Unattended Installation of RedHat Enterprise Linux 9.7 on VirtualBox
The following steps describe an unattended installation of RedHat Enterprise Linux 9.7 on VirtualBox. The host system in my case is Windows 10.
Table of Contents
General Preparations for new VM Installations
These steps have to be done once and can be used to install also other guest Operating Systems (e.g. Windows):
Add the path of vboxmanage to the Windows Path environment variable. For example with Win+r and then enter:
rundll32 sysdm.cpl,EditEnvironmentVariablesAdd C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox to the User variable Path.
A directory c:\vms for the virtual machines on the host system should exist:
mkdir c:\vms
Preparation of the Linux guest installation
Download the RedHat Enterprise Linux 9.7 iso file from RedHat and place it in the folder c:\sw. The original RedHat iso file will be modified to include the Kickstart file. These steps need to be done only once on another RHEL 9 machine or another Oracle Linux 9.5 VM:
# install the lorax tool
dnf -y install lorax
# create the Kickstart file
cat >~/ks.cfg <<'EOF'
lang en_US
keyboard --xlayouts='de'
timezone Europe/Berlin
# root password: changeme
# the password hashes can be created with: openssl passwd -6
rootpw --iscrypted $2b$10$MvOC8eg0rIsuQQnXYrkslOXsvDOe8XLPd8YIgYoMvtGHySbP1nQCG
user --name=user1 --iscrypted --password=$2b$10$MvOC8eg0rIsuQQnXYrkslOXsvDOe8XLPd8YIgYoMvtGHySbP1nQCG
reboot
text
cdrom
bootloader --append="quiet crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G:512M"
zerombr
clearpart --all --initlabel
autopart --type=plain --nohome
network --bootproto=dhcp --device=link --onboot=on
firstboot --disable
selinux --disabled
firewall --disabled
%packages
@^graphical-server-environment
kernel-headers
kernel-devel
glibc-devel
glibc-headers
gcc
elfutils-libelf-devel
make
bzip2
perl
%end
%post --interpreter=/usr/bin/bash --log=/root/ks-post.log
# permit root login
sed -i 's/^#PermitRootLogin.*/PermitRootLogin yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# install VirtualBox Guest Additions
df -h
mkdir -p /tmp/vboxcdrom
mount /dev/sr1 /tmp/vboxcdrom
/usr/bin/bash /tmp/vboxcdrom/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
umount /tmp/vboxcdrom
rmdir /tmp/vboxcdrom
%end
EOF
# remove a previous custom iso image and create the new one
rm -f /sw/rhel_9.7_uefi_custom.iso
mkksiso --ks ~/ks.cfg -R "set default=\"1\"" "set default=\"0\"" -R "set timeout=60" "set timeout=5" /sw/rhel-9.7-x86_64-dvd.iso /sw/rhel_9.7_uefi_custom.iso
Sample Output (click to expand):
[root@lin1 ~]# # install the lorax tool
[root@lin1 ~]# dnf -y install lorax
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 9 - x86_64 82 kB/s | 34 kB 00:00
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 9 - x86_64 3.3 MB/s | 21 MB 00:06
Oracle Linux 9 BaseOS Latest (x86_64) 40 kB/s | 4.3 kB 00:00
Oracle Linux 9 BaseOS Latest (x86_64) 10 MB/s | 119 MB 00:11
Oracle Linux 9 Application Stream Packages (x86_64) 38 kB/s | 4.5 kB 00:00
Oracle Linux 9 Application Stream Packages (x86_64) 9.6 MB/s | 88 MB 00:09
Oracle Linux 9 UEK Release 7 (x86_64) 43 kB/s | 3.5 kB 00:00
Oracle Linux 9 UEK Release 7 (x86_64) 11 MB/s | 100 MB 00:09
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:17 ago on Tue 21 Apr 2026 09:00:00 PM CEST.
Dependencies resolved.
