Anaconda Boot Options

Authors:: Anaconda Developers <anaconda-devel@lists.fedoraproject.org> Will Woods <wwoods@redhat.com> Anne Mulhern <amulhern@redhat.com>

These are the boot options that are useful when starting Anaconda. For more information refer to the appropriate Installation Guide for your release and to the Anaconda wiki.

Anaconda bootup is handled by dracut, so most of the kernel arguments handled by dracut are also valid. See dracut.kernel(7) for details on those options.

Throughout this guide, installer-specific options are prefixed with inst (e.g. inst.ks).

Installation Source

Note

An installable tree is a directory structure containing installer images, packages, and repodata. [1]

Usually this is either a copy of the DVD media (or loopback-mounted DVD image), or the <arch>/os/ directory on the Fedora mirrors.

inst.repo

This gives the location of the Install Source - that is, the place where the installer can find its images and packages. It can be specified in a few different ways:

inst.repo=cdrom

Search the system’s CDROM drives for installer media. This is the default.

inst.repo=cdrom:<device>

Look for installer media in the specified disk device.

inst.repo=hd:<device>:<path>

Mount the given disk partition and install from ISO file on the given path. This installation method requires ISO file, which contains an installable tree.

inst.repo=[http,https,ftp]://<host>/<path>

Look for an installable tree at the given URL.

inst.repo=nfs:[<options>:]<server>:/<path>

Mount the given NFS server and path. Uses NFS version 3 by default.

You can specify what version of the NFS protocol to use by adding nfsvers=X to the options.

This accepts not just an installable tree directory in the <path> element, but you can also specify an .iso file. That ISO file is then mounted and used as the installation tree. This is often used for simulating a standard DVD installation using a remote DVD.iso image.

Note

Disk devices may be specified with any of the following forms:

Kernel Device Name: /dev/sda1, sdb2
Filesystem Label: LABEL=FLASH, LABEL=Fedora, CDLABEL=Fedora\x2023\x20x86_64
Filesystem UUID: UUID=8176c7bf-04ff-403a-a832-9557f94e61db

Non-alphanumeric characters should be escaped with \xNN, where ‘NN’ is the hexidecimal representation of the character (e.g. \x20 for the space character (’ ‘).

inst.addrepo

Add additional repository which can be used as another Installation Source next to the main repository (see inst.repo). This option can be used multiple times during one boot. This can be specified in a few different ways:

inst.addrepo=REPO_NAME,[http,https,ftp]://<host>/<path>: Look for the installable tree at the given URL.
inst.addrepo=REPO_NAME,nfs://<server>:/<path>: Look for the installable tree at the given nfs path. Note that there is a colon after the host. Anaconda passes everything after “nfs:// ” directly to the mount command instead of parsing URLs according to RFC 2224.
inst.addrepo=REPO_NAME,file://<path>: Look for the installable tree at the given location in the installation environment. Beware, to be able to use this variant the repo needs to be mounted before Anaconda tries to use it (load available software groups). The main usage for this command is having multiple repositories on one bootable ISO and install both the main repo and additional repositories from this ISO. The path to the additional repositories will be then /run/install/source/REPO_ISO_PATH. Another solution can be to mount this repo directory in the %pre section in the kickstart file. NOTE: The path must be absolute and start with / so the final url starts with file:///….
inst.addrepo=REPO_NAME,hd:<device>:<path>: Mount the given <device> partition and install from ISO specified by the <path>. If the <path> is not specified Anaconda will look for the valid installation ISO on the <device>. This installation method requires ISO with a valid installable tree. For more detail how to specify <device> argument part please see diskdev.

