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I try to install 20.04 server with preseeding on BIOS based device via PXE. I created pxelinux.cfg/default:

DEFAULT menu.c32                                                                                              
PROMPT 5                                                                                                      
TIMEOUT 5                                                                                                     
ONTIMEOUT ubuntu20                                                                                            
LABEL ubuntu20                                                                                                
  MENU LABEL Ubuntu 20.04                                                                              
  KERNEL ubuntu20/vmlinuz acpi=off vga=normal nomodeset quiet ---                                             
  INITRD ubuntu20/initrd                                                                                      
  APPEND root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=3000 ip=dhcp url=http://192.168.1.10/ubuntu20/server.iso auto-install/enable=true debconf/priority=critical 
preseed/url=http://192.168.1.10/ubuntu20/preseed.cfg --  

ISO is downloaded, but installer fails to download preseed file. Casper.log:

server.iso           100% |********************************|  915M  0:00:00 ETA 
--2020-07-03 14:06:04--  http://preseed/url=http://192.168.1.10/ubuntu20/preseed.cfg                                                                            
Resolving preseed (preseed)... failed: Temporary failure in name resolution.    
wget: unable to resolve host address 'preseed'                                  
grep: /root/tmp/preseed.cfg: No such file or directory     

How to include preseed file properly?

1 Answer 1

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I think you are mixing up the steps from the (now named) legacy installer and the live installer. Both installers use the url argument. The legacy installer url argument is for the preseed file. The live installer url argument is for the iso location

I created example steps of using the pxe booting the live installer at Automated 20.04 Server Installation using PXE and live server image

This is an example pxelinux.cfg/default config for the legacy installer I used for 18.04. The kernel and initrd files come from the netboot archive in http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/

DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
TIMEOUT 600
ONTIMEOUT bionic-install
PROMPT 0
NOESCAPE 1

MENU TITLE PXE Menu

LABEL bionic-install
        MENU DEFAULT
        MENU label Install Bionic
        KERNEL ubuntu/bionic/amd64/ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux
        APPEND vga=788 initrd=ubuntu/bionic/amd64/ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz auto=true priority=critical url=tftp://192.168.1.10/preseed_bionic.cfg netcfg/choose_interface=auto DEBCONF_DEBUG=5 --

This is an example pxelinux.cfg/default config for the live installer I used for 20.04 . This does not use a preseed file, but a new yaml file. The kernel and initrd files come from the live iso image

DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
TIMEOUT 600
ONTIMEOUT focal-live-install-autoinstall
PROMPT 0
NOESCAPE 1

MENU TITLE PXE Menu

LABEL focal-live-install-autoinstall
        MENU DEFAULT
        MENU label Install focal - autoinstall
        KERNEL ubuntu/focal/live/vmlinuz
        INITRD ubuntu/focal/live/initrd
        APPEND root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=1500000 ip=dhcp url=http://192.168.1.10/tftp/iso/ubuntu-20.04-live-server-amd64.iso autoinstall ds=nocloud-net;s=http://192.168.1.10/tftp/autoinstall/focal_bios/
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  • Thank you for clarification. I saw your post earlier and I followed instructions. Unfortunately installation proces fails, as I detailed in this question. I don't know if it's an issue, but I try with a bare metal machine, not VM.
    – adacho3000
    Jul 14, 2020 at 13:40
  • It looks like you specify in your configuration to update the installer (subiquity). That appears to be when it is failing. You might try disabling that. I've avoided using the update option because my personal feeling is the new versions still have a lot of bugs, but they are different bugs. Sticking with one version keeps a consistent set of bugs to deal with Jul 15, 2020 at 16:40
  • By updating installer you meant "refresh-installer" command? I tried without it and the same error occurs. Using minimal config in user-data doesn't change anything either.
    – adacho3000
    Jul 16, 2020 at 15:29

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