Bug 902997 - VMWare Install: F18 Installer Ignores Display Resolution
Summary: VMWare Install: F18 Installer Ignores Display Resolution
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED INSUFFICIENT_DATA
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: anaconda
Version: 18
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Anaconda Maintenance Team
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2013-01-22 22:00 UTC by Jeffrey Walton
Modified: 2013-08-21 18:44 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2013-08-21 18:44:27 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
Screen capture of Fedora 18 install under VMWare (463.50 KB, image/png)
2013-01-22 22:00 UTC, Jeffrey Walton
no flags Details
Screen shots of install process (2.91 MB, application/octet-stream)
2013-01-23 17:20 UTC, Jeffrey Walton
no flags Details

Description Jeffrey Walton 2013-01-22 22:00:57 UTC
Created attachment 685478 [details]
Screen capture of Fedora 18 install under VMWare

It appears Fedora 18 installer ignores the display settings provided by VMWare 5.0.2. The install was occurring on Mac OS X 10.8.2 (Intel, x64); and I was installing Fedora 18, x64.

Sorry about the mis-classification. "Install" and "Installer" was not a choice; and I could not proceed without making a choice.

Comment 1 Chris Lumens 2013-01-23 14:58:29 UTC
Is this the only screen that looks like this?

Comment 2 Jeffrey Walton 2013-01-23 15:21:26 UTC
Let me do another install, and get you a complete set of screen shots.

Working form memory (use at your own risk), the first issue is with the submitted screen shot. Then one or two following screens suffer it also. Once I stumble through TABs and ENTERs to get the root password set, I can reboot and the issue is cleared.

After reboot, I am prompted for the first user, etc, and everything is OK again.

Jeff

Comment 3 Jeffrey Walton 2013-01-23 17:20:14 UTC
Created attachment 686085 [details]
Screen shots of install process

Attached are screen captures of the steps in the install process.

First, there are two VM Configuration shots. They are f18-install-vm-config-N.png. The relevant image seems to be 'disable 3D graphics'. Otherwise, I get a blank desktop screen with no choice to move on to an installation.

Second, there are install screen shots. They are f18-install-N.png. Image 1 (f18-install-1.png) was the last screen that appeared to honor the display settings. Image 2 (f18-install-2.png) was the first screen that appeared to have issues.

Image 5 caused this bug report because I could not see the buttons when TAB'ing. It made it difficult to get to screen six (enter root password).

Comment 4 Steve Tyler 2013-01-23 22:44:02 UTC
See also:
Bug 901551 - Anaconda Screens are larger than VM 800x600

Comment 5 Jeffrey Walton 2013-01-24 13:23:39 UTC
Thanks Steve. What do you suggest for hardware and virtual machines that only support lower display resolutions?

I keep a couple Fedora boxes around because the project almost always has the latest version of GCC and other software. As such, Fedora is part of my engineering/build process.

Put another way, its easier to use the latest Fedora distribution than it is to fetch/build some packages (and work through the package dependencies and side-by-side installation issues).

Comment 6 Steve Tyler 2013-01-24 14:12:57 UTC
As a workaround with the Live image in a VM, changing the display resolution before starting the installer might be sufficient:
Activities:System Tools:System Settings:Displays

Tested with the vmware display adapter emulation in qemu-kvm:
$ qemu-kvm -m 2048 -hda f18-test-2.img -cdrom ~/xfr/fedora/F18/F18-Final/Final/Fedora-18-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso -vga vmware -boot menu=on -usbdevice mouse

$ rpm -q qemu-kvm
qemu-kvm-1.0.1-2.fc17.x86_64

Workarounds for hardware might be possible using tab-counting, a text mode install, or a remote install. What hardware with a low resolution display are you installing to?

Comment 7 Chris Lumens 2013-03-26 15:50:50 UTC
What these pictures indicate is that the screen is built too wide for gtk to show at this resolution.  It can have lots of causes, but one of the most common is that word wrapping is not correctly set on some label.  I believe this bug is fixed by the same patch as for bug 901551.  If you can please retest with Fedora 19 alpha when released and let us know, it would be very helpful.  Thanks.

Comment 8 Jeffrey Walton 2013-03-31 19:30:33 UTC
Thanks Chris.

> If you can please retest with Fedora 19 alpha when released
Yes, I would be happy to test. 'Fedora 19 download' is not producing useful search results. For example, I can find 'Fedora 19 Alpha Release Criteria' and 'Fedora 19 Beta Release Criteria', but I can't find the download.

Would you happen to know where the image is located?

Jeff

Comment 9 Chris Lumens 2013-04-02 18:36:08 UTC
http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/stage/

Comment 10 Jeffrey Walton 2013-04-02 23:15:04 UTC
Thanks Chris. I downloaded Fedora-19-Alpha-TC3-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso from /pub/alt/stage/19-Alpha-TC3/Live/x86_64. I tried to setup F19-alpha on a VMWare 5.0.3 instance running on Mac OS X 10.8.3.

I can boot the image, but I have problems around the Live User login screen. When I click 'Live User', I fall back to text mode that displays "ISOLINUX 4...." which loops immediately back to Live User login screen. So I never really get to a GNOME desktop or launcher (I'm not sure what they are calling it nowadays), and I can't proceed to an install.

What would you like me to do? Is there a way I can help you troubleshoot?

Comment 11 Jeffrey Walton 2013-04-03 01:30:26 UTC
(In reply to comment #10)

> I can boot the image, but I have problems around the Live User login screen.
> When I click 'Live User', I fall back to text mode that displays "ISOLINUX
> 4...." which loops immediately back to Live User login screen. So I never
> really get to a GNOME desktop or launcher (I'm not sure what they are
> calling it nowadays), and I can't proceed to an install.
Same problem with with the i686 version: Fedora-19-Alpha-TC3-i686-Live-Desktop.iso

Comment 12 Chris Lumens 2013-04-10 18:55:58 UTC
I don't really know; that's pretty far outside my realm of expertise.  I suggest asking on one of the various Fedora mailing lists.  Perhaps someone else has seen that problem.


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