Hello All,

I would like to install some as basic as possible Centos7 machines.
They need to do only this one thing: lauch virt-viewer.
So ideally we would start the machine and see one as big as possible
virt-viewer icon that people can click on.
I know there's a world of minimal desktops out there....
Can anyone offer some guidance?
Many thanks.

J.

read the on screen instructions on the install dvd !

install a server text only install

i hope you are aware that your install is not going to be all that minimal if you need the graphical user interface.

but yes, install text only, and from there simply install virt-viewer. this should pull in all dependencies, including the X server, i guess.
from there you still have to figure out how to start the x server & virt viewer on login.
probably just an "exec startx" and "virt-viewer" in your ~/.xinitrc.

nota bene, these are generic instructions, not specific to centos.

Hello John and Ondoho,

thanks for the replies.

With on screen instructions, I guess you mean the choices one gets in Anaconda.
These are:
Minimal Install
Compute Node
Infrastructure Server
File and Print Server
Basic Web Server
Virtualization Host
Server with GUI
GNOME Desktop
KDE Plasma Workspaces
Development and Creative Workstation

From this list, I find it difficult to see which is best suited for launching just one application.
So I went for server with GUI. Thats 1200 packages, not very minimal.

With server with text, I suppose you mean minimal install.
I'm gonna try that, or else use my usual Mate desktop.
So marking this as solved.

Greetings, J.

A GUI is not minimal...there are going to be a lot of packages it needs to bring in.

Minimal will not have a GUI, no X at all. You'll need to install it with yum after-the-fact, which will bring you right back up to the 1200 packages the "Server with GUI" option includes.