Isn’t this what I’m doing?
Someone says he moved the .iso to /cdrom and it worked but I didn’t understand exactly what he did and I couldn’t reproduce.
I cannot use --cdrom instead of --location as in this question because --extra-args only work if specified with --location.
virt-install --connect qemu:///system --virt-type kvm --name prod --ram 6144 --disk /srv/vm/prod.qcow,format=qcow2,size=10 --cdrom=/home/jerome/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso --network bridge=br0 --os-type linux --os-variant debianwheezy --extra-args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial' ERROR --extra-args only work if specified with --location. See the man page for examples of using --location with CDROM media
Edit:
Log with --debug
virt-install --connect qemu:///system --virt-type kvm --name prod --ram 6144 --disk /srv/vm/prod.qcow,format=qcow2,size=10 --location=/home/jerome/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso --network bridge=br0 --os-type linux --os-variant debianwheezy --extra-args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial' --debug
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (cli:187) Launched with command line: /usr/share/virt-manager/virt-install --connect qemu:///system --virt-type kvm --name prod --ram 6144 --disk /srv/vm/prod.qcow,format=qcow2,size=10 --location=/home/jerome/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso --network bridge=br0 --os-type linux --os-variant debianwheezy --extra-args=console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial --debug
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (cli:195) Requesting libvirt URI qemu:///system
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (cli:199) Received libvirt URI qemu:///system
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (virt-install:193) Requesting virt method 'default', hv type 'kvm'.
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (virt-install:432) Received virt method 'kvm'
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (virt-install:433) Hypervisor name is 'hvm'
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (cli:476) DISPLAY is not set: defaulting to nographics.
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (guest:208) Setting Guest.os_variant to 'debianwheezy'
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (diskbackend:171) Path '/srv/vm' is target for pool 'srv-kvm'. Creating volume 'prod.qcow'.
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (connection:228) Fetching volume XML failed: Storage volume not found: no storage vol with matching path '/media/cdrom0/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso'
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (virt-install:551) Guest.has_install_phase: True
Starting install...
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (distroinstaller:417) Using scratchdir=/var/lib/libvirt/boot
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:204) Preparing mount at /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:214) mount cmd: ['/bin/mount', '-o', 'ro,loop', '/home/jerome/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso', '/var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f']
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:302) Finding distro store for location=/home/jerome/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/.treeinfo
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:325) Prioritizing distro store=<class 'virtinst.urlfetcher.DebianDistro'>
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/current/images/MANIFEST
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/daily/MANIFEST
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/Fedora
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:99) Fetching URI: /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/.disk/info
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:110) Saved file to /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinst-info.lZMVqL
Retrieving file info... | 160 B 00:00 ...
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:1016) Regex didn't match, not a ALT Linux distro
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/current/images/MANIFEST
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/install/netboot/version.info
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/SL
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/directory.yast
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/CentOS
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/VERSION
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/Server
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/Client
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/RedHat
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/images/boot.iso
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/boot/boot.iso
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/current/images/netboot/mini.iso
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:183) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f/install/images/boot.iso
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (urlfetcher:225) Cleaning up mount at /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.srz86f
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (cli:234) File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virt-install", line 876, in <module>
sys.exit(main())
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virt-install", line 870, in main
start_install(guest, continue_inst, options)
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virt-install", line 588, in start_install
fail(e, do_exit=False)
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/cli.py", line 234, in fail
logging.debug("".join(traceback.format_stack()))
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] ERROR (cli:235) Could not find an installable distribution at '/home/jerome/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso'
The location must be the root directory of an install tree.
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (cli:237)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virt-install", line 560, in start_install
dom = guest.start_install(meter=meter, noboot=options.noreboot)
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/guest.py", line 384, in start_install
self._prepare_install(meter, dry)
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/guest.py", line 277, in _prepare_install
util.make_scratchdir(self.conn, self.type))
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/installer.py", line 201, in prepare
self._prepare(guest, meter, scratchdir)
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/distroinstaller.py", line 444, in _prepare
self._prepare_kernel_url(guest, fetcher)
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/distroinstaller.py", line 347, in _prepare_kernel_url
store = urlfetcher.getDistroStore(guest, fetcher)
File "/usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/urlfetcher.py", line 346, in getDistroStore
fetcher.location))
ValueError: Could not find an installable distribution at '/home/jerome/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso'
The location must be the root directory of an install tree.
