“Section %packages does not end with %end. Pane is dead” Error in CentOS 8 / RHEL 8

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 at 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“

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 file present in ISO. 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.

#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.

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 problems, just let me know through your comments. If you have any other suggestions, do let me know.
 

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