“installation Source” Specification For Netinstall

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Trying to specify the “installation source” in the configuration of netinstall for CentOS 7 (7.1). Three places on the web said

mirror.CentOS.org/CentOS/7/os/x86_64/

But that configuration page probes, then it says, “Error setting up base repository”.

What’s the magic needed?

Also, if anyone knows specs for epel and others, they might help too.

Thanks.

25 thoughts on - “installation Source” Specification For Netinstall

  • I’m not sure why that wouldn’t work. I’m pretty sure you need to use a repository whose version matches the ISO, but that should be the case unless you got the netinstall ISO before 7.2 was released.

    Maybe pick a specific mirror, such as http://mirror.sfo12.us.leaseweb.net/CentOS/7/os/x86_64/
    (https://www.CentOS.org/download/mirrors/)

    Any URL where you see a “repodata” directory (assuming the correct arch and release) should work as an additional repository (for EPEL and others).

  • I tried all of those things, all kinds of combinations…

    mirrors.kernel.org, mirror.rit.edu, other things

    with …/CentOS/N/os/x86_64/ where N= 7, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2

    also trying prepending http:// and https://

    Nothing works.

  • Tried the one above and a lot of others replied to John, many others. This is one of those situation where accurate understandable documentation would be worthwhile.

    I’ll save this tip for later. First I need to get the basic, *easy* (?)
    specification working.

  • /7/ right now == /7.2.1511/

    If you want to install 7.1.1503, which is now outdated and contains security issues, so you likely do NOT want to do it .. BUT .. if you do then the path is:

    http://mirror.CentOS.org/CentOS/7.1.1503/os/x86_64/

    But, that is only going to work for a couple more days. CentOS does not support old versions, and that tree will be moved to the vault.

    Why do you want to do a net install. Download the DVD (ie:
    CentOS-7-x86_64-DVD-1511.iso ) and install from that. The install will be much faster than off site net install and you don’t need a network connection to do the install.

  • I still prefer installing the ‘minimal’ iso, then installing the specific packages your deployment requires via yum.

  • I do that as well .. but that requires knowing how to work with yum groups and or being able to figure out another way which exact packages you actually need.

    I am not entirely sure that inexperienced admins can do that very well :)

  • Believe me, I wish it did work. I’ve been at this stupid specification which should be easy and done over with hours ago. But it doesn’t work.

  • Also doesn’t work.

    Also doesn’t work.

    As explained at the top of the other thread, for some reason my three flashdrives didn’t work, or else the downloads worked. I don’t have any DVDs at the moment. But going out for shopping for some might be the solution.

  • This one works:

    http://mirrors.mit.edu/CentOS/7/os/x86_64/

    I know because I/ve used it for net installs twice in the last week or two, most recently a Thursday of last week.

    I agreee that it would be nice to have some better doc on how to choose the URL for a net install, I’ve stumbled around in the dark at times past trying to figure it out, too.

    but it definitely DOES work if you get the URL right (and if you have your networking set up correctly, and the mirror isn’t broken, and…, and…, etc.).

    Fred

  • To be fair, an accurate description of what you’re doing would be worthwhile, too.

    I downloaded http://mirror.sfo12.us.leaseweb.net/CentOS/7/isos/x86_64/CentOS-7-x86_64-NetInstall-1511.iso.

    Its sha256sum is
    9ed9ffb5d89ab8cca834afce354daa70a21dcb410f58287d6316259ff89758f5, which matches sha256sum.txt.

    I booted from the ISO, selected “installation source” and entered
    “mirror.sfo12.us.leaseweb.net/CentOS/7/isos/x86_64/” in the field to the right of the “http://” prefix.

    Anaconda downloaded the package list and allowed me to select package groups.

  • After setting up again another the next morning (yesterday), mit didn’t work either. The networking was set up alright– the third time setting up everything for the third time, and, after all, the configuration page confirmed networking. What could be wrong? Well, I
    went back into the networking config page and saw it was actually all wrong. It didn’t for some reason didn’t even change the configuration I put in even after clicking on “Done” (several times). Apparently,
    ‘networking connection’ to this setup page must have understood to that to mean only TCP/IP level 2 connection to the AP… yes, it could talk to the AP, but not make an actual to the network. At this point I
    couldn’t trust netinstall anymore, wiped it, and yesterday burned and loaded and installed a LiveCD.

    Days ago, when wrestling with repos setting up, it occurred to me it would be nice for the app to have a small console in it, something which could be used to confirm (by hand) networking was correct and that URLs were there and active… it would be simple. Apparently it’s a bad idea for some reason to make any improvements over what comes from upstream.
    (Sigh.)

    Thanks, Fred, for the tip. I’ll augment your tip: don’t believe it when the netinstall configuration says it’s (allegedly) correctly configured.

  • ….

    What I described was plenty enough for anyone who’s been through the netinstall configuration before. There’s no point in explanation a simple gui for those who don’t what I’m talking about.

    I installed netinstall without a problem.

    Well, I prefer md5sums, so pretty much the same. Moreover, k3b, the app I use to burn CDs talks md5sums, not shasums.

    Yeah, I did all that exactly the same. It’s pretty idiot-proof for just about anyone to do all that correctly.

    And that means success… which I didn’t get… because something in netinstall wasn’t working right. See my response in this thread to what I wrote to Fred. You’ve given me a lot of good and pivotal help and info in past here, I appreciate all that very much. That’s for sharing my frustration. Believe me, I’ve had a lot myself.

  • During installation CTRL-ALT-F2, I believe, wikll give you a console at which you can verify the networking configuration. To be honest, I can never remember which of the screens accessible by ctrl-alt-fX is the right one, but I think it’s f2, and its not hard to tell by trying f2, f3, etc.

  • Okay, so that’s why I saw that chick with all that text tattooed on her thigh. Hmmm.

    Seriously, that would be a good little piece of documentation they could put on the GUI… also how to return from the console back to the GUI.

    Too late, but thanks for the info anyway.

  • It might look that way to you, as a new user, but all along the way you’re making choices that you take for granted, but can affect the outcome of the process. In order for us to help you troubleshoot a technical problem, you need to describe very specifically the steps you took before you saw the problem.

    It’s easy enough to *say* that “it’s pretty fool-proof” but you were describing a series of attempts using input that definitely wouldn’t have worked. You were mixing /7/ in the download URL, which is a symlink to /7.2.1511/, with /7.1.1503/. IIRC, you can’t mix those. Installation media has to match the installation tree. You were also trying URLs that weren’t even install trees, but ISO directories.

    Anyway, I hope this thread convinces some people that minimal and netinstall should not be recommended to new users.

  • Switch to the VC’s and see what the error message is in the logs. do you have networking setup at this point ? is it working as you’d expect ?

  • I’m going crazy! I made a USB drive that booted just fine, but that’s not enough. I need more. I’ve tried all the URLs listed and every time I get an error message –
    ERROR SETTING UP BASE REPOSITORY
    What does this mean? Is the URL bad? Network unreachable?
    Why not a list of URLs to pick from?

    I copied an iso image, but it says the media is bad.
    It wasn’t bad when I booted up. Why is it bad now.
    I tried adding another USB device, but it doesn’t see it.

    What can I do? I’ve spent hours with nothing to show for it.

    Please, Please help!

  • So i am not the only one having problems with net installation looks good so download the full installation instead thanks