Since I was finally able to install Fedora 7 in VPC2007 and since this
has been a topic several times but no complete solution mentioned I
thought that I could post this for those of you trying to make it
work.
For comparison here is the details of my system:
PC: DELL Dimansion 9100 with 3 Gb RAM (DualCore CPU)
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 attached to a Domain
Network: I have an ADSL modem hooked to a D-Link router that supplies
IP addresses via DHCP on my network. So IP is automatic.
VPC version: VPC2007
This is how I did the installation:
1. Download the Fedora 7 DVD ISO file: F-7-i386-DVD.iso
(From RedHat or a mirror)
2. Create a VPC2007 guest with the defaults and 512 Mb RAM
Also enable undo disks, because you will benefitr from them...
3. Start guest and capture the ISO file downloaded above
4. Reset guest from Action menu
5. Wait until the Fedora start screen appears with selections
6. Press TAB to edit the parameters for the selected (top) line
7. Add this at the end:
vesa i8042.nolop psmouse.proto=imps clock=pit vga=771
8. Save changes and continue by pressing ENTER
9. Now the Fedora install will start up and the screen will be
OK in VPC2007.
10. Run through the installer as usual.
11. At the end when it asks to reboot, let it do so, but as soon as
it is on the boot screen use the VPC Action menu and close the
virtual machine. Select to commit the changes to the virtual disk.
This gives you a starting point to which you can return later
if you need to. I have repeated the following steps several times
using the undo disk from this point on.
12. Now start the machine again.
13. When Fedora starts up to the first boot menu press any key to
stop the boot and enter the boot menu.
14. Press e to edit the start parameters
15. Then select the kernel line and then press e again to edit the
start parameters.
16. Add the following to the end of the parameters already present:
3 vesa i8042.nolop psmouse.proto=imps clock=pit vga=771
The important item here is the 3 at the start, which directs the
boot to runlevel 3, which is non-graphical. Press ENTER to go on.
17. Now Fedora will continue the boot process, which takes a while
until it reaches the "Setup Agent" on a blue character based
screen. Just let it sit and it will go on or activate the Exit
command.
18. Now you will reach a login prompt and here you have to log in
as root to get to the # prompt.
19. Now enter the command: system-config-display
20. You will see a graphics window with the Display Settings.
Use this to set the following:
Hardware tab:
=============
Configure Monitor type by selecting the "Generic LCD Display"
Expand it and select "LCD Panel 1024x768".
Settings tab:
=============
Resolution = 1024x768
Color Depth = Thousands of Colors
Click OK and then OK on the next confirmation window.
21. Now the screen will go black and you cannot do anything with it.
No escape, so you will use the Action/Reset command to restart
the virtual machine.
22. Now it will restart and get to the boot screen again. Repeat
step 16, except do *not* add the 3 parameter. Now you want the
normal graphics runlevel.
23. Next you will see a graphis screen with a progress bar when
Fedora loads. If you want you can switch to "Show Details", which
will list all commands being executed.
24. After a while the Fedora Welcome screen is shown where the rest
of the install configuration is done. Use the Forward button
until you reach the "Create User" screen.
25. Now add your normal user account by entering the details here.
26. Next is the sound card setup, but you can continue here because
sound will not work.... Click Finish.
27. Now after some time there will be a graphics login screen shown.
Enter root as user and give the root password you defined in the
first install sequence.
28. Now you enter Fedora for the first time and there is one important
thing still to do:
Use the text editor found under Applications and open the file:
/boot/grub/grub.conf for editing.
29. Edit the kernel command parameters as follows:
- remove rhgb
- add vesa i8042.nolop psmouse.proto=imps clock=pit vga=771
Save the file and close the editor.
30. As a first test at this point log out root and log in as the
normal user and check that all is working fine.
31. Then select System/ShutDown and then use Restart to let
Fedora start over. This will take some time, but you should
then get to the login screen again. Log on as any of the two
accounts and check that all is OK.
32. Then select System/ShutDown and this time command a real shutdown.
33. When the shutdown reaches the end you will get a dialogue from
VPC2007 calling for you to select what to do with the undo disk.
At this time select to commit changes to the VHD drive, because
now you have a working baseline system to start from in the
future.
Next time you start up, log in as root and wait.
If your networking is OK Fedora will now grab an IP address and will
check for updates to the installer (in my case it found 178 updates),
which you should let it download and install.
If by any chance the reboot after the update fails you can always
discard the undo disk changes and get back to the baseline you created
in step 33 above. :-)
Phew, this was a long and tedious process, but now it is done and also
documented here for the benefit of others.
My Fedora 7 now runs fine inside VPC2007.
Thanks to all the people who helped me to get this going!
Bo Berglund