[mer., 03 juin 2015 17:46:12 virt-install 12991] DEBUG (cli:248) Domain installation does not appear to have been successful.
If it was, you can restart your domain by running:
virsh --connect qemu:///system start prod
otherwise, please restart your installation.
Domain installation does not appear to have been successful.
If it was, you can restart your domain by running:
virsh --connect qemu:///system start prod
otherwise, please restart your installation.
It works with --location http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/ but isn’t it a bit of a shame to do this when an .iso image is available locally?
- Loss of traceability : you can’t reproduce later being sure you get the exact same source.
- Multiplicated use of bandwidth from servers/mirrors.
- Need for internet access.
- Slower.
Answers:
Thank you for visiting the Q&A section on Magenaut. Please note that all the answers may not help you solve the issue immediately. So please treat them as advisements. If you found the post helpful (or not), leave a comment & I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Method 1
This method worked for me:
virt-install --name=centos --memory=8196 --vcpus=2 --location=/var/lib/libvirt/images/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1511.iso --disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/centos7.qcow2,device=disk,bus=virtio,size=8 --network bridge:br0 --os-type=linux --nographics --extra-args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'
Method 2
virt-install tries to extract kernel and initrd files from the ISO image. With --debug you can see the whole activities of it including loop-mounting, searching for those files, etc.
Starting install... [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (Installer:182) scratchdir=/var/lib/libvirt/boot [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:184) Preparing mount at /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (OSDistro:65) Attempting to detect distro: [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/.treeinfo [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/Fedora [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/Server [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/Client [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/RedHat [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/CentOS [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/SL [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/directory.yast [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/current/images/MANIFEST [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/daily/MANIFEST [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/current/images/MANIFEST [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/install/netboot/version.info [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/initrd.gz [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (OSDistro:990) Doesn't look like an Ubuntu Distro. [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/VERSION [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/VERSION [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/boot/platform/i86xpv/kernel/unix [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/platform/i86xpv/kernel/unix [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/STARTUP/XNLOADER.SYS [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/images/boot.iso [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/boot/boot.iso [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/current/images/netboot/mini.iso [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:169) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql/install/images/boot.iso [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:205) Cleaning up mount at /var/lib/libvirt/boot/virtinstmnt.dwcpql [Wed, 03 Jun 2015 07:56:40 virt-install 29692] ERROR (cli:445) Could not find an installable distribution at '/home/yaegashi/debian-8.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso'
I suppose virt-install doesn’t support Debian netinst ISO images with --location (but somehow Ubuntu supported?).
To boot a kernel with --extra-args, virt-install needs to have those kernel and corresponding initrd files. --cdrom simply attaches ISO to the guest’s CD drive, that’s insufficient to work with --extra-args.
If you want use --extra-args, I recommend you to use “netboot” kernel/initrd files by specifying Debian installer URL of your nearest mirror, like --location http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/ as described in the manual.
Method 3
The difference is in the iso files that are used.
It’s not related to the way virt-install is used (--location used with http URL versus --location used with path to a local iso file).
