Newbie Question: Kickstart and Preseed on Ubuntu Desktop 10.04.1

Chris MacDonald chris at fourthandvine.com
Sat Nov 6 00:45:25 UTC 2010


On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 4:44 PM, Masao Kitamura <masaok at gmail.com> wrote:
> Does anyone have trouble with Kickstart and Preseed not working at all?
>
> I'm trying to run Ubuntu Desktop 10.04.1 on an HP workstation.
>
> I tried Kickstart first:
>
> 1. Created the ks.cfg file using the system-config-kickstart GUI
> 2. Hosted it on a local webserver, which I know is working and
> accessible while tailing the Apache logs
> 3. Rebooted my client machine with the Ubuntu Desktop 10.04.1 ISO CD
> 4. Arrowed down to "Install Ubuntu Desktop", then hit F6 to edit the
> boot command
> 5. Replaced file=XXX to ks=my.server.com/ks.cfg, then hit enter.
> 6. I get no request to my webserver for the file, and it goes into the
> normal interactive GUI install process.
>
> Then, I tried Preseed (this time, it made the web request, but still
> no progress on the install):
>
> 1. Created the preseed.cfg file based on this example:
> https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/installation-guide/example-preseed.txt
>
> 2. Rebooted, selected "Install", and edited the boot command to
> "url=http://my.server.com/preseed.cfg", then hit enter.
> 3. This makes a request to the webserver for the preseed config file,
> but still it eventually goes into the normal GUI install process.
>
> However, immediately after requesting the preseed.cfg file, it shows
> "unable to umount /root/dev", but not sure if that's the problem.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help,
>
> Masao
>
>
> Here's my ks.cfg file:
>
> #Generated by Kickstart Configurator
> #platform=x86
>
> #System language
> lang en_US
> #Language modules to install
> langsupport en_US
> #System keyboard
> keyboard us
> #System mouse
> mouse
> #System timezone
> timezone America/Los_Angeles
> #Root password
> rootpw --disabled
> #Initial user
> user johndoe --fullname "John Doe" --iscrypted --password $1$whT...
> #Reboot after installation
> reboot
> #Use text mode install
> text
> #Install OS instead of upgrade
> install
> #Use CDROM installation media
> cdrom
> #System bootloader configuration
> bootloader --location=mbr
> #Clear the Master Boot Record
> zerombr yes
> #Partition clearing information
> clearpart --all --initlabel
> #System authorization infomation
> auth  --useshadow  --enablemd5
> #Network information
> network --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0
> #Firewall configuration
> firewall --disabled
> #Do not configure the X Window System
> skipx
>
> --
> ubuntu-users mailing list
> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
>

I've only used preseed myself. Here are my parameters... this may be
where you're missing something:

initrd=initrd.gz auto=true priority=critical
url=http://yourserver/preseed.cfg console-setup/ask_detect=false --

I've always found preseed to be a bit of a headache as I've had to
result to trial and error to set some things up correctly - the
documentation isn't the greatest. In an event see how far that gets
you, and if you want more pointers with preseed I'd be glad to share
my preseed file.

Chris




More information about the ubuntu-users mailing list