Kickstart Documentation ¶

Authors:: Chris Lumens <clumens@redhat.com> and other members of the Anaconda installer team

Chapter 1. Introduction ¶

What are Kickstart Installations?¶

Many system administrators would prefer to use an automated installation method to install Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux on their machines. To answer this need, Red Hat created the kickstart installation method. Using kickstart, a system administrator can create a single file containing the answers to all the questions that would normally be asked during a typical installation.

Kickstart files can be kept on a server system and read by individual computers during the installation. This installation method can support the use of a single kickstart file to install Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux on multiple machines, making it ideal for network and system administrators.

The Fedora installation guide at http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/index.html has a detailed section on kickstart.

How Do You Perform a Kickstart Installation?¶

Kickstart installations can be performed using a local CD-ROM, a local hard drive, or via NFS, FTP, or HTTP.

To use kickstart, you must:

Create a kickstart file.
Create a boot diskette with the kickstart file or make the kickstart file available on the network.
Make the installation tree available.
Start the kickstart installation.

This chapter explains these steps in detail.

Creating the Kickstart File ¶

The kickstart file is a simple text file, containing a list of items, each identified by a keyword. You can create it by using the Kickstart Configurator application or by writing it from scratch. The Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program also creates a sample kickstart file based on the options that you selected during installation. It is written to the file /root/anaconda-ks.cfg. You should be able to edit it with any text editor or word processor that can save files as ASCII text.

First, be aware of the following issues when you are creating your kickstart file:

While not strictly required, there is a natural order for sections that should be followed. Items within the sections do not have to be in a specific order unless otherwise noted. The section order is:
1. Command section – Refer to Chapter 2 for a list of kickstart options. You must include the required options.
2. The %packages section – Refer to Chapter 3 for details.
3. The %pre, %pre-install, %post, %onerror, and %traceback sections – These sections can be in any order and are not required. Refer to Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and Chapter 6 for details.
The %packages, %pre, %pre-install, %post, %onerror, and %traceback sections are all required to be closed with %end
Items that are not required can be omitted.
Omitting any required item will result in the installation program prompting the user for an answer to the related item, just as the user would be prompted during a typical installation. Once the answer is given, the installation will continue unattended unless it finds another missing item.
One installation source command from the list of commands in the method proxy command must be specified for the fully automated kickstart installation. This is required even for Fedora – the closest mirror can’t be chosen by the kickstart file.
Lines starting with a pound sign (#) are treated as comments and are ignored.
If deprecated commands, options, or syntax are used during a kickstart installation, a warning message will be logged to the anaconda log. Since deprecated items are usually removed within a release or two, it makes sense to check the installation log to make sure you haven’t used any of them. When using ksvalidator, deprecated items will cause an error.

Special Notes for Referring to Disks ¶

Traditionally, disks have been referred to throughout Kickstart by a device node name (such as sda). The Linux kernel has moved to a more dynamic method where device names are not guaranteed to be consistent across reboots, so this can complicate usage in Kickstart scripts. To accommodate stable device naming, you can use any item from /dev/disk/by-id in place of a device node name. For example, instead of:

part / --fstype=ext4 --onpart=sda1

You could use an entry similar to one of the following:

part / --fstype=ext4 --onpart=/dev/disk/by-id/wwn-0x60022480de06a1c36a0f1e345393b224-part1
part / --fstype=ext4 --onpart=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-360022480de06a1c36a0f1e345393b224-part1

This provides a consistent way to refer to disks that is more meaningful than just sda. This is especially useful in large storage environments.

You can also use shell-like entries to refer to disks. This is primarily intended to make it easier to use the clearpart and ignoredisk commands in large storage environments. For example, instead of:

ignoredisk --drives=sdaa,sdab,sdac

You could use an entry similar to the following:

ignoredisk --drives=/dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:05.0-scsi-*

However, the installation will fail if the * pattern does not match a device. For clearpart and ignoredisk commands specifically you can also use | to solve this issue. For example to match vda and/or hda you can use vda|hda which would match vda or hda or both. But if neither vda or hda are available the installation will fail. If you want to match any vd or hd disks you could combine * and | to match any drive of either: vd*|hd*.

Please note that /dev/disk/by-path identifiers are not 100% reliable as they can vary if the host bus adapter is physically moved, a new host bus adapter is added, or if the drivers are loaded or probed in a different order.

Finally, anywhere you want to refer to an existing partition or filesystem (say, in the part --ondisk=) option, you may also refer to the device by its filesystem label, UUID, or UUID path. This is done as follows:

part /data --ondisk=LABEL=data
part /misc --ondisk=UUID=819ff6de-0bd6-4bf4-8b72-dbe41033a85b
part /db   --ondisk=/dev/disk/by-uuid/03596c0c-47e2-45e1-a4fd-212ba320f64e

When automating disk selection in kickstart for physical machines or virtual machines where the disk configuration is consistent, consider the following:

If only one disk exists, you can simply use the device node name.
If the configuration has multiple disks, each of which are the same size, you can use the device node names as it doesn’t matter which disk is which.
If you have different size disks, it may be helpful to select the disk based on size, see: Kickstart Examples.

