Installing Kali Linux using KVM virt-install tool

[Pavel Hrdina]

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
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