Boot options

You must specify a value for boot options that use the = symbol. For example, the inst.vncpassword= option must contain a value, in this case, a password. The correct syntax for this example is inst.vncpassword=password.

This boot option does not accept any values or parameters. For example, the rd.live.check option forces the installation program to verify the installation media before starting the installation. If this boot option is present, the verification is performed; if the boot option is not present, the verification is skipped.

The inst.repo= boot option specifies the installation source, that is, the location providing the package repositories and a valid .treeinfo file that describes them. For example: inst.repo=cdrom. The target of the inst.repo= option must be one of the following installation media:

Use the inst.addrepo= boot option to add an additional repository that can be used as another installation source along with the main repository (inst.repo=). You can use the inst.addrepo= boot option multip le times during one boot. The following table contains details of the inst.addrepo= boot option syntax.

The noverifyssl= boot option prevents the installation program from verifying the SSL certificate for all HTTPS connections with the exception of the additional Kickstart repositories, where --noverifyssl can be set per repository.

Use the inst.stage2= boot option to specify the location of the installation program runtime image. This option expects a path to a directory containing a valid .treeinfo file. The location of the runtime image is read from the .treeinfo file. If the .treeinfo file is not available, the installation program attempts to load the image from LiveOS/squashfs.img.

The inst.stage2.all boot option is used to specify several HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP sources. You can use the inst.stage2= boot option multiple times with the inst.stage2.all option to fetch the image from the sources sequentially until one succeeds. For example:

inst.stage2.all
inst.stage2=http://hostname1/path_to_install_tree/
inst.stage2=http://hostname2/path_to_install_tree/
inst.stage2=http://hostname3/path_to_install_tree/

The inst.dd= boot option is used to perform a driver update during the installation. See the Performing an advanced installation document for information on how to update drivers during installation.

When booting from a DVD1, the installation program prompts you to enter additional kernel parameters. To set the DVD as an installation source, append inst.repo=hmc to the kernel parameters. The installation program then enables SE and HMC file access, fetches the images for stage2 from the DVD, and provides access to the packages on the DVD for software selection. This option eliminates the requirement of an external network setup and expands the installation options.

The inst.proxy boot option is used when performing an installation from a HTTP, HTTPS, FTP source. For example:

[PROTOCOL://][USERNAME[:PASSWORD]@]HOST[:PORT]

Use the inst.nosave boot option to control which installation logs and related files are not saved to the installed system, for example input_ks, output_ks, all_ks, logs and all. Multiple values can be combined as a comma-separated list, for example: input_ks,logs.

Use the inst.multilib boot option to set DNF’s multilib_policy to all, instead of best.

The memcheck boot option performs a check to verify that the system has enough RAM to complete the installation. If there isn’t enough RAM, the installation process is stopped. The system check is approximate and memory usage during installation depends on the package selection, user interface, for example graphical or text, and other parameters.

The nomemcheck boot option does not perform a check to verify if the system has enough RAM to complete the installation. Any attempt to perform the installation with less than the recommended minimum amount of memory is unsupported, and might result in the installation process failing.

Use the ip= boot option to configure one or more network interfaces. To configure multiple interfaces, you can use the ip option multiple times, once for each interface; to do so, you must use the rd.neednet=1 option, and you must specify a primary boot interface using the bootdev option. Alternatively, you can use the ip option once, and then use Kickstart to set up further interfaces. This option accepts several different formats. The following tables contain information about the most common options.

The nameserver= option specifies the address of the name server. You can use this option multiple times.

The bootdev= option specifies the boot interface. This option is mandatory if you use more than one ip option.

The ifname= options assigns an interface name to a network device with a given MAC address. You can use this option multiple times. The syntax is ifname=interface:MAC. For example:

ifname=eth0:01:23:45:67:89:ab

The inst.dhcpclass= option specifies the DHCP vendor class identifier. The dhcpd service sees this value as vendor-class-identifier. The default value is anaconda-$(uname -srm).

Using the inst.waitfornet=SECONDS boot option causes the installation system to wait for network connectivity before installation. The value given in the SECONDS argument specifies the maximum amount of time to wait for network connectivity before timing out and continuing the installation process even if network connectivity is not present.

Use the console= option to specify a device that you want to use as the primary console. For example, to use a console on the first serial port, use console=ttyS0. Use this option in conjunction with the inst.text option. You can use the console= option multiple times. If you do, the boot message is displayed on all specified consoles, but only the last one is used by the installation program. For example, if you specify console=ttyS0 console=ttyS1, the installation program uses ttyS1.

Use the inst.lang= option to set the language that you want to use during the installation. The locale -a | grep _ or localectl list-locales | grep _ options return a list of locales.

