LiveCD/LiveOS boot hangs

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moocan
Posts: 1
Joined: 2019/02/05 17:47:24

LiveCD/LiveOS boot hangs

Post by moocan » 2019/02/05 21:12:24

Hello,

To update many old servers in production and never updated it is required to perform these updates using an CentOS 5.x.
The updates won't run with newer version of CentOS due to bash 4.
I know it is old and no more supported (EOL) but it is the only way to update servers.
I don't want to spam the forum but I don't know where I can ask advices and help.

I found a CentOS 5.6 LiveCD (CentOS-5.6-i386-LiveCD.iso) hosted on vault servers.

I tried to dd this iso on an USB key .... but boot hangs with 'cannot find root file system!'

I tried to boot the iso using grub2 command line:

Code: Select all

loopback loop /boot/img/CentOS-5.6-i386-LiveCD.iso
set root=(loop)
linux /isolinux/vmlinuz0 root=CDLABEL=CentOS-5.6-i386-LiveCD rootfstype=iso9660 ro quiet liveimg
initrd /isolinux/initrd0.img
boot

Code: Select all

loopback loop /boot/img/CentOS-5.6-i386-LiveCD.iso
set root=(loop)
linux /isolinux/vmlinuz0 root=/LiveOS/squashfs.img rootfstype=iso9660 ro quiet liveimg
initrd /isolinux/initrd0.img
boot
but boot hangs with 'cannot find root file system!'

I tried to chainload the syslinux using grub2 command line

Code: Select all

loopback loop /boot/img/CentOS-5.6-i386-LiveCD.iso
set root=(loop)
syslinux_source /isolinux/isolinux.bin
syslinux_configfile /isolinux/isolinux.cfg
boot
Does not work too.

Does anyone know which are the good parameters ?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Kind regards.

pjsr2
Posts: 614
Joined: 2014/03/27 20:11:07

Re: LiveCD/LiveOS boot hangs

Post by pjsr2 » 2019/02/06 09:09:27

Since you say you want to update many machines, consider creating a local repository out of the contents of the installation DVDs. See for example https://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/CreateLocalMirror. You should use the contents of the "Full installation" DVD images. The LiveDVD iso does not contain all packages. Remember that the intended use of the LiveDVD is exactly as in its name: use as a Live CentOS system that can be run from a DVD. The LiveDVD iso cannot be used for installation.

Another approach is to use the "reposync" command to create a local copy of a repository from one of the CentOS mirrors on the net. The procedure for that is in viewtopic.php?t=61184#p258443. This approach has the advantage that it also provides you with updated packages, which are not on the DVD. You can even later on update your local repository by running reposync again.

You can make your local repository available in two ways: export it with NFS and mount it on the clients. This method is explained in the first link above. Alternatively, serve the contents of your repository through a web server. This method is used in the second link above.

Remember that you can only update within a major release ( so 5.X --> 5.Y is possible). You cannot update between major releases, so for example 5.x --> 6.Y is impossible.

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