I'm using centos and trying to install a virt machine under KVM using the command line. I have 4 running right now that i installed through the gui. I can even install through the kickstarterfile in the gui.

However when i try to install in the command prompt i get these errors
this is from tail -f /var/log/messages
kvm: 5964: cpu unimplemented perfctr wrmsr 0xc1 data 0x0
kvm: 5964: cpu unimplemented perfctr wrmsr 0x186 data 0x130079
kvm: 5964: cpu unimplemented perfctr wrmsr 0xc1 data 0xffd74fa0
kvm: 5964: cpu unimplemented perfctr wrmsr 0x186 data 0x530079

this is from tail -f /var/log/messages

the command that i use to install is this

virt-install -n tester3.example.com -r 1500 --disk path=/home/user/KVM/images/tester3.example.com.img,size=20 -l /home/user/RHSCA/CentOS-6.0.iso

i have tried virt-install --prompt, and also the above virt-install command with a kickstart file changing the locations and adding the -x flag as well.

[edit]
the only help i found on google was this website http://wiki.atollon.com/en/tech/KVM i followed the "solution" and typed
yum upgrade kernel kvm kvm-kmod kvm-tools
reboot
and still no luck....

Please help guys

Hi,

As you're building from an ISO I think you should be using the -c option:

The -l is the location argument and is what you would use for a distribution tree installation source, such as an HTTP/NFS/FTP location or an actual copy of your ISO's contents to a directory.

I've used both the -c and -l options fine with RHEL 6.2.

Hope this helps.

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By the way, the "errors" you mention in syslog are actually nothing to worry about. They are just harmless CPU probing messages that can be safely ignored. The OS is probing to see what PMU (Intel Performance Monitoring Units) are available on your processor. This happens when you initialise or reboot a VM guest.

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@ maccas17

thanks you so much for this bit of information. I have looked up the man for the virt-install command and see what you are talking about.
I am not able to try it out today. However, i will have my computer available to me tomorrow and i will try that out then. Your logic makes sense to me. We will have to see...

i have taken your advice and ran the following commands here

virt-install -n tester3.example.com -r 1500 -f/home/user/KVM/images/tester3.example.com.img -s 20 -c /home/user/RHSCA/CentOS-6.0.iso

no luck here.

i thought maybe i was having permission issues, so i have a dvd centos 6.0 i stuck it and ran the following command

virt-install -n tester3.example.com -r 1500 --disk path=/home/user/KVM/images/tester3.example.com.img,size=20 --cdrom /dev/cdrom/

no luck again, infact i get a new error with that one
boot failed: could not read from cdrom (code 003)

i do not think i am being specific enough when this error occurs, i get to the welcome to centos screen and then when i press enter to install it attempts to load vmlinuz......the errors appear then. here is a link to Imgur to help clarify.
https://imgur.com/a/VhqoH

I'm not quite clear on your setup.

Do you have X installed on your host and your display exported to the client you're using? If so, then it should default to VNC and open up a console on the guest. Is this working ok?
Are you trying to install CentOS in text only mode? Did you press tab at the installer screen and add the word "text" to the end of the vmlinuz boot string?

When you created your guest what does "virsh list --all" display?

Do you want to install without VNC using the CLI only? If so, might want to look at the following options:
(Though if you're using these options you would need to mount your CentOS iso locally and use the -l option, as the above does not work with -c option)

1 members found this post helpful.

@ maccas
Yes I am trying to install without VNC with the CLI only. I didn't understand all the options that i had. I thought that it would install but i see that it automaticly defaults to vnc if certain packages are installed "GUI" I have been working on this for months on and off.

So the command that i ran to make this work with no problems at all is this

virt-install -n tester123.example.com -r 1500 -f /home/user/KVM/images/tester123.example.com.img -s 20 --nographics -l /home/mnobile/RHCSA/CentOS6.0.iso -x "console=ttyS0"

and that command worked fine no problems at all.

i still have a couple more questions if you could help me out though.
when you are connected to the KVM with a command like virsh console tester123.example.com
can change to other terminals like you can on the host example:"ctrl+alt+f2"


I was wondering if there are any tutorials that you know of to help me learn more about KVM, and or online labs... something like that.

Thanks again.