Arch Linux

frix

Member

Registered: 2011-05-02

Posts: 27

[SOLVED] How to get QEMU to start the the Archlinux ISO properly?

Hello all,

I've been trying to setup a KVM/QEMU Archlinux VM on a headless server, and I'm pretty much stuck at step 1, trying to get the Archlinux installation ISO to boot properly in the guest. I've read the few pages on the Wiki on the subject, as well as some other tutorials on the internet, and I'm running out of ideas.

Here's what I've tried:

* libvirtd and virt-install: Works flawlessly with Debian 8. The Arch VM, on the other hand, seems to be running but shows no console output.

virt-install --name arch_test --memory 1024 --vcpus=2,maxvcpus=4 --cpu host --cdrom archlinux-2015.10.01-dual.iso --disk size=2,format=qcow2 --network user --virt-type kvm --accelerate --console pty,target_type=virtio --nographics

* Directly using QEMU #1: Hangs just after loading the kernel:

> qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom archlinux-2015.10.01-dual.iso -boot order=d arch_test.img -nographic
Loading boot/x86_64/vmlinuz... ok
Loading boot/intel_ucode.img...ok
Loading boot/x86_64/archiso.img...ok
...hangs...

* Directly using QEMU #2: Adding the console=ttyS0 to get a serial console spits (at last!) some explanations about what's going wrong and drops me to a rescue shell:

...boot/x86_64/vmlinuz archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201510 initrd=boot/intel_ucode.img,boot/x86_64/archiso.img console=ttyS0

Loading boot/x86_64/vmlinuz... ok
Loading boot/intel_ucode.img...ok
Loading boot/x86_64/archiso.img...ok
[    2.326755] Initramfs unpacking failed: write error
:: running early hook [udev]
:: running hook [udev]
:: Triggering uevents...
:: running hook [memdisk]
:: running hook [archiso]
:: running hook [archiso_loop_mnt]
:: running hook [archiso_pxe_common]
:: running hook [archiso_pxe_nbd]
:: running hook [archiso_pxe_http]
:: running hook [archiso_pxe_nfs]
:: Mounting '/dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201510' to '/run/archiso/bootmnt'
ERROR: '/dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201510' device did not show up after 30 seconds...
   Falling back to interactive prompt
   You can try to fix the problem manually, log out when you are finished
sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
[rootfs /]#

How can I solve all this?

Last edited by frix (2015-12-27 21:37:59)

exidux

Member

From: Your screen.

Registered: 2014-09-19

Posts: 59

Re: [SOLVED] How to get QEMU to start the the Archlinux ISO properly?

ERROR: '/dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_201510' device did not show up after 30 seconds...

The booting process claims it can not find the label of your arch-iso disk (or rather the disk by label) which stops the system from booting. It does not recognize that which it thinks to be the "iso" by label. I have the same problem when i use USB tools on windows to prepare an USB stick, but not with a DD on linux.

Last edited by exidux (2015-10-19 07:41:02)

lula

Member

Registered: 2009-07-16

Posts: 71

Re: [SOLVED] How to get QEMU to start the the Archlinux ISO properly?

Seems to be a problem with the default of 128MB Ram, increase it to 512m or 1024m:

qemu-system-x86_64 -m 1024 ...

frix

Member

Registered: 2011-05-02

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] How to get QEMU to start the the Archlinux ISO properly?

Thanks, that was it! It wasn't obvious at all given the error message