Installing Kali Linux using KVM virt-install tool

[Erik Skultety]

On Wed, Aug 05, 2020 at 10:13:57PM +0530, Kaushal Shriyan wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 5, 2020 at 1:32 PM Pavel Hrdina <phrdina at redhat.com> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Aug 05, 2020 at 06:57:11AM +0530, Kaushal Shriyan wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I am trying to install kali-linux-2020.2-installer-amd64.iso (
> > > https://www.kali.org/downloads/) using KVM virt-install tool
> > >
> > > #virt-install --name=kalilinux --file=/linuxkvmaddgbdisk/kalilinux.img
> > > --file-size=50 --nonsparse --vcpu=2 --ram=4096 --network=bridge:br0
> > > --os-type=linux --os-variant=debian9 --graphics none
> > > --location=/linuxkvmaddgbdisk/kali-linux-2020.2-installer-amd64.iso
> > > --extra-args="console=ttyS0
> > >
> > > Starting install...
> > > Retrieving file .treeinfo...
> > >
> > >                               |    0 B  00:00:00
> > > Retrieving file content...
> > >
> > >                               |    0 B  00:00:00
> > > Retrieving file info...
> > >
> > >                              |  104 B  00:00:00
> > > Retrieving file info...
> > >
> > >                              |  104 B  00:00:00
> > > Retrieving file info...
> > >
> > >                              |  104 B  00:00:00
> > > ERROR    Could not find an installable distribution at
> > > '/linuxkvmaddgbdisk/kali-linux-2020.2-installer-amd64.iso': The URL could
> > > not be accessed, maybe you mistyped?
> > >
> > > The location must be the root directory of an install tree.
> > > See virt-install man page for various distro examples.
> > > Domain installation does not appear to have been successful.
> > > If it was, you can restart your domain by running:
> > >   virsh --connect qemu:///system start kalilinux
> > > otherwise, please restart your installation.
> > >
> > >
> > > #virt-install --name=kalilinux --file=/linuxkvmaddgbdisk/kalilinux.img
> > > --file-size=50 --nonsparse --vcpu=2 --ram=4096 --network=bridge:br0
> > > --os-type=linux --os-variant=debian9 --graphics none
> > > --cdrom=/linuxkvmaddgbdisk/kali-linux-2020.2-installer-amd64.iso
> > > --extra-args="console=ttyS0"
> > > ERROR    --extra-args only work if specified with --location. See the man
> > > page for examples of using --location with CDROM media
> > >
> > > I did not find kali OS details to provide an option for* --os-variant=
> > * When
> > > I ran osinfo-query os | grep kali it did not return anything.
> > > Any help will be highly appreciated and I look forward to hearing from
> > you.
> > > Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Using --location with ISO image requires specific file to be available
> > in the ISO image where virt-install can look to figure out path to linux
> > kernel and initrd otherwise it is not able to use --location and
> > --extra-args as well.
> >
> > If you look into virt-install man page in the section for --location you
> > can find this example:
> >
> >     Additionally, --location can take 'kernel' and 'initrd' sub options.
> >     These paths relative to the specified location URL/ISO that allow
> >     selecting specific files for kernel/initrd within the install tree.
> >     This can be useful if virt-install/ libosinfo doesn't know where to
> >     find the kernel in the specified --location.
> >
> >     For example, if you have an ISO that libosinfo doesn't know about
> >     called my-unknown.iso, with a kernel at 'kernel/fookernel' and
> >     initrd at 'kernel/fooinitrd', you can make this work with:
> >
> >         --location
> > my-unknown.iso,kernel=kernel/fookernel,initrd=kernel/fooinitrd
> >
> >
> > You can use isoinfo to get the content of your ISO image:
> >
> >     isoinfo -J -i /path/to/your.iso -f
> >
> > and use the --location with kernel and initrd parameters which will make
> > it work and --extra-args will work as well.
> >
> > Pavel
> >
>
> Hi Pavel,
>
> Thanks for your email and much appreciated. I have pasted the output here
> https://paste.centos.org/view/89952d91

Hi,
^this URL you provided already expired, consider using longer time periods
for pastebin services when posting to a mailing list.

>
> #virt-install --name=kalilinux --file=/linuxkvmaddgbdisk/kalilinux.img
> --file-size=50 --nonsparse --vcpu=2 --ram=4096 --network=bridge:br0
> --os-type=linux --os-variant=debian9 --graphics none
> --location=/linuxkvmaddgbdisk/kali-linux-2020.2-installer-amd64.iso
> --extra-args="console=ttyS0
>
> --location my-unknown.iso,kernel=kernel/fookernel,initrd=kernel/fooinitrd
>
> --location
> kali-linux-2020.2-installer-amd64.iso,kernel=kernel/?,initrd=kernel/?
>
> I did not find kali OS details to provide an option for* --os-variant=  * When
> I ran osinfo-query os | grep kali it did not return anything. What should

There's over 500 Linux distros out there with the vast majority being just
derivatives of the major distributions, so it requires someone who cares about
a specific distro to contribute the required changes to libosinfo and commit to
maintaining it to keep the information up to date.

> be the value for --os-variant= as i want to install
> kali-linux-2020.2-installer-amd64.iso (https://www.kali.org/downloads/)
> using KVM virt-install tool

For any practical purposes, Debian 10 should do just fine in terms of pulling
the recommended VM settings from osinfo-db as Kali is derived from Debian.

Regards,
Erik