Chapter 2. Kickstart Commands in Fedora ¶

The following commands can be placed in a kickstart file. If you prefer to use a graphical interface for creating your kickstart file, you can use the Kickstart Configurator application.

Most commands take arguments. If an argument is followed equals mark (=), a value must be specified after it.

In the example commands, options in ‘’’[square brackets]’’’ are optional arguments for the command.

pykickstart processes arguments to commands just like the shell does:

If a list of arguments can be passed in, the arguments must be separated by
commas and not include any extra spaces.  If extra spaces are required in the
list of arguments, the entire argument must be surrounded by double quotes.
If quotes, spaces, or other special characters need to be added to the
arguments list, they must be escaped.

auth or authconfig ¶

auth|authconfig [options]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets up the authentication options for the system. This is just a wrapper around the authconfig program, so all options recognized by that program are valid for this command. See the manual page for authconfig for a complete list.

By default, passwords are normally encrypted and are not shadowed.

Changed in version Fedora28.

The authconfig program is deprecated. This command will use the authconfig compatibility tool, but you should use the authselect command instead.

Removed in version Fedora35.

positional arguments:

[options]

See man authconfig.

New in version Fedora3.

authselect ¶

authselect [options]

New in version Fedora28.

This command sets up the authentication options for the system. This is just a wrapper around the authselect program, so all options recognized by that program are valid for this command. See the manual page for authselect for a complete list.

positional arguments:

[options]

See man authselect.

New in version Fedora28.

autopart ¶

autopart [--encrypted] [--passphrase PASSPHRASE] [--escrowcert <url>]
     [--backuppassphrase] [--nolvm] [--type TYPE] [--cipher CIPHER]
     [--fstype FSTYPE] [--nohome] [--noboot] [--noswap]
     [--luks-version LUKS_VERSION] [--pbkdf PBKDF]
     [--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME]
     [--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS] [--hibernation]

New in version Fedora3.

Automatically create partitions – a root (/) partition, a swap partition, and an appropriate boot partition for the architecture. On large enough drives, this will also create a /home partition.

Note

autopart cannot be used with the following commands: partition, raid, volgroup, logvol, reqpart

options:

--encrypted

Should all devices with support be encrypted by default? This is equivalent to checking the “Encrypt” checkbox on the initial partitioning screen.

New in version Fedora9.

--passphrase PASSPHRASE

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Provide a default system-wide passphrase for all encrypted devices.

New in version Fedora9.

--escrowcert <url>

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Load an X.509 certificate from <url>. Store the data encryption keys of all encrypted volumes created during installation, encrypted using the certificate, as files in /root.

New in version Fedora12.

--backuppassphrase

Only relevant if --escrowcert is specified. In addition to storing the data encryption keys, generate a random passphrase and add it to all encrypted volumes created during installation. Then store the passphrase, encrypted using the certificate specified by --escrowcert, as files in /root (one file for each encrypted volume).

New in version Fedora12.

--nolvm

Don’t use LVM when partitioning.

New in version Fedora16.

Changed in version Fedora17.

The same as --type=plain

--type TYPE

Select automatic partitioning scheme. Must be one of the following: [‘lvm’, ‘btrfs’, ‘plain’, ‘partition’, ‘thinp’]. Plain means regular partitions with no btrfs or lvm.

New in version Fedora17.

Changed in version Fedora20.

Partitioning scheme ‘thinp’ was added.

--cipher CIPHER

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which encryption algorithm should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora18.

--fstype FSTYPE

Use the specified filesystem type on the partitions. Note that it cannot be used with --type=btrfs since btrfs is both a partition scheme and a filesystem. eg. --fstype=ext4.

New in version Fedora21.

--nohome

Do not create a /home partition.

New in version Fedora26.

--noboot

Do not create a /boot partition.

New in version Fedora26.

--noswap

Do not create a swap partition. Only one of --noswap and --hibernation can be specified.

New in version Fedora26.

--luks-version LUKS_VERSION

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which version of LUKS format should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf PBKDF

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) algorithm for LUKS keyslot. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the memory cost for PBKDF. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of milliseconds to spend with PBKDF passphrase processing. See --iter-time in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of iterations directly and avoids PBKDF benchmark. See --pbkdf-force-iterations in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

--hibernation

Create a swap partition with an automatically determined size that’s big enough for hibernation. Only one of --noswap and --hibernation can be specified.

New in version Fedora38.

autostep ¶

autostep [--autoscreenshot]

New in version Fedora3.

Kickstart installs normally skip unnecessary screens. This makes the installer step through every screen, displaying each briefly.

This is mostly used for debugging.

Deprecated since version Fedora34.