====================================================================================================================================================
Package Architecture Version Repository Size
====================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
lorax x86_64 34.9.29-1.0.1.el9 ol9_appstream 255 k
Installing dependencies:
isomd5sum x86_64 1:1.2.3-14.el9 ol9_appstream 35 k
libburn x86_64 1.5.4-5.el9 ol9_appstream 176 k
libisoburn x86_64 1.5.4-5.el9_5 ol9_appstream 419 k
libisofs x86_64 1.5.4-4.el9 ol9_appstream 227 k
lorax-templates-generic x86_64 34.9.29-1.0.1.el9 ol9_appstream 98 k
lorax-templates-rhel noarch 9.7-3.0.1.el9 ol9_appstream 97 k
mtools x86_64 4.0.26-5.el9_7 ol9_baseos_latest 249 k
pbzip2 x86_64 1.1.13-6.el9 ol9_appstream 59 k
python3-kickstart noarch 3.32.15-1.0.2.el9 ol9_appstream 874 k
python3-mako noarch 1.1.4-6.el9 ol9_appstream 263 k
python3-pycdlib noarch 1.11.0-5.el9 ol9_appstream 297 k
syslinux x86_64 6.04-0.20.el9 ol9_baseos_latest 607 k
syslinux-nonlinux noarch 6.04-0.20.el9 ol9_baseos_latest 642 k
xorriso x86_64 1.5.4-5.el9_5 ol9_appstream 325 k
xz-lzma-compat x86_64 5.2.5-8.el9_0 ol9_appstream 21 k
Transaction Summary
====================================================================================================================================================
Install 16 Packages
Total size: 4.5 M
Installed size: 11 M
Downloading Packages:
[SKIPPED] mtools-4.0.26-5.el9_7.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] syslinux-6.04-0.20.el9.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] syslinux-nonlinux-6.04-0.20.el9.noarch.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] isomd5sum-1.2.3-14.el9.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] libburn-1.5.4-5.el9.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] libisoburn-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] libisofs-1.5.4-4.el9.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] lorax-34.9.29-1.0.1.el9.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] lorax-templates-generic-34.9.29-1.0.1.el9.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] lorax-templates-rhel-9.7-3.0.1.el9.noarch.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] pbzip2-1.1.13-6.el9.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] python3-kickstart-3.32.15-1.0.2.el9.noarch.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] python3-mako-1.1.4-6.el9.noarch.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] python3-pycdlib-1.11.0-5.el9.noarch.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] xorriso-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
[SKIPPED] xz-lzma-compat-5.2.5-8.el9_0.x86_64.rpm: Already downloaded
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : xz-lzma-compat-5.2.5-8.el9_0.x86_64 1/16
Installing : python3-pycdlib-1.11.0-5.el9.noarch 2/16
Installing : python3-mako-1.1.4-6.el9.noarch 3/16
Installing : python3-kickstart-3.32.15-1.0.2.el9.noarch 4/16
Installing : pbzip2-1.1.13-6.el9.x86_64 5/16
Installing : libisofs-1.5.4-4.el9.x86_64 6/16
Installing : libburn-1.5.4-5.el9.x86_64 7/16
Installing : libisoburn-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64 8/16
Running scriptlet: xorriso-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64 9/16
Installing : xorriso-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64 9/16
Running scriptlet: xorriso-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64 9/16
Installing : isomd5sum-1:1.2.3-14.el9.x86_64 10/16
Installing : mtools-4.0.26-5.el9_7.x86_64 11/16