Use the inst.singlelang option to install in single language mode, which results in no available interactive options for the installation language and language support configuration. If a language is specified using the inst.lang boot option or the lang Kickstart command, then it is used. If no language is specified, the installation program defaults to en_US.UTF-8.

Use the inst.geoloc= option to configure geolocation usage in the installation program. Geolocation is used to preset the language and time zone, and uses the following syntax: inst.geoloc=value. The value can be any of the following parameters:

Use the inst.keymap= option to specify the keyboard layout that you want to use for the installation.

Use the inst.cmdline option to force the installation program to run in command-line mode. This mode does not allow any interaction, and you must specify all options in a Kickstart file or on the command line.

Use the inst.graphical option to force the installation program to run in graphical mode. This mode is the default.

Use the inst.text option to force the installation program to run in text mode instead of graphical mode.

Use the inst.noninteractive boot option to run the installation program in a non-interactive mode. User interaction is not permitted in the non-interactive mode, and inst.noninteractive can be used with a graphical or text installation. When the inst.noninteractive option is used in text mode it behaves the same as the inst.cmdline option.

Use the inst.resolution= option to specify the screen resolution in graphical mode. The format is NxM, where N is the screen width and M is the screen height (in pixels). The lowest supported resolution is 1024x768.

Use the inst.vnc= option to run the graphical installation using VNC. You must use a VNC client application to interact with the installation program. When VNC sharing is enabled, multiple clients can connect. A system installed using VNC starts in text mode.

Use the inst.vncpassword= option to set a password on the VNC server that is used by the installation program.

Use the inst.vncconnect= option to connect to a listening VNC client at the given host location. For example inst.vncconnect=<host>[:<port>] The default port is 5900. This option can be used with vncviewer -listen.

Use the inst.xdriver= option to specify the name of the X driver that you want to use both during installation and on the installed system.

Use the inst.usefbx option to prompt the installation program to use the frame buffer X driver instead of a hardware-specific driver. This option is equivalent to inst.xdriver=fbdev.

Use the modprobe.blacklist= option to blacklist or completely disable one or more drivers. Drivers (mods) that you disable using this option cannot load when the installation starts, and after the installation finishes, the installed system retains these settings. You can find a list of the blacklisted drivers in the /etc/modprobe.d/ directory. Use a comma-separated list to disable multiple drivers. For example:

modprobe.blacklist=ahci,firewire_ohci

Use the inst.xtimeout= option to specify the timeout in seconds for starting X server.

Use the inst.sshd option to start the sshd service during installation, so that you can connect to the system during the installation using SSH, and monitor the installation progress. For more information about SSH, see the ssh(1) man page. By default, sshd is not started unless you use the inst.sshd option.

Use the inst.kdump_addon= option to enable or disable the Kdump configuration screen (add-on) in the installation program. This screen is enabled by default; use inst.kdump_addon=off to disable it. Disabling the add-on disables the Kdump screens in both the graphical and text-based interface as well as the %addon com_redhat_kdump Kickstart command.

Use the inst.rescue= option to run the rescue environment. The option is useful for trying to diagnose and fix systems.

Use the inst.updates= option to specify the location of the updates.img file that you want to apply during installation. There are a number of sources for the updates.

Use the inst.loglevel= option to specify the minimum level of messages logged on a terminal. This concerns only terminal logging; log files always contain messages of all levels. Possible values for this option from the lowest to highest level are: debug, info, warning, error and critical. The default value is info, which means that by default, the logging terminal displays messages ranging from info to critical.

When installation starts, the inst.syslog= option sends log messages to the syslog process on the specified host. The remote syslog process must be configured to accept incoming connections.

Use the inst.virtiolog= option to specify the virtio port (a character device at /dev/virtio-ports/name) that you want to use for forwarding logs. The default value is org.fedoraproject.anaconda.log.0; if this port is present, it is used.

The inst.zram option controls the usage of zRAM swap during installation. The option creates a compressed block device inside the system RAM and uses it for swap space instead of the hard drive. This allows the installation program to run with less available memory than is possible without compression, and it might also make the installation faster. By default, swap on zRAM is enabled on systems with 2 GiB or less RAM, and disabled on systems with more than 2 GiB of memory. You can use this option to change this behavior; on a system with more than 2 GiB RAM, use inst.zram=1 to enable the feature, and on systems with 2 GiB or less memory, use inst.zram=0 to disable the feature.

If the rd.live.ram option is specified, the stage 2 image is copied into RAM. Using this option when the stage 2 image is on an NFS server increases the minimum required memory by the size of the image by roughly 500 MiB.

