If you are looking for a solution to fix the error “Section %packages does not end with %end. Pane is dead” while installing CentOS 8 / RHEL 8 on VMware workstation, then this is the article for you.
In our previous article, we showed you how to install CentOS 8 on VMware workstation and during that time we faced above-mentioned error, which did not allow us to install CentOS 8.
It seems to be a CentOS 8 bug in the first thought, but after researching I found some people also faced the same issue and were asked to contact their Virtual software vendors.
So I started contemplating and thought to check the settings of my virtual machine on VMware Workstation and surprisingly, I found CD/DVD drive added to my virtual machine hardware settings which were using autoinst.iso image.
Don’t know why VMware Workstation added this extra drive without asking or giving any notice. I tried to analyze the content of the autoinst.iso which was present in the same location as my CentOS 8 virtual machine files according to the error “The following error occurred on line 31 of the kickstart file: Section %packages does not end with %end. Pane is dead”
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C:\Users\<account>\Documents\Virtual Machines\Cent8 |
Content of autoinst.iso
After analyzing, I was not able to link the line number on the error message to KS.CFG present on ISO file. Below are the screenshot and content of KS.cfg for your reference. If you want you can take a look and let me know your thoughts.
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lang en_US #langsupport --default en_US network --bootproto dhcp cdrom keyboard us zerombr yes clearpart --all --initlabel part /boot --size 300 part swap --recommended part / --size 3000 --grow #part biosboot --fstype=biosboot --size=1 install #mouse generic3ps/2 firstboot --disable firewall --enabled timezone --utc America/Los_Angeles xconfig --startxonboot --resolution=800x600 rootpw --iscrypted $1$uzIbrDro$RhfwbnmqkvsVwwORfm9Vo1 reboot auth --useshadow --enablemd5 bootloader --location=mbr #key --skip %packages python @ X Window System @ GNOME Desktop Environment @ Graphical Internet @ Development Tools #%end %post if [ -f /boot/grub/menu.lst -a ! -h /boot/grub/menu.lst ]; then cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.bak && sed -i 's/ rhgb//' /boot/grub/menu.lst; fi if [ -f /boot/grub/grub.conf -a ! -h /boot/grub/grub.conf ]; then cp /boot/grub/grub.conf /boot/grub/grub.conf.bak && sed -i 's/ rhgb//' /boot/grub/grub.conf; fi if [ -f /boot/grub2/grub.conf -a ! -h /boot/grub2/grub.conf ]; then cp /boot/grub2/grub.conf /boot/grub2/grub.conf.bak && sed -i 's/ rhgb//' /boot/grub2/grub.conf; fi if [ -f /etc/rc.d/rc.local ]; then cp /etc/rc.d/rc.local /etc/rc.d/rc.local.backup; fi cat >>/etc/rc.d/rc.local <<EOF #!/bin/bash echo echo "Installing VMware Tools, please wait..." if [ -x /usr/sbin/getenforce ]; then oldenforce=\$(/usr/sbin/getenforce); /usr/sbin/setenforce permissive || true; fi mkdir -p /tmp/vmware-toolsmnt0 for i in hda sr0 scd0; do mount -t iso9660 /dev/\$i /tmp/vmware-toolsmnt0 && break; done cp -a /tmp/vmware-toolsmnt0 /opt/vmware-tools-installer chmod 755 /opt/vmware-tools-installer cd /opt/vmware-tools-installer mv upgra32 vmware-tools-upgrader-32 mv upgra64 vmware-tools-upgrader-64 mv upgrade.sh run_upgrader.sh chmod +x /opt/vmware-tools-installer/*upgr* umount /tmp/vmware-toolsmnt0 rmdir /tmp/vmware-toolsmnt0 if [ -x /usr/bin/rhgb-client ]; then /usr/bin/rhgb-client --quit; fi cd /opt/vmware-tools-installer for s in sr0 sr1; do eject -s /dev/\$s; done ./run_upgrader.sh if [ -f /etc/rc.d/rc.local.backup ]; then mv /etc/rc.d/rc.local.backup /etc/rc.d/rc.local; else rm -f /etc/rc.d/rc.local; fi rm -rf /opt/vmware-tools-installer sed -i 's/3:initdefault/5:initdefault/' /etc/inittab if [ -f /boot/grub/menu.lst.bak ]; then mv /boot/grub/menu.lst.bak /boot/grub/menu.lst; fi if [ -f /boot/grub/grub.conf.bak ]; then mv /boot/grub/grub.conf.bak /boot/grub/grub.conf; fi if [ -f /boot/grub2/grub.conf.bak ]; then mv /boot/grub2/grub.conf.bak /boot/grub2/grub.conf; fi if [ -x /usr/sbin/getenforce ]; then /usr/sbin/setenforce \$oldenforce || true; fi if [ -x /bin/systemd ]; then systemctl restart prefdm.service; else telinit 5; fi EOF chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.local if [ -x /bin/systemd ]; then systemctl enable rc-local.service; fi /usr/sbin/adduser pawan /usr/sbin/usermod -p '$1$uzIbrDro$RhfwbnmqkvsVwwORfm9Vo1' pawan /usr/bin/chfn -f "Pawan" pawan /bin/echo done #%end |
The Solution
The solution to this problem is very simple.
Just after checking the content of autoinst.iso, I thought to remove the extra CD/DVD drive from the hardware setting and it worked without any issue.
Please check the below screenshot for the same.
Buy me a coffee
I hope this tutorial has helped you and now you are able to install CentOS 8 / RHEL 8 without any problem. If you are still facing any problem, just let me know through your comments. If you have any other suggestions, do let me know.
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Salma
Thank you it’s working !!
Pradeep Pant
Thanks Pawan. Disabling another CD drive resolved the issue. Thanks for sharing.
Pawan Bahuguna
Glad that it worked for you and you have a great blog. Keep sharing your knowledge through it.
Troy
Thanks for the write up. I’m sure the solution that you gave worked, but I tweaked it just a bit and just unchecked the “start at bootup” box and it worked as well. I am thinking that this second CD drive is the either the easy install or vmtools that VMWare is wanting to load.
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Troy,
Thanks for taking the time to write the comment. I think your suggestion is also great, I would try that out.
scottj
Your solution saved me. Thank you!
Pawan Bahuguna
Thanks for reading the solution and commenting.
adapa
or
if no second cd created,
make vm then add the iso
Ap_Roll
it worked! thanks
Pawan Bahuguna
Glad that it worked. Keep visiting.