Installing : syslinux-nonlinux-6.04-0.20.el9.noarch 12/16
Installing : syslinux-6.04-0.20.el9.x86_64 13/16
Installing : lorax-templates-generic-34.9.29-1.0.1.el9.x86_64 14/16
Installing : lorax-templates-rhel-9.7-3.0.1.el9.noarch 15/16
Installing : lorax-34.9.29-1.0.1.el9.x86_64 16/16
Running scriptlet: lorax-34.9.29-1.0.1.el9.x86_64 16/16
Verifying : mtools-4.0.26-5.el9_7.x86_64 1/16
Verifying : syslinux-6.04-0.20.el9.x86_64 2/16
Verifying : syslinux-nonlinux-6.04-0.20.el9.noarch 3/16
Verifying : isomd5sum-1:1.2.3-14.el9.x86_64 4/16
Verifying : libburn-1.5.4-5.el9.x86_64 5/16
Verifying : libisoburn-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64 6/16
Verifying : libisofs-1.5.4-4.el9.x86_64 7/16
Verifying : lorax-34.9.29-1.0.1.el9.x86_64 8/16
Verifying : lorax-templates-generic-34.9.29-1.0.1.el9.x86_64 9/16
Verifying : lorax-templates-rhel-9.7-3.0.1.el9.noarch 10/16
Verifying : pbzip2-1.1.13-6.el9.x86_64 11/16
Verifying : python3-kickstart-3.32.15-1.0.2.el9.noarch 12/16
Verifying : python3-mako-1.1.4-6.el9.noarch 13/16
Verifying : python3-pycdlib-1.11.0-5.el9.noarch 14/16
Verifying : xorriso-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64 15/16
Verifying : xz-lzma-compat-5.2.5-8.el9_0.x86_64 16/16
Installed:
isomd5sum-1:1.2.3-14.el9.x86_64 libburn-1.5.4-5.el9.x86_64 libisoburn-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64
libisofs-1.5.4-4.el9.x86_64 lorax-34.9.29-1.0.1.el9.x86_64 lorax-templates-generic-34.9.29-1.0.1.el9.x86_64
lorax-templates-rhel-9.7-3.0.1.el9.noarch mtools-4.0.26-5.el9_7.x86_64 pbzip2-1.1.13-6.el9.x86_64
python3-kickstart-3.32.15-1.0.2.el9.noarch python3-mako-1.1.4-6.el9.noarch python3-pycdlib-1.11.0-5.el9.noarch
syslinux-6.04-0.20.el9.x86_64 syslinux-nonlinux-6.04-0.20.el9.noarch xorriso-1.5.4-5.el9_5.x86_64
xz-lzma-compat-5.2.5-8.el9_0.x86_64
Complete!
[root@lin1 ~]#
[root@lin1 ~]# # create the Kickstart file
[root@lin1 ~]# cat >~/ks.cfg <<'EOF'
> lang en_US
> keyboard --xlayouts='de'
> timezone Europe/Berlin
> # root password: changeme
> # the password hashes can be created with: openssl passwd -6
> rootpw --iscrypted $2b$10$MvOC8eg0rIsuQQnXYrkslOXsvDOe8XLPd8YIgYoMvtGHySbP1nQCG
> user --name=user1 --iscrypted --password=$2b$10$MvOC8eg0rIsuQQnXYrkslOXsvDOe8XLPd8YIgYoMvtGHySbP1nQCG
> reboot
> text
> cdrom
> bootloader --append="quiet crashkernel=1G-4G:192M,4G-64G:256M,64G:512M"
> zerombr
> clearpart --all --initlabel
> autopart --type=plain --nohome
> network --bootproto=dhcp
> firstboot --disable
> selinux --disabled
> firewall --disabled
> %packages
> @^graphical-server-environment
> kernel-headers
> kernel-devel
> glibc-devel
> glibc-headers
> gcc
> elfutils-libelf-devel
> make
> bzip2
> perl
> %end
> %post --interpreter=/usr/bin/bash --log=/root/ks-post.log
> # permit root login
> sed -i 's/^#PermitRootLogin.*/PermitRootLogin yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
> # install VirtualBox Guest Additions
> df -h
> mkdir -p /tmp/vboxcdrom
> mount /dev/sr1 /tmp/vboxcdrom
> /usr/bin/bash /tmp/vboxcdrom/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
> umount /tmp/vboxcdrom
> rmdir /tmp/vboxcdrom
> %end
> EOF
[root@lin1 ~]#
[root@lin1 ~]# # remove a previous custom iso image and create the new one
[root@lin1 ~]# rm -f /sw/rhel_9.7_uefi_custom.iso
[root@lin1 ~]# mkksiso --ks ~/ks.cfg -R "set default=\"1\"" "set default=\"0\"" -R "set timeout=60" "set timeout=5" /sw/rhel-9.7-x86_64-dvd.iso /sw/rhel_9.7_uefi_custom.iso
xorriso 1.5.4 : RockRidge filesystem manipulator, libburnia project.