Here’s a command that works when using the Debian online repositories as --location (including getting output to complete the installation until first boot (then two other steps are necessary to finally get into the new VM, but that’s another story):
virt-install --virt-type kvm --name test8 --memory 2048 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/test8-1.qcow2,size=5 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/test8-2.qcow2,size=2 --location http://ftp.at.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/ --graphics none --extra-args='console tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'
You can take the exact same command, but using the above mentioned Centos ISO file as --location, and it works as well (except that the connection to the serial console does not seem to work at first, but in principle the installation starts using –location and the ISO file):
virt-install --virt-type kvm --name test8 --memory 2048 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/test8-1.qcow2,size=5 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/test8-2.qcow2,size=2 --location /softwarestorage/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1511.iso --graphics none --extra-args='console tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial'
Output is:
Starting install... Retrieving file .treeinfo... | 2.2 kB 00:00 ... Retrieving file vmlinuz... | 9.8 MB 00:00 ... Retrieving file initrd.img... | 73 MB 00:00 ... Creating domain... | 0 B 00:00 Connected to domain test8 Escape character is ^]
But if you use the Debian ISO file for --location, you get the error:
virt-install --virt-type kvm --name test8 --memory 2048 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/test8-1.qcow2,size=5 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/test8-2.qcow2,size=2 --location /softwarestorage/debian-8.5.0-amd64-CD-1.iso --graphics none --extra-args='console tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 serial' Starting install... Retrieving file info... | 150 B 00:00 ... ERROR Could not find an installable distribution at '/softwarestorage/debian-8.5.0-amd64-CD-1.iso' The location must be the root directory of an install tree. Domain installation does not appear to have been successful. If it was, you can restart your domain by running: virsh --connect qemu:///system start test8 otherwise, please restart your installation.
IMHO this proves that there’s something missing / anything “wrong” with the Debian ISO (not sure at the moment where i got it from, but maybe someone can download a fresh one and repeat the tests…)
Method 4
It’s ugly, especially if you want to use kickstart files, but here’s what I did to get this process going:
<a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="21534e4e55614a574c">[email protected]</a>:~# virt-install -n rhce2 -r 2048 --vcpus=1 --os-variant=rhel6 --accelerate -v --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/RHCE2.img,size=100 -l /root/centos6.7.iso -x "ks=./ks1.cfg" --nographics
The basic difference between what I did and what you did is that I used the --location tag (-l for short) to point to my iso.
Method 5
The following worked for me installing Debian 10 from an Ubuntu 16.04 host system:
cd /usr/share/virt-manager/virtinst/
patch <<.
--- urlfetcher.py.orig 2019-07-25 13:54:37.496567791 +1200
+++ urlfetcher.py 2019-07-25 13:54:43.180373257 +1200
@@ -663,6 +663,8 @@
]
_hvm_paths = [("pxeboot/vmlinuz",
"images/pxeboot/initrd.img"), # Fedora
+ ("install.amd/vmlinuz",
+ "install.amd/initrd.gz"), # Debian
]
_iso_paths = ["images/boot.iso", # RH/Fedora
"boot/boot.iso", # Suse
.
virt-install ... --location=/srv/software/Debian/debian-10.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso --extra-args='console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8'
Method 6
recently ran into this issue. Simply used a remote installer with –location. I must emphasise that depending on your virsh version, links for remote installers may be outdated in the man page.
I just followed this example and everything ran smoothly: https://www.packet.com/developers/guides/kvm-and-libvirt/
In my case, I changed ‘xenial’ for ‘bionic’ in http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/installer-amd64/ and the installation went through. Going to use this method every time from now on.
Method 7
When using --location you need to include the RAM disk and kernel file.
You can use isoinfo -J -i file.iso -l | grep '(initrd|vmlinuz)' to find the corresponding files.
| Distro | Kernel path | RAM disk path |
|---|---|---|
| Fedora | /isolinux/vmlinuz | /isolinux/initrd.img |
| RHEL5/CentOS5 | /isolinux/vmlinuz | /isolinux/initrd.img |
| openSUSE | /boot/i386/loader/linux | /boot/i386/loader/initrd |
| Mandriva | /i586/isolinux/alt0/vmlinuz | /i586/isolinux/alt0/all.rdz |
| Ubuntu | /casper/vmlinuz | /casper/initrd.gz or /casper/initrd |
| Debian | /install.386/vmlinuz/ | /isolinux/initrd.img |
So the --location parameter of virt-install should look like this:
- For Fedora systems:
--location $iso,initrd=live/initrd.img,kernel=pxeboot/vmlinuz - For Debian systems:
--location $iso,initrd=install/initrd.gz,kernel=install/vmlinuz
iso=/debian.iso virt-install --disk path=$iso,device=cdrom --location $iso,initrd=install/initrd.gz,kernel=install/vmlinuz
All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0