Bug 753810

Summary: Anaconda fails on uninitialized disk
Product: [Fedora] Fedora Reporter: Albert Flügel <albert.fluegel>
Component: anacondaAssignee: Anaconda Maintenance Team <anaconda-maint-list>
Status: CLOSED NOTABUG QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity: unspecified Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 16CC: anaconda-maint-list, jonathan, vanmeeuwen+fedora
Target Milestone: ---   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: Unspecified   
OS: Unspecified   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2011-11-14 17:02:52 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Attachments:
Description Flags
The requested anaconda log
none
The requested log from anaconda regarding storage
none
The requested log from anaconda
none
The requested syslog file none

Description Albert Flügel 2011-11-14 14:55:06 UTC
Description of problem:
Starting an installation of virtual system (KVM) with uninitialized
virtual storage the step "Examining storage devices" fails. i haven't
experienced this with any Redhat-Enterprise Linux up to 6 or with
Fedora 14 or 15.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
16.25

How reproducible:
Create a virtual KVM instance, do not initialize the storage device,
start installation (from network or virtual CDROM)

Steps to Reproduce:
1. In virt-manager create a virtual instance
2. Add a storage device e.g. 20 GB
3. Start installation
  
Actual results:
Installer fails when "Examining storage devices"

Expected results:
Installer continues to ask interactively for partitioning layout or
applies partitioning specified in a kickstart rules file.

Additional info:
Running fdisk on the virtual storage and applying an empty default DOS
label fixes the problem. But this should imo not be necessary (was not
up to now see above).

Comment 1 David Lehman 2011-11-14 15:32:26 UTC
How does it fail? Please attach the following logs, along with a description of the actual failure:

 /tmp/anaconda.log
 /tmp/storage.log
 /tmp/program.log
 /tmp/syslog

Thanks.

Comment 2 Albert Flügel 2011-11-14 16:33:21 UTC
The error message is:
<start>
Automatic Partitioning Errors

The following errors occurred with your partitioning:

you have not created a bootloader stage1 target device

This can happen if there is not enough space on your hard drive(s) for the installation

Press 'OK' to exit the installer.
<end>

Needless to say, that there is enough space. As said, after running fdisk
and writing a DOS label the installation works.
I'll attach the logs soon.

Comment 3 Albert Flügel 2011-11-14 16:36:30 UTC
Created attachment 533566 [details]
The requested anaconda log

Comment 4 Albert Flügel 2011-11-14 16:37:24 UTC
Created attachment 533567 [details]
The requested log from anaconda regarding storage

Comment 5 Albert Flügel 2011-11-14 16:38:15 UTC
Created attachment 533568 [details]
The requested log from anaconda

Comment 6 Albert Flügel 2011-11-14 16:39:02 UTC
Created attachment 533569 [details]
The requested syslog file

Comment 7 David Lehman 2011-11-14 17:02:52 UTC
So you chose to create a custom layout?

Anaconda now uses GPT disklabels by default on all x86 systems. On BIOS systems, this means you need to have a 1MB BIOS Boot partition on the boot disk. You can choose to use the MSDOS disklabel by passing 'nogpt' on the boot command line. Here is a note in the installation guide:

https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/16/html/Installation_Guide/s1-diskpartitioning-x86.html#Create_Storage-x86

Comment 8 Albert Flügel 2011-11-15 09:20:06 UTC
So with kickstart a biosboot partition is now required. Ok. However, the biosboot options are not documented in the part context (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda/Kickstart#part_or_partition), just in the bootloader context. So, well, i should have looked there. I guess, i'll not be the only one to miss that, so i'd like to suggest to add some notes regarding --biosboot to the part section.

Re-reading 3.2.2 in the release notes is now clearer, but it was not obvious for me, that i have to specify sth. different than before. I'd appreciate a hint regarding kickstart. At least i do not associate "manual" with kickstart (which is automatic). 2nd i'd suggest a hint regarding virtual systems in this section. The "SeaBIOS" is coming with the kvm/qemu packages and so it is determined, that the biosboot partition is necessary.

Thanks a lot !