The REPO_NAME is name of the repository and it is a required part. The name will be used in the installation process. These repositories will be used only during the installation but they will not be installed to the installed system.

inst.noverifyssl

Prevents Anaconda from verifying the ssl certificate for all HTTPS connections with an exception of the additional repositories added by kickstart (where –noverifyssl can be set per repo). Newly created additional repositories will honor this option.

inst.proxy

inst.proxy=PROXY_URL

Use the given proxy settings when performing an installation from a HTTP/HTTPS/FTP source. The PROXY_URL can be specified like this: [PROTOCOL://][USERNAME[:PASSWORD]@]HOST[:PORT].

inst.stage2

This specifies the location to fetch only the installer runtime image; packages will be ignored. Otherwise the same as inst.repo.

inst.stage2.all

All locations of type http, https or ftp specified with inst.stage2 will be used sequentially one by one until the image is fetched. Other locations will be ignored.

In the following example, Anaconda will try to fetch the image at first from http://a, then from http://b and finally from http://c.

inst.stage2=http://a inst.stage2=http://b inst.stage2=http://c inst.stage2.all

Without the boot option inst.stage2.all, Anaconda will try to fetch the image only from http://c, as usual.

inst.stage2=http://a inst.stage2=http://b inst.stage2=http://c

inst.dd

This specifies the location for driver rpms. May be specified multiple times. Locations may be specified using any of the formats allowed for inst.repo.

inst.multilib

This sets dnf’s multilib_policy to “all” (as opposed to “best”).

Kickstart

inst.ks

Give the location of a kickstart file to be used to automate the install. Locations may be specified using any of the formats allowed for inst.repo.

For any format the <path> component defaults to /ks.cfg if it is omitted.

For NFS kickstarts, if the <path> ends in /, <ip>-kickstart is added.

If inst.ks is used without a value, the installer will look for nfs:<next_server>:/<filename>

<next_server> is the DHCP “next-server” option, or the IP of the DHCP server itself
<filename> is the DHCP “filename” option, or /kickstart/, and if the filename given ends in /, <ip>-kickstart is added (as above)

For example:

DHCP server: 192.168.122.1
client address: 192.168.122.100
kickstart file: nfs:192.168.122.1:/kickstart/192.168.122.100-kickstart

inst.ks.all

Use all locations of type http, https or ftp specified with multiple inst.ks sequentially one by one until kickstart file is fetched. Locations of other types (eg. nfs) will be ignored.

Without this option, only last location specified by inst.ks is used.

In the following example, Anaconda will try to fetch the kickstart file at first from http://a/a.ks, then from http://b/b.ks and finally from http://c/c.ks.

inst.ks=http://a/a.ks inst.ks=http://b/b.ks inst.ks=http://c/c.ks inst.ks.all

Without the boot option inst.ks.all, Anaconda will try to fetch the kickstart file only from http://c/c.ks, as usual.

inst.ks=http://a/a.ks inst.ks=http://b/b.ks inst.ks=http://c/c.ks

inst.ks.sendmac

Add headers to outgoing HTTP requests which include the MAC addresses of all network interfaces. The header is of the form:

X-RHN-Provisioning-MAC-0: eth0 01:23:45:67:89:ab

This is helpful when using inst.ks=http... to provision systems.

inst.ks.sendsn

Add a header to outgoing HTTP requests which includes the system’s serial number. [2]

The header is of the form:

X-System-Serial-Number: <serial>

inst.ksstrict

With this option, all warnings from reading the kickstart file will be treated as errors. They will be printed on the output and the installation will terminate immediately.

By default, the warnings are printed to logs and the installation continues.

Network Options

Initial network setup is handled by dracut. For detailed information consult the “Network” section of dracut.kernel(7).

The most common dracut network options are covered here, along with some installer-specific options.

ip

Configure one (or more) network interfaces. You can use multiple ip arguments to configure multiple interfaces, but if you do you must specify an interface for every ip= argument, and you must specify which interface is the primary boot interface with bootdev.

Accepts a few different forms; the most common are:

ip=<dhcp|dhcp6|auto6|ibft>

Try to bring up every interface using the given autoconf method. Defaults to ip=dhcp if network is required by inst.repo, inst.ks, inst.updates, etc.

ip=<interface>:<autoconf>

Bring up only one interface using the given autoconf method, e.g. ip=eth0:dhcp.

ip=<ip>::<gateway>:<netmask>:<hostname>:<interface>:none

Bring up the given interface with a static network config, where:

<ip>
The client IP address. IPv6 addresses may be specified by putting them in square brackets, like so: [2001:DB8::1].