xorriso : NOTE : Loading ISO image tree from LBA 0
xorriso : UPDATE : 7596 nodes read in 1 seconds
xorriso : NOTE : Detected El-Torito boot information which currently is set to be discarded
Drive current: -indev '/sw/rhel-9.7-x86_64-dvd.iso'
Drive access : shared:readonly
Media current: stdio file, overwriteable
Media status : is written , is appendable
Boot record : El Torito , MBR isohybrid cyl-align-off GPT
Media summary: 1 session, 6641880 data blocks, 12.7g data, 637g free
Volume id : 'RHEL-9-7-0-BaseOS-x86_64'
xorriso : UPDATE : 1 files restored ( 60b) in 1 seconds = 0.0xD
Extracted from ISO image: file '/.discinfo'='/tmp/mkksiso-piojt35f/.discinfo'
xorriso : UPDATE : 1 files restored ( 3326b) in 1 seconds = 0.0xD
Extracted from ISO image: file '/isolinux/isolinux.cfg'='/tmp/mkksiso-piojt35f/isolinux/isolinux.cfg'
xorriso : UPDATE : 1 files restored ( 1654b) in 1 seconds = 0.0xD
Extracted from ISO image: file '/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg'='/tmp/mkksiso-piojt35f/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg'
INFO:iso arch = x86_64
INFO:Volume Id = RHEL-9-7-0-BaseOS-x86_64
WARNING:No s390 config files found
xorriso 1.5.4 : RockRidge filesystem manipulator, libburnia project.
xorriso : NOTE : Loading ISO image tree from LBA 0
xorriso : UPDATE : 7596 nodes read in 1 seconds
xorriso : NOTE : Detected El-Torito boot information which currently is set to be discarded
Drive current: -indev '/sw/rhel-9.7-x86_64-dvd.iso'
Drive access : shared:readonly
Media current: stdio file, overwriteable
Media status : is written , is appendable
Boot record : El Torito , MBR isohybrid cyl-align-off GPT
Media summary: 1 session, 6641880 data blocks, 12.7g data, 637g free
Volume id : 'RHEL-9-7-0-BaseOS-x86_64'
xorriso : UPDATE : 7 files restored (6715.7k) in 1 seconds = 5.0xD
Extracted from ISO image: file '/EFI'='/tmp/mkksiso-r7l0_pgk/EFI'
xorriso 1.5.4 : RockRidge filesystem manipulator, libburnia project.
xorriso : NOTE : Loading ISO image tree from LBA 0
xorriso : UPDATE : 7596 nodes read in 1 seconds
xorriso : NOTE : Detected El-Torito boot information which currently is set to be discarded
Drive current: -indev '/sw/rhel-9.7-x86_64-dvd.iso'
Media current: stdio file, overwriteable
Media status : is written , is appendable
Boot record : El Torito , MBR isohybrid cyl-align-off GPT
Media summary: 1 session, 6641880 data blocks, 12.7g data, 637g free
Volume id : 'RHEL-9-7-0-BaseOS-x86_64'
Drive current: -outdev '/sw/rhel_9.7_uefi_custom.iso'
Media current: stdio file, overwriteable
Media status : is blank
Media summary: 0 sessions, 0 data blocks, 0 data, 637g free
xorriso : WARNING : -volid text does not comply to ISO 9660 / ECMA 119 rules
xorriso : NOTE : Replayed 19 boot related commands
Updating '/tmp/mkksiso-piojt35f/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg' to '/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg'
xorriso : UPDATE : Added/overwrote '/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg' (1903)
Differences detected and updated. (runtime 0.0 s)
Updating '/tmp/mkksiso-piojt35f/isolinux/isolinux.cfg' to '/isolinux/isolinux.cfg'
xorriso : UPDATE : Added/overwrote '/isolinux/isolinux.cfg' (3576)
Differences detected and updated. (runtime 0.0 s)
Updating '/tmp/mkksiso-piojt35f/.discinfo' to '/.discinfo'
xorriso : UPDATE : Adjusted attributes of '/.discinfo'
Differences detected and updated. (runtime 0.0 s)
xorriso : UPDATE : 1 files added in 1 seconds
Added to ISO image: file '/ks.cfg'='/root/ks.cfg'
xorriso : NOTE : Copying to System Area: 32768 bytes from file '--interval:imported_iso:0s-15s:zero_mbrpt,zero_gpt:/sw/rhel-9.7-x86_64-dvd.iso'
libisofs: NOTE : Automatically adjusted MBR geometry to 1654/255/63
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 5968s 0.1% fifo 99% buf 50%
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 66000s 1.0% fifo 98% buf 50% 110.5xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 127424s 1.9% fifo 100% buf 50% 90.4xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 189808s 2.9% fifo 99% buf 50% 91.9xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 246720s 3.7% fifo 98% buf 50% 83.7xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 312304s 4.7% fifo 99% buf 50% 96.5xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 388000s 5.8% fifo 98% buf 50% 111.4xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 468912s 7.1% fifo 99% buf 50% 119.1xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 550480s 8.3% fifo 99% buf 50% 