Fedora 37 qemu/kvm Centos 8 virtual machine Problem

[Robert McBroom]

Installed CentOS-STREAM 8 ON A QEMU/KVM virtual machine. Initially the 
reboot went only to a blank display. Editing the grub menu to give a 
terminal boot was successful.

Succeeded  to get a graphical screen with xinit and a terminal to 
explore the options. Was able to install xfce for a graphical desktop 
but gnome fails. The display managers gdm and sddm both fail with a 
blank screen with the mouse cursor. The others lxdm and lighdm don't 
show as being available.

How do I get the session to start properly?

[Jeffrey Walton]

On Fri, Mar 10, 2023 at 12:36 AM Robert McBroom via users
 wrote:
> Installed CentOS-STREAM 8 ON A QEMU/KVM virtual machine. Initially the
> reboot went only to a blank display. Editing the grub menu to give a
> terminal boot was successful.
>
> Succeeded  to get a graphical screen with xinit and a terminal to
> explore the options. Was able to install xfce for a graphical desktop
> but gnome fails. The display managers gdm and sddm both fail with a
> blank screen with the mouse cursor. The others lxdm and lighdm don't
> show as being available.
>
> How do I get the session to start properly?

I do not see a problem with Fedora 37. The guest seems to run Ok.
Perhaps a CentOS forum would be a better place for the question?

Or, install Fedora Server and stop putzing around with the antique
software RHEL and CentOS provides.

My apologies if I mis-parsed something.

Jeff

[Robert McBroom]

On 3/10/23 00:41, Jeffrey Walton wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 10, 2023 at 12:36 AM Robert McBroom via users
>  wrote:
> > Installed CentOS-STREAM 8 ON A QEMU/KVM virtual machine. Initially the
> > reboot went only to a blank display. Editing the grub menu to give a
> > terminal boot was successful.
> >
> > Succeeded  to get a graphical screen with xinit and a terminal to
> > explore the options. Was able to install xfce for a graphical desktop
> > but gnome fails. The display managers gdm and sddm both fail with a
> > blank screen with the mouse cursor. The others lxdm and lighdm don't
> > show as being available.
> >
> > How do I get the session to start properly?
>
> I do not see a problem with Fedora 37. The guest seems to run Ok.
> Perhaps a CentOS forum would be a better place for the question?
>
> Or, install Fedora Server and stop putzing around with the antique
> software RHEL and CentOS provides.
>
> My apologies if I mis-parsed something.
>
> Jeff

Fedora 37 is the host

[Peter Boy]

> Am 10.03.2023 um 07:00 schrieb Robert McBroom via users :
>
> On 3/10/23 00:41, Jeffrey Walton wrote:
> > On Fri, Mar 10, 2023 at 12:36 AM Robert McBroom via users
> >  wrote:
> > > Installed CentOS-STREAM 8 ON A QEMU/KVM virtual machine. Initially the
> > > reboot went only to a blank display. Editing the grub menu to give a
> > > terminal boot was successful.
> > >
> > > Succeeded  to get a graphical screen with xinit and a terminal to
> > > explore the options. Was able to install xfce for a graphical desktop
> > > but gnome fails. The display managers gdm and sddm both fail with a
> > > blank screen with the mouse cursor. The others lxdm and lighdm don't
> > > show as being available.
> > >
> > > How do I get the session to start properly?
> >
> > I do not see a problem with Fedora 37. The guest seems to run Ok.
> > Perhaps a CentOS forum would be a better place for the question?
> >
> > Or, install Fedora Server and stop putzing around with the antique
> > software RHEL and CentOS provides.
> >
> > My apologies if I mis-parsed something.
> >
> > Jeff
>
> Fedora 37 is the host

Which Fedora variant?

I just installed CentOS Stream cloud following the Fedora Server documentation (https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-server/virtualization/vm-install...) and it works seamlessly.

What did you do exactly?

Your description is typical of a mismatched console configuration between virtual machine properties and guest OS configuration and independent of Fedora or any specific Fedora release.

--
Peter Boy
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Pboy
[e-mail]

Timezone: CET (UTC+1) / CEST (UTC+2)

Fedora Server Edition Working Group member
Fedora docs team contributor and board member
Java developer and enthusiast

[Robert McBroom]

On 3/10/23 01:25, Peter Boy wrote:
> > Am 10.03.2023 um 07:00 schrieb Robert McBroom via users:
> >
> > On 3/10/23 00:41, Jeffrey Walton wrote:
> > > On Fri, Mar 10, 2023 at 12:36 AM Robert McBroom via users
> > >   wrote:
> > > > Installed CentOS-STREAM 8 ON A QEMU/KVM virtual machine. Initially the
> > > > reboot went only to a blank display. Editing the grub menu to give a
> > > > terminal boot was successful.
> > > >
> > > > Succeeded  to get a graphical screen with xinit and a terminal to
> > > > explore the options. Was able to install xfce for a graphical desktop
> > > > but gnome fails. The display managers gdm and sddm both fail with a
> > > > blank screen with the mouse cursor. The others lxdm and lighdm don't
> > > > show as being available.
> > > >
> > > > How do I get the session to start properly?
> > >
> > > I do not see a problem with Fedora 37. The guest seems to run Ok.
> > > Perhaps a CentOS forum would be a better place for the question?
> > >
> > > Or, install Fedora Server and stop putzing around with the antique
> > > software RHEL and CentOS provides.
> > >
> > > My apologies if I mis-parsed something.
> > >
> > > Jeff
> >
> > Fedora 37 is the host
>
> Which Fedora variant?

I use server because it allows more freedom.
> I just installed CentOS Stream cloud following the Fedora Server documentation (https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-server/virtualization/vm-install...) and it works seamlessly.

Works for me also but I need CentOS 8 to run some legacy $$$ software.
> What did you do exactly?

From virt-manager-> New virtual machine ->attached host 
~/Downloads/CentOS-Stream-8-x86_64-latest-dvd1.iso->booted install

switched boot to VirtIO Disk and rebooted to blank screen. Initially the 
network was set to bridge which did not connect. Changed to virtual 
network and from a terminal boot updated CentOS 8. Added xinit and xterm 
and was able to install xfce4, switchdesk. Desktop now starts from a 
terminal boot with startx.
> Your description is typical of a mismatched console configuration between virtual machine properties and guest OS configuration and independent of Fedora or any specific Fedora release.

Compared the CentOS 8 machine to the CentOS 9 machine. CentOS 8 uses 
'Video Virtio' and 'Display Spice'. CentOS 9 uses 'Video VGA' and 
'Display VNC'. Tried changes to the CentOS 8 machine to the same but get 
an error about an "unsupported configuration: 'spicevmc' not supported 
without spice graphics". Compared the --qemu/centos8.xml file withthe 
--qemu/centos9.xml file. Understand some of the differences but not all.