<gateway>
The default gateway. IPv6 addresses are accepted here too.

<netmask>
The netmask (e.g. 255.255.255.0) or prefix (e.g. 64).

<hostname>
Hostname for the client machine. This component is optional.

ip=<ip>::<gateway>:<netmask>:<hostname>:<interface>:<autoconf>:<mtu>

Bring up the given interface with the given autoconf method, but override the automatically obtained IP/gateway/etc. with the provided values.

Technically all of the items are optional, so if you want to use dhcp but also set a hostname you can use ip=::::<hostname>::dhcp.

nameserver

Specify the address of a nameserver to use. May be used multiple times.

bootdev

Specify which interface is the boot device. Required if multiple ip= options are used.

ifname

ifname=<interface>:<MAC>: Assign the given interface name to the network device with the given MAC. May be used multiple times.

Note

Dracut applies ifname option (which might involve renaming the device with given MAC) in initramfs only if the device is activated in initramfs stage (based on ip= option). If it is not the case, installer still binds the current device name to the MAC by adding HWADDR setting to the ifcfg file of the device.

inst.dhcpclass

Set the DHCP vendor class identifier [3]. Defaults to anaconda-$(uname -srm).

inst.waitfornet

inst.waitfornet=<TIMEOUT_IN_SECONDS>: Wait for network connectivity at the beginning of the second stage of installation (after switchroot from early initramfs stage when the installer process is run).

inst.net.noautodefault

Configures NetworkManager so that it does not create default automatic connections, which are the wired connections created and activated for any Ethernet device that does not have a connection configured. These connections are created in installer environment by NetworkManager during its start in post switch-root stage of installation and are passed also to installed system.

Console / Display Options

console

This is a kernel option that specifies what device to use as the primary console. For example, if your console should be on the first serial port, use console=ttyS0.

You can use multiple console= options; boot messages will be displayed on all consoles, but anaconda will put its display on the last console listed.

Implies inst.text.

inst.lang

Set the language to be used during installation. The language specified must be valid for the lang kickstart command.

inst.geoloc

Configure geolocation usage in Anaconda. Geolocation is used to pre-set language and time zone.

inst.geoloc=0: Disables geolocation.
inst.geoloc=provider_fedora_geoip: Use the Fedora GeoIP API (default).
inst.geoloc=provider_hostip: Use the Hostip.info GeoIP API.

inst.geoloc-use-with-ks

Enable geolocation even during a kickstart installation (both partial and fully automatic). Otherwise geolocation is only enabled during a fully interactive installation.

inst.keymap

Set the keyboard layout to use. The layout specified must be valid for use with the keyboard kickstart command.

inst.cmdline

Run the installer in command-line mode. This mode does not allow any interaction; all options must be specified in a kickstart file or on the command line.

inst.graphical

Run the installer in graphical mode. This is the default.

inst.text

Run the installer using a limited text-based UI. Unless you’re using a kickstart file this probably isn’t a good idea; you should use VNC instead.

inst.noninteractive

Run the installer in a non-interactive mode. This mode does not allow any user interaction and can be used with graphical or text mode. With text mode it behaves the same as the inst.cmdline mode.

inst.resolution

Specify screen size for the installer. Use format nxm, where n is the number of horizontal pixels, m the number of vertical pixels. The lowest supported resolution is 800x600.

inst.vnc

Run the installer GUI in a VNC session. You will need a VNC client application to interact with the installer. VNC sharing is enabled, so multiple clients may connect.

A system installed with VNC will start in text mode (runlevel 3).

inst.vncpassword

Set a password on the VNC server used by the installer.

inst.vncconnect

inst.vncconnect=<host>[:<port>]

Once the install starts, connect to a listening VNC client at the given host. Default port is 5900.

Use with vncviewer -listen.

inst.xdriver

Specify the X driver that should be used during installation and on the installed system.

inst.usefbx

Use the framebuffer X driver (fbdev) rather than a hardware-specific driver.

