Xvm Xen doesn't find installation files

Linux and Unix-Like Fedora
1

Hello all,

trying to install a host-os on a freshly installed Opensolaris machine, I keep getting the error "Could not find an installable distribution".

It seems there are a hundred of people out there with the same problem, but nobody ever bothered to post a solution to their questions... :frowning:

I was trying

  • /dev/dsk/c8t0d0s2 directly
  • dd'ed an image
  • copied the cd content to a directory

Tried with Windows and FreeBSD yet...

2

Not sure that question belongs to Unix dummies but anyway:
Can you post the whole virt-install commands you ran ?
Did you use the debug option and if true, what was its output ?

3

I know it's not really dummy-level, but it was the forum with the most viewers and the least specific :wink: It seems it's not limited to Solaris

Well, the command line was:

virt-install --name PDC --ram 1024 --location /root/windowsserver.iso --file /dev/zvol/dsk/container1/PDC --file-size 49 --vnc --os-type=windows

and

virt-install --name PDC --ram 1024 --location /dev/dsk/c8t0d0s2 --file /dev/zvol/dsk/container1/PDC --file-size 49 --vnc --os-type=windows

The virt-install.log says:

[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (Guest:88) Path is block file: Assuming Block disk type.
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (DistroManager:140) DistroInstaller location is a local file/path: /root/windowsserver.iso
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:178) Preparing mount at /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (DistroManager:66) Attempting to detect distro:
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/.treeinfo
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/Fedora
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/.treeinfo
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/Server
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/Client
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/RedHat
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/.treeinfo
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/CentOS
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/boot/platform/i86xpv/kernel/unix
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/platform/i86pc/boot_archive
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:163) local hasFile: Couldn't find /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD/boot/x86.microroot
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] DEBUG (ImageFetcher:200) Cleaning up mount at /var/tmp/virtinstmnt.TI-MxD
[Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:49 virt-install 1142] ERROR (virt-install:517) Could not find an installable distribution at '/root/windowsserver.iso'

The problem seems obvious, but how could I force it to look for the windows files?

4

I see no obvious mistake. Perhaps is it just your windows release isn't supported by Xen for some reason. You might want to try a tested OS ( Guest types known to work and not work (Community Group xen.guest-compatibility) - XWiki ).
Alternatively, VirtualBox might be a simpler option.