[SOLVED] Boot from auto-install .iso help

I

inputsource

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Apr 26, 2024
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Hello,

I have followed the official docs for setting up an .iso for Automated Installation, but when booting from the finalized USB we get stuck at a blank grub> prompt.

Here is an outline of the steps performed.
  1. Create answer.toml file
  2. Verify answer file by running proxmox-auto-install-assistant validate-answer answer.toml
  3. Create .iso with proxmox-auto-install-assistant prepare-iso /path/to/source.iso --fetch-from iso --answer-file /path/to/answer.toml
  4. Copy created .iso from proxmox host to local machine
  5. Create bootable USB
I have noticed two files get generated after the 3rd step (auto-installer-mode.toml and proxmox*.iso) and I am unsure what auto-installer-mode.toml is for.

Once I have the created .iso on my local machine I have tried using tools like rufus, etcher, and followed these instructions for GNU/Linux.

Everything results in the same blank grub> prompt after booting from the created USB.
 
To rule out any issue on the USB flash drive; can you test booting the resulting ISO in a VM?
 
Hello,

Same problem on my side.

I tested booting the ISO on a virtual machine in "Legacy BIOS" and UEFI = It is OK.

When I test on a physical hypervisor with the USB key :
- in "Legacy BIOS" it is OK
- in UEFI + Secure Boot it is KO. Everything results in the same blank grub> prompt after booting from the created USB.

Regards
 
Last edited:
I did some initial investigation and from what I can say for now, is that the prepared ISO tends to have issues getting to the grub screen when booting in UEFI mode from a USB flash drive.

Attaching the same ISO via a remote IPMI connection for example, where it is passed through as a virtual CDROM, things seem to work as expected on our test servers.

No idea as of yet what the actual cause it, and therefore how we can address it, but I can reproduce the issue here.
 
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aaron said:
I did some initial investigation and from what I can say for now, is that the prepared ISO tends to have issues getting to the grub screen when booting in UEFI mode from a USB flash drive.

Attaching the same ISO via a remote IPMI connection for example, where it is passed through as a virtual CDROM, things seem to work as expected on our test servers.

No idea as of yet what the actual cause it, and therefore how we can address it, but I can reproduce the issue here.
Click to expand...

Trying to boot from USB with UEFI + Secure Boot was our problem as well. Attached the virtual media through IPMI and it went through the automated install process.

Thanks for the help. :)
 
Kingneutron said:
FYI for anyone who wants to experiment with unattended install:

https://github.com/kneutron/ansitest/blob/master/proxmox/proxmox-unattended-install.toml

https://github.com/kneutron/ansitest/blob/master/proxmox/proxmox-mkiso-unattended-install.sh
Click to expand...
The answer file for unattended installation must be customized for each use case, to ensure correct network and disk setup is used.

While I welcome community contributions, I think in this case such an extra script doesn't provide much value in exploring this new feature, and it's just better to recommend users to read and follow our documentation to this topic:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Automated_Installation

Note also that this thread is a bout a bug in the prepare-iso command, so your comment is not really on topic and fitting for this thread, as it won't help with work around that issue at all.
 
Last edited:
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Hello,

I am facing an issue with auto install. After placing host into UEFI mode (secure boot is disabled) then installation goes in blank grub screen.

After reading above posts I updated assistant tool to latest version, still the same issue.

Only working when host was placed in legacy mode option. Am I missing something?

Boot Image Preparation:
Downloaded latest version of proxmox VE 8.2-1.iso image
installed proxmox-auto-install-assistant tool => version 8.2.5

Host setup:
Secure boot is disabled
UEFI is enabled.
Using USB stick as boot device (prepared USB dev using USB Image Writer package in Linux Mint)

BR,
Rahul
 
aaron said:
We think we found the cause and have a patch for the assistant ready. The next version of it should create ISOs that will work in UEFI mode from a USB flash drive.
Click to expand...

That's good to hear! Is there any ETA on the new version, or a manual workaround for the existing generated ISOs in the short term? I'm testing the new installer on a system that won't allow me to fall back to non-UEFI boot, so this is a blocking issue right now.

Currently showing version 0.1.0 from proxmox-auto-install-assistant -V, and proxmox-auto-install-assistant is already the newest version (8.2.5) from apt upgrade proxmox-auto-install-assistant.

[Edit] Fixed inline code tags
 
Last edited:
Version 8.2.6 is currently available in the test repos. Could you please test it and report back if it works for you?
 
Can confirm that testing worked for me. With 0.1.0 booting went to grub shell but after installing testing repo version the automated installer launched.

Bash: 
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/proxmox-testing.list
deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pvetest

sudo apt update
sudo apt install proxmox-auto-install-assistant

apt show proxmox-auto-install-assistant
Package: proxmox-auto-install-assistant
Version: 8.2.6
(proxmox-auto-install-assistant -V reports 0.1.0 still but apt shows correct version)

proxmox-auto-install-assistant prepare-iso proxmox-ve_8.2-1.iso --fetch-from iso --answer-file answer.toml
sudo dd bs=1M conv=fdatasync if=./proxmox-ve_8.2-1-auto-from-iso.iso of=/dev/sdb

I got these errors
Code: 
[206080.813148] GPT:Primary header thinks Alt. header is not at the end of the disk.
[206080.813153] GPT:2726331 != 60604415
[206080.813155] GPT:Alternate GPT header not at the end of the disk.
[206080.813157] GPT:2726331 != 60604415
[206080.813158] GPT: Use GNU Parted to correct GPT errors.

That were fixed by
Code: 
sudo parted /dev/sdb

GNU Parted 3.4
Using /dev/sdb
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) p                                                               
Warning: Not all of the space available to /dev/sdb appears to be used, you can fix the GPT to use all of the space (an extra 57878084 blocks) or continue with the current setting?
Fix/Ignore? fix
quit
 
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Confirmed working here on 8.2.6 as well, thanks for the quick fix!

Used the following from another PVE host and it ran without any errors, unattended install on another machine then ran exactly as expected.

Code: 
proxmox-auto-install-assistant prepare-iso ./proxmox-ve_8.2-1.iso --fetch-from iso --answer-file ./config.toml --output ./custom-install.iso
dd if=./custom-install.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M status=progress && sync
 
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