Equivalent to inst.xdriver=fbdev.

inst.xtimeout

Specify the timeout in seconds for starting X server.

inst.sshd

Start up sshd during system installation. You can then ssh in while the installation progresses to debug or monitor its progress.

Caution

The root account has no password by default. You can set one using the sshpw kickstart command.

Debugging and Troubleshooting

inst.debug

Run the installer in the debugging mode.

inst.rescue

Run the rescue environment. This is useful for trying to diagnose and fix broken systems.

inst.updates

Give the location of an updates.img to be applied to the installer runtime. Locations may be specified using any of the formats allowed for inst.repo.

For any format the <path> component defaults to /updates.img if it is omitted.

inst.nokill

A debugging option that prevents anaconda from and rebooting when a fatal error occurs or at the end of the installation process.

inst.noshell

Do not put a shell on tty2 during install.

inst.notmux

Do not use tmux during install. This allows for output to get generated without terminal control characters and is really meant for non-interactive uses.

inst.syslog

inst.syslog=<host>[:<port>]

Once installation is running, send log messages to the syslog process on the given host. The default port is 514 (UDP).

Requires the remote syslog process to accept incoming connections.

inst.virtiolog

Forward logs through the named virtio port (a character device at /dev/virtio-ports/<name>).

If not provided, a port named org.fedoraproject.anaconda.log.0 will be used by default, if found.

See the Anaconda wiki logging page for more info on setting up logging via virtio.

inst.wait_for_disks

Because disks can take some time to appear, an additional delay of 5 seconds has been added. This can be overridden by boot argument inst.wait_for_disks=<value> to let dracut wait up to <value> additional seconds (0 turns the feature off, causing dracut to only wait up to 500ms). Alternatively, if the OEMDRV device is known to be present but too slow to be autodetected, the user can boot with an argument like inst.dd=hd:LABEL=OEMDRV to indicate that dracut should expect an OEMDRV device and not start the installer until it appears.

This functionality could be used to load kickstart and driverdisks.

Boot loader options

inst.extlinux

Use extlinux as the bootloader. Note that there’s no attempt to validate that this will work for your platform or anything; it assumes that if you ask for it, you want to try.

inst.sdboot

Use systemd-boot as the bootloader. Note that there’s no attempt to validate that this will work for your platform or anything; it assumes that if you ask for it, you want to try.

inst.leavebootorder

Boot the drives in their existing order, to override the default of booting into the newly installed drive on Power Systems servers and EFI systems. This is useful for systems that, for example, should network boot first before falling back to a local boot.

Storage options

inst.disklabel

Prefer creation of the specified disk label type. Specify gpt to prefer creation of GPT disk labels. Specify mbr to prefer creation of MBR disk labels if supported.

inst.gpt

Prefer creation of GPT disk labels. This option is deprecated and will be removed in future releases. Use inst.disklabel=gpt instead.

Other options

inst.selinux

Enable SELinux usage in the installed system (default). Note that when used as a boot option, “selinux” and “inst.selinux” are not the same. The “selinux” option is picked up by both the kernel and Anaconda, but “inst.selinux” is processed only by Anaconda. So when “selinux=0” is used, SELinux will be disabled both in the installation environment and in the installed system, but when “inst.selinux=0” is used SELinux will only be disabled in the installation environment. Also note that while SELinux is running in the installation environment by default, it is running in permissive mode so disabling it there does not make much sense.

inst.nosave

Controls what installation results should not be saved to the installed system, valid values are: “input_ks”, “output_ks”, “all_ks”, “logs” and “all”.

input_ks: Disables saving of the input kickstart (if any).
output_ks: Disables saving of the output kickstart generated by Anaconda.
all_ks: Disables saving of both input and output kickstarts.
logs: Disables saving of all installation logs.
all: Disables saving of all kickstarts and all logs.

