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amishera
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VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev loop0

I was trying to make kickstart iso for unattended installation of ESX 4.1. I followed the procedure mentioned here:

http://www.vmprofessional.com/index.php?content=kickstart_2

But this step

we need to extract the image, and mount it as a loopback device.

[root@esx01 ~]# gunzip initrd.img --suffix .img
[root@esx01 ~]# mount -o loop /root/initrd /mnt/floppy

fails asking for mentioning the filesystem. So I tried this:

mount -o loop -t ext2 initrd /mnt/floppy

It says:

VFS: Can't find ext2 filesystem on dev loop0

I tried this:

mount -o loop -t ext3 initrd /mnt/floppy

It says:

VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev loop0

I tried this:

mount -o loop -t vfat initrd /mnt/floppy

It says:

VFS: Can't find ext2 filesystem on dev loop0

FAT: Invalid media

Any idea how to make it work?

Thanks

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Just had a peek at the directions you were following. ESX 3.0 so you might want to use something a little more current.

http://blog.laspina.ca/ubiquitous/automating-vsphere-esx4-host-installations

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator

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amishera
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Hmm, I was able to succeed apparently using the following:

mount -o loop -t vmfs initrd /mnt/floppy

but now I can't copy anything to the mounted directorym, it says permission denied even thought both the source and destination is given all permission

chmod a+rwx initrd

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Does /mnt/floppy exist? try just /mnt

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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amishera
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It does exist and in fact I can view the contents of the directory:

devices volumes

So the problem is somewhere else seemingly.

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amishera
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used /mnt still no success.

mount


/root/isolinux/initrd on /mnt type vmfs (rw)


ls -lcth /root/isolinux/initrd


-rwxrwxrwx 1 root 221M May 3 18:59 /root/isolinux/initrd


touch /mnt/a.txt


touch: cannot touch /mnt/a.txt : Permission denied

Thanks

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amishera
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Hmm a little interesting discovery. After

mount -o loop -t vmfs /root/isolinux/initrd /mnt

what is happening is it is actually mounting the whole "/vmfs" directory as /mnt. weird, for sure. initrd has no role in the mount process. What a crap!!!

So the original problem stil remains - initrd can't be mounted using

mount -o loop -t

with any filesystem. (as vmfs doesn't count).

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Just had a peek at the directions you were following. ESX 3.0 so you might want to use something a little more current.

http://blog.laspina.ca/ubiquitous/automating-vsphere-esx4-host-installations

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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amishera
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Are we supposed to use the ks.cfg file hosted in a remote machine? The approach suggested by the blog seems to be doing exactly that. This is kind of creepy. To do scripted install on one machine we have to resort to another machine. This is indeed a funny idea.

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The “ks=” append option entry can also be one of file://… cdrom://… ftp://… nfs://…  usb and UUID:ID/… So no it isn't necessary to use the file from a remote location.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
amishera
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This is very helpful answer indeed. But there is some question, when it mentions file://usr/blah/blah, the file path is not with respect the "/" of the cd file system, it looks like it is from something within the initrd.img. Please correct me if I am wrong.

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That would be correct. Have you looked through the ESX installation documents. http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
amishera
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I didn't know the document existed. It looks cool. So it somewhat solves the problem without messing with the initrd.img. So technically we can try putting the ks.cfg in the cdrom root file system alone without messing with the initrd.img. Then it would be a very simple procedure but then why would the original author of kickstart went through such a complicated procedure that is a matter worth investigating. If this works, then that would be world's best solution (haha and I would give you a virtual treat). But why did the initrd.img not mount that would be another matter worth investigating.

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So many possibilities and if the single KS file works for you then it isn't a bad solution.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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amishera
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Thanks bro. It works!! I recognizes the ks.cfg in usb. So you are an angel now.

However the fact that I could not mount initrd.img file is really irritating. If it is created by someone then it should be able to be opened/read that too.

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