I’ve been playing with VMs via virt-manager, and I got a “minimal” Fedora 37 VM up and running with the kickstart file below. I’ve been trying to make it simple, readable, and not install much more than an SSH server, so I can apply configurations via Ansible. However, the same kickstart file that succeeds on the F37 VM gets stuck on F38 (see image below). It’s the same VM, with the only difference being the .iso file (f37-everything-netinst vs. f38-everything-netinst) from which I’m booting. I don’t know how to troubleshoot this, because it hasn’t finished booting, nor has it reached the installer.
The only non-stock aspect of this kickstart is that I’m adding an extra partition which will later be used as a ZFS L2ARC partition. I create the partition as an LVM PV, then I change the partition’s type code in %post. (This works fine when kickstarting F37.)
My Kickstart file:
#version=Fedora Linux 38
#documentation: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/f36/install-guide/appendixes/Kickstart_Syntax_Reference/
# INSTALL USING TEXT MODE
text
# KEYBOARDS, LANGUAGE, TIMEZONE
keyboard --vckeymap=us --xlayouts=us
lang en_US.UTF-8
timezone Etc/UTC --utc
# NETWORK, SELINUX, FIREWALL
# Hostname must be separate from link config.
network --hostname=hostname.domainname.tld
network --device=link --activate --bootproto=dhcp --ipv6=dhcp --nameserver=8.8.8.8 --nameserver=8.8.4.4 --nameserver=1.1.1.1 --nameserver=1.1.0.0 --onboot=on
selinux --enforcing
firewall --enabled --ssh
# DISKS, PARTITIONS, VOLUME GROUPS, LOGICAL VOLUMES
# Install target is usually something like vda, sda, or nvme0n1;
# adjust all references throughout accordingly.
# Change the SWAP size (or delete the line altogether) as you see
# fit for your needs.
# The EFI & /boot partitions are explicitly set here so that we know
# the partition numbers when %post runs.
# Partition 3 (pv.01) will be used as the L2ARC partition for ZFS
# (to be installed later), but we're creating the partition here,
# and then we'll change its type later (see the %post section).
# Since it'll be formatted by the installer, you might need to use
# the `-f` flag when creating your `cache` device. If you don't use
# ZFS: just delete the ZFSCACHE line, then replace both instances
# of `pv.02` with `pv.01`.
ignoredisk --only-use=vda
clearpart --drives=vda --initlabel
zerombr
bootloader --location=mbr --append='crashkernel=auto'
part /boot/efi --label=FIRMWARE --size=550 --asprimary --fstype=efi
part /boot --label=BOOT --size=1024 --asprimary --fstype=ext2
part pv.01 --label=ZFSCACHE --size=1024 --asprimary
part pv.02 --label=VOLUMES --size=1024 --grow --asprimary
volgroup vg0 pv.02
logvol swap --label=SWAP --size=16384 --vgname=vg0 --fstype=swap --name=swap
logvol / --label=ROOT --size=1024 --grow --vgname=vg0 --fstype=xfs --name=root
# INSTALLATION SOURCE, EXTRA REPOSITORIES, PACKAGE GROUPS, PACKAGES
url --mirrorlist="https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=fedora-$releasever&arch=$basearch"
%packages --retries=5 --timeout=20 --inst-langs=en
@^minimal-environment
# Remove @guest-agents if this is not a VM.
@guest-agents
kernel-devel
openssh-server
%end
# GROUPS, USERS, ENABLE SSH, FINISH INSTALL
rootpw --lock
user --name=myuser --password='1st-password-change-ASAP!' --plaintext --gecos='Michael Y. User' --groups='wheel,customgroup(3000)' --gid=3000
sshkey --username=myuser 'publickeygoeshere'
services --enabled='sshd.service'
reboot --eject
# ENABLE EMERGENCY KERNEL DUMPS FOR DEBUGGING
%addon com_redhat_kdump --reserve-mb=auto --enable
%end
# PRE-AND POST-INSTALLATION SCRIPTS
# Both %pre and %post must come after the other kickstart commands.
%pre --interpreter=/usr/bin/bash --log=/root/anaconda-ks-pre.log
%end
%post --interpreter=/usr/bin/bash --log=/root/anaconda-ks-post.log --erroronfail
# Update partition table, set partition type for ZFSCACHE to 'FreeBSD ZFS'.
# Delete these lines if not using ZFS.
DEVICE=/dev/vda
/usr/sbin/partprobe $DEVICE
/usr/sbin/sgdisk -t 3:a504 $DEVICE
/usr/sbin/partprobe $DEVICE
%end
Fig. 1. Screenshot of Fedora 38, stuck while booted with the
inst.ks=hd:LABEL=KS:/f38-ks.cfg option. (Imgur link)