120.4xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 626752s 9.4% fifo 97% buf 50% 112.5xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 705568s 10.6% fifo 99% buf 50% 116.2xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 795472s 12.0% fifo 99% buf 50% 132.7xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 861872s 13.0% fifo 100% buf 50% 97.8xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 929488s 14.0% fifo 99% buf 50% 99.7xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1010832s 15.2% fifo 99% buf 50% 120.1xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1086624s 16.4% fifo 100% buf 50% 111.9xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1153104s 17.4% fifo 100% buf 50% 98.0xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1221936s 18.4% fifo 100% buf 50% 101.2xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1317584s 19.8% fifo 99% buf 50% 141.0xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1384096s 20.8% fifo 100% buf 50% 97.8xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1448480s 21.8% fifo 100% buf 50% 94.5xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1514208s 22.8% fifo 100% buf 50% 96.8xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1599632s 24.1% fifo 100% buf 50% 125.7xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1656912s 24.9% fifo 99% buf 50% 84.3xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1780400s 26.8% fifo 99% buf 50% 105.4xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 1934304s 29.1% fifo 100% buf 50% 100.2xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2002048s 30.1% fifo 100% buf 50% 99.9xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2088880s 31.4% fifo 99% buf 50% 128.2xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2149072s 32.3% fifo 100% buf 50% 88.4xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2199952s 33.1% fifo 100% buf 50% 75.0xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2260336s 34.0% fifo 99% buf 50% 89.0xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2378112s 35.8% fifo 99% buf 50% 62.8xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2482160s 37.4% fifo 99% buf 50% 95.0xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2724144s 41.0% fifo 100% buf 50% 103.5xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2857056s 43.0% fifo 100% buf 50% 87.5xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2911536s 43.8% fifo 99% buf 50% 80.3xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 2986768s 44.9% fifo 99% buf 50% 111.0xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 3112496s 46.8% fifo 99% buf 50% 83.4xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 3727376s 56.1% fifo 99% buf 50% 124.2xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 4042000s 60.8% fifo 100% buf 50% 136.2xD
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xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 5615808s 84.5% fifo 100% buf 50% 112.1xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 5673088s 85.4% fifo 100% buf 50% 84.3xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 5729856s 86.2% fifo 100% buf 50% 83.6xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 5804144s 87.3% fifo 99% buf 50% 109.2xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 5881360s 88.5% fifo 100% buf 50% 113.1xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 5945312s 89.5% fifo 100% buf 50% 94.1xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 6012788s 90.5% fifo 99% buf 50% 99.2xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 6090352s 91.7% fifo 99% buf 50% 114.4xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 6170176s 92.9% fifo 99% buf 50% 117.7xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 6229296s 93.7% fifo 99% buf 50% 86.7xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 6293808s 94.7% fifo 99% buf 50% 95.0xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 6383216s 96.1% fifo 100% buf 50% 132.0xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 6452240s 97.1% fifo 99% buf 50% 101.8xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 6510896s 98.0% fifo 99% buf 50% 86.4xD
xorriso : UPDATE : Writing: 6579648s 99.0% fifo 100% buf 50% 101.4xD
ISO image produced: 6645054 sectors
Written to medium : 6645216 sectors at LBA 32
Writing to '/sw/rhel_9.7_uefi_custom.iso' completed successfully.
[root@lin1 ~]#
This step created a custom iso file (rhel_9.7_uefi_custom.iso) that can be used to perform the unattended installation. Remember this file needs to be created only once.