Multiple values can be combined as a comma separated list, for example: input_ks,logs

Note

The nosave option is meant for excluding files from the installed system that can’t be removed by a kickstart %post script, such as logs and input/output kickstarts.

inst.nonibftiscsiboot

Allows to place boot loader on iSCSI devices which were not configured in iBFT.

Profile options

Use the inst.profile option to specify a configuration profile. The installer will be customized based on configuration files from /etc/anaconda/profile.d that are specific for this profile.

inst.profile

Specify a profile id of a configuration profile. The id should match the profile_id option of a configuration file in /etc/anaconda/profile.d.

For example: inst.profile=fedora-server

Third-party options

Since Fedora 19 the Anaconda installer supports third-party extensions called addons. The addons can support their own set of boot options which should be documented in their documentation or submitted here.

inst.kdump_addon

inst.kdump_addon=on/off

Enable kdump anaconda addon to setup the kdump service.

Deprecated Options

These options should still be accepted by the installer, but they are deprecated and may be removed soon.

method

This is an alias for inst.repo.

dns

Use nameserver instead. Note that nameserver does not accept comma-separated lists; use multiple nameserver options instead.

netmask, gateway, hostname

These can be provided as part of the ip option.

ip=bootif

A PXE-supplied BOOTIF option will be used automatically, so there’s no need

ksdevice

Not present: The first device with a usable link is used
ksdevice=link: Ignored (this is the same as the default behavior)
ksdevice=bootif: Ignored (this is the default if BOOTIF= is present)
ksdevice=ibft: Replaced with ip=ibft. See ip
ksdevice=<MAC>: Replaced with BOOTIF=${MAC/:/-}
ksdevice=<DEV>: Replaced with bootdev

inst.nompath

This was used to disable support for multipath devices. Anaconda did not support proper multipath disabling for a long time, the only thing this did was disable parts of GUI.

Removed Options

These options are obsolete and have been removed.

askmethod, asknetwork

Anaconda’s initramfs is now is completely non-interactive, so these have been removed.

Instead, use inst.repo or specify appropriate Network Options.

blacklist, nofirewire

modprobe handles adding kernel modules to a denylist on its own; try modprobe.blacklist=<mod1>,<mod2>...

You can add the firewire module to a denylist with modprobe.blacklist=firewire_ohci.

serial

This option was never intended for public use; it was supposed to be used to force anaconda to use /dev/ttyS0 as its console when testing it on a live machine.

Use console=ttyS0 or similar instead. See console for details.

updates

Use inst.updates instead.

essid, wepkey, wpakey

Dracut doesn’t support wireless networking, so these don’t do anything.

ethtool

Who needs to force half-duplex 10-base-T anymore?

gdb

This was used to debug loader, so it has been removed. There are plenty of options for debugging dracut-based initramfs - see the dracut “Troubleshooting” guide.

inst.loglevel

The log level is always set to debug.

inst.mediacheck

Use the dracut option rd.live.check instead.

ks=floppy

We no longer support floppy drives. Try inst.ks=hd:<device> instead.

display

For remote display of the UI, use inst.vnc.

utf8

All this option actually did was set TERM=vt100. The default TERM setting works fine these days, so this was no longer necessary.

noipv6

ipv6 is built into the kernel and can’t be removed by anaconda.

You can disable ipv6 with ipv6.disable=1. This setting will be carried onto the installed system.

upgradeany

Anaconda doesn’t handle upgrades anymore.

inst.repo=hd:<device>:<path> for installable tree

Anaconda can’t use this option with installable tree but only with an ISO file.

inst.zram

Anaconda doesn’t run zram.service anymore. See zram-generator for more information.

inst.singlelang

Anaconda does not support single language mode anymore.

repo=nfsiso:…

Anaconda no longer needs explicit specification that an NFS location is an ISO image. The difference between an installable tree and a dir with an .iso file is now automatically detected, so this is the same as inst.repo=nfs:…

inst.nodmraid

Anaconda no longer supports dmraid, BIOS/Firmware RAID devices are now handled by mdadm.

inst.product

Use the inst.profile option instead.

inst.variant

Use the inst.profile option instead.