The inst.nokill option is a debugging option that prevents the installation program from rebooting when a fatal error occurs, or at the end of the installation process. Use the inst.nokill option to capture installation logs which would be lost upon reboot.

Use inst.noshell option if you do not want a shell on terminal session 2 (tty2) during installation.

Use inst.notmux option if you do not want to use tmux during installation. The output is generated without terminal control characters and is meant for non-interactive uses.

You can use the remotelog option to send all of the logs to a remote host:port using a TCP connection. The connection is retired if there is no listener and the installation proceeds as normal.

Use the inst.nodmraid= option to disable dmraid support.

Use the inst.nompath= option to disable support for multipath devices. This option can be used for systems on which a false-positive is encountered which incorrectly identifies a normal block device as a multipath device. There is no other reason to use this option.

The inst.gpt boot option forces the installation program to install partition information to a GUID Partition Table (GPT) instead of a Master Boot Record (MBR). This option is not valid on UEFI-based systems, unless they are in BIOS compatibility mode. Normally, BIOS-based systems and UEFI-based systems in BIOS compatibility mode attempt to use the MBR schema for storing partitioning information, unless the disk is 2^32 sectors in size or larger. Disk sectors are typically 512 bytes in size, meaning that this is usually equivalent to 2 TiB. Using the inst.gpt boot option changes this behavior, allowing a GPT to be written to smaller disks.

Use the inst.ks= boot option to define the location of a Kickstart file that you want to use to automate the installation. You can then specify locations using any of the inst.repo formats. If you specify a device and not a path, the installation program looks for the Kickstart file in /ks.cfg on the device that you specify. If you use this option without specifying a device, the installation program uses the following option:

inst.ks=nfs:next-server:/filename

Specify this option to sequentially try multiple Kickstart file locations provided by multiple inst.ks options. The first successful location is used. This applies only to locations of type http, https or ftp, other locations are ignored.

Use the inst.ks.sendmac option to add headers to outgoing HTTP requests that contain the MAC addresses of all network interfaces. For example:

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

Use the inst.ks.sendsn option to add a header to outgoing HTTP requests. This header contains the system serial number, read from /sys/class/dmi/id/product_serial. The header has the following syntax:

X-System-Serial-Number: R8VA23D

The inst.kexec option allows the installation program to use the kexec system call at the end of the installation, instead of performing a reboot. The inst.kexec option loads the new system immediately, and bypasses the hardware initialization normally performed by the BIOS or firmware.

Use the inst.multilib boot option to configure the system for multilib packages, that is, to allow installing 32-bit packages on a 64-bit AMD64 or Intel 64 system. Normally, on an AMD64 or Intel 64 system, only packages for this architecture (marked as x86_64) and packages for all architectures (marked as noarch) are installed. When you use the inst.multilib boot option, packages for 32-bit AMD or Intel systems (marked as i686) are automatically installed.

By default, the selinux=0 boot option operates in permissive mode in the installation program, and in enforcing mode in the installed system. The selinux=0 boot option disables the use of SELinux in the installation program and the installed system.

Use the inst.nonibftiscsiboot= boot option to place the boot loader on iSCSI devices that were not configured in the iSCSI Boot Firmware Table (iBFT).

The method option is an alias for inst.repo.

The repo=nfsiso: option is the same as inst.repo=nfs:.

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

The netmask, gateway, and hostname options are provided as part of the ip option.

A PXE-supplied BOOTIF option is used automatically, so there is no requirement to use ip=bootif.

initramfs is completely non-interactive, so the askmethod and asknetwork options have been removed. Instead, use inst.repo or specify the appropriate network options.

The modprobe option handles blacklisting kernel modules; use modprobe.blacklist=<mod1>,<mod2>. You can blacklist the firewire module by using modprobe.blacklist=firewire_ohci.

The headless= option specified that the system that is being installed to does not have any display hardware, and that the installation program is not required to look for any display hardware.

The inst.decorated option was used to specify the graphical installation in a decorated window. By default, the window is not decorated, so it doesn’t have a title bar, resize controls, and so on. This option was no longer required.

Use the console=ttyS0 option.

Use the inst.updates option.

Dracut does not support wireless networking.

This option was no longer required.

This option was removed as there are many options available for debugging dracut-based initramfs.

Use the dracut option rd.live.check option.

Use the inst.ks=hd:<device> option.

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

This option was no longer required as the default TERM setting behaves as expected.

ipv6 is built into the kernel and cannot be removed by the installation program. You can disable ipv6 using ipv6.disable=1. This setting is used by the installed system.

This option was no longer required as the installation program no longer handles upgrades.