Unattended Installation of RHEL 9.7 on VirtualBox
Create the Virtual Machine and start the installation
Run these steps in a Windows command prompt to create the new VM and start the installation from the custom iso. You probably need to adjust the parameter –bridgeadapter1 to the name of your primary interface of the Windows host system (see the Output of this command: ipconfig /all|findstr /C:Description /C:IPv|findstr /V Virtual)
set "VHOST=" && set "MAC="
(set /p VHOST=Enter VM name ^(e.g. lin1^):
set /p MAC=Enter the MAC address of the VM if you would like to use a dedicated MAC address. Press Enter to let VirtualBox assign a random MAC:
call vboxmanage createvm --name %VHOST% --ostype RedHat9_64 --register
call vboxmanage modifyvm %VHOST% --clipboard-mode=bidirectional --drag-and-drop=bidirectional --audio-controller=hda --audio-out=on
call vboxmanage modifyvm %VHOST% --memory=8192 --cpus=4 --vram=128 --graphicscontroller=vmsvga --usb-ehci=on --firmware efi
call vboxmanage setextradata %VHOST% GUI/ScaleFactor 2
call vboxmanage storagectl %VHOST% --name "IDE" --add ide
call vboxmanage storagectl %VHOST% --name "SATA" --add sata --bootable on
call vboxmanage createmedium disk --filename c:\vms\%VHOST%\%VHOST%_1.vdi --size 512000 --variant Standard
call vboxmanage storageattach %VHOST% --storagectl "SATA" --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd --medium c:\vms\%VHOST%\%VHOST%_1.vdi
call vboxmanage storageattach %VHOST% --storagectl "IDE" --port 0 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium c:\sw\rhel_9.7_uefi_custom.iso
call vboxmanage storageattach %VHOST% --storagectl "IDE" --port 0 --device 1 --type dvddrive --medium "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso"
call vboxmanage modifyvm %VHOST% --nic1 bridged --bridgeadapter1 "Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I219-LM"
if defined MAC call vboxmanage modifyvm %VHOST% --mac-address1=%MAC%
call vboxmanage sharedfolder add %VHOST% --name=sw --hostpath=c:\sw --automount --auto-mount-point=/sw
call vboxmanage showvminfo %VHOST%|findstr /C:"NIC 1"
call vboxmanage startvm %VHOST% --type=gui)
The second to last command shows the mac address that the VM will use. Add the IP/mac address to your local dns so that the new machine can retrieve the IP address you want to use for the VM.
Perform tasks after the unattended OS installation
The installation takes about 10 minutes. Now you are able to login to the system with the IP or hostname you specified in the DNS server (username: root password: changeme). If you would like to take advantage of the poor man’s RPM cache you could enable it now 🙂 Afterwards perform these steps:
# fix rcvboxadd
sed -i "/#test \! -f \"\$1\"/s/ #/ /" /sbin/rcvboxadd
bash -c "
# register the system with RedHat:
subscription-manager register
# install and update packages:
dnf -y update && dnf -y groupinstall 'Server with GUI' && dnf -y install libnsl bc binutils compat-openssl11 elfutils-libelf glibc glibc-devel ksh libaio libXrender libX11 libXau libXi libXtst libgcc libnsl libstdc++ libxcb libibverbs make smartmontools sysstat libnsl2 net-tools nfs-utils libstdc++-devel libaio-devel iotop kernel-devel-$(uname -r) sshpass expect telnet
# setup VirtualBox Guest Additions (this is needed to make the clipboard work)
/sbin/rcvboxadd setup
# Recompile VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel modules:
/sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup all
# add user1 to the vboxsf group
usermod -G vboxsf -a user1
# disable screen lock for user root
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay 0
# enable boot in GUI mode
systemctl set-default graphical.target
# set the /etc/hosts entry to: <ip> <fqdn> <hostname>
echo \"$(host `hostname`|awk {'print $4" "$1'})\" \"$(hostname|awk -F. {'print $1'})\" >> /etc/hosts
# adjust /etc/hostname
hostname > /etc/hostname
# disable the Gnome Welcome screen for all users
echo 'X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=false' >> /etc/xdg/autostart/gnome-initial-setup-first-login.desktop
# disable the screen idle delay (disables the lock screen) for all gnome users
cat << EOF > /etc/dconf/db/local.d/01-session
# dconf path
[org/gnome/desktop/session]
# settings
idle-delay=uint32 0
EOF
dconf update
# disable the boot splash screen (plymouth)
grubby --update-kernel=ALL --remove-args=rhgb
# lower the grub timeout from 5 seconds to 2
sed -i s/GRUB_TIMEOUT=5/GRUB_TIMEOUT=2/g /etc/default/grub
# set the resolution to 1024x768x32
grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args vga=836
# generate a grub config file
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
init 6"
Your new RedHat Enterprise Linux 9.7 VM is now ready to use! Have fun.
Further info
Some useful Links:
Delete a Virtual Machine
To delete a VM follow these steps.
Updating VirtualBox Guest Additions
Follow these steps to update the Oracle VirtualBox Guest Additions
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