Removed in version Fedora40.

options:

--autoscreenshot

Take a screenshot at every step during installation and copy the images over to /root/anaconda-screenshots after installation is complete. This is most useful for documentation.

New in version Fedora3.

bootloader ¶

bootloader [--append APPENDLINE] [--location {mbr,partition,none,boot}]
       [--password PASSWORD] [--driveorder DRIVEORDER] [--timeout TIMEOUT]
       [--default DEFAULT] [--iscrypted] [--md5pass MD5PASS]
       [--boot-drive BOOTDRIVE] [--leavebootorder] [--extlinux]
       [--disabled] [--nombr] [--sdboot]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command specifies how the boot loader should be installed.

There must be a biosboot partition for the bootloader to be installed successfully onto a disk that contains a GPT/GUID partition table, which includes disks initialized by anaconda. This partition may be created with the kickstart command part biosboot --fstype=biosboot --size=1. However, in the case that a disk has an existing biosboot partition, adding a part biosboot option is unnecessary.

options:

--append APPENDLINE

Specifies additional kernel parameters. For example:

bootloader --location=mbr --append="hdd=ide-scsi ide=nodma"

Note The installer will add the bootloader arguments rhgb quiet if plymouth is installed on the target system. You can disable these options with -plymouth in the %packages section.

New in version Fedora3.

--linear

use linear mode to access hard disks (for LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora4.

--nolinear

do not use linear mode to access hard disks (for LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora4.

--location {mbr,partition,none,boot}

Specifies where the boot record is written. Valid values are the following: mbr (the default), partition (installs the boot loader on the first sector of the partition containing the kernel), or none (do not install the boot loader).

Note bootloader –location=none is different from bootloader –location=none –disabled. –location=none prevents extra installation steps that makes the target machine bootable, e.g. write to MBR on x86 BIOS systems. However, the corresponding RPM packages are still installed, and –disabled can be appended to prevent it. bootloader –disabled only does not prevent the installation of the bootloader and Anaconda will complain if no other options are provided.

New in version Fedora3.

--password PASSWORD

If using GRUB, sets the GRUB boot loader password. This should be used to restrict access to the GRUB shell, where arbitrary kernel options can be passed.

New in version Fedora3.

--useLilo

force the use of LILO

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora4.

--driveorder DRIVEORDER

define the explicit hard disk order the boot loader should use

New in version Fedora3.

--timeout TIMEOUT

Specify the number of seconds before the bootloader times out and boots the default option.

New in version Fedora8.

--default DEFAULT

Sets the default boot image in the bootloader configuration.

New in version Fedora8.

--lba32

force the use of LBA32 mode for hard disk access (LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora12.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--iscrypted

If given, the password specified by --password= is already encrypted and should be passed to the bootloader configuration without additional modification.

New in version Fedora15.

--md5pass MD5PASS

If using GRUB, similar to --password= except the password should already be encrypted.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora15.

Alias for --password=MD5PASS --iscrypted.

--boot-drive BOOTDRIVE

Specifies which drive the bootloader should be written to and thus, which drive the computer will boot from.

New in version Fedora17.

--leavebootorder

On EFI or ISeries/PSeries machines, this option prevents the installer from making changes to the existing list of bootable images.

New in version Fedora18.

--extlinux

Use the extlinux bootloader instead of GRUB. This option only works on machines that are supported by extlinux.

New in version Fedora19.

--disabled

Do not install the boot loader.

Note bootloader –location=none is different from bootloader –location=none –disabled. –location=none prevents extra installation steps that makes the target machine bootable, e.g. write to MBR on x86 BIOS systems. However, the corresponding RPM packages are still installed, and –disabled can be appended to prevent it. bootloader –disabled only does not prevent the installation of the bootloader and Anaconda will complain if no other options are provided.

New in version Fedora21.

--nombr

do not install the boot loader to the MBR

New in version Fedora21.

--upgrade

upgrade the boot loader installed on disk

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

--sdboot

Use systemd-boot as the bootloader instead of grub2. This option only works on EFI machines.

New in version Fedora39.

btrfs ¶

btrfs [--noformat] [--useexisting] [--label LABEL] [--data DATALEVEL]
  [--metadata METADATALEVEL] [--subvol] [--parent PARENT] [--name NAME]
  [--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS]

New in version Fedora17.

Defines a BTRFS volume or subvolume. This command is of the form:

btrfs <mntpoint> --data=<level> --metadata=<level> --label=<label> <partitions*>

for volumes and of the form:

btrfs <mntpoint> --subvol --name=<path> <parent>

for subvolumes.

The <partitions*> (which denotes that multiple partitions can be listed) lists the BTRFS identifiers to add to the BTRFS volume. For subvolumes, should be the identifier of the subvolume’s parent volume.

<mntpoint>

Location where the file system is mounted.

options:

--noformat

Use an existing BTRFS volume (or subvolume) and do not reformat the filesystem.

New in version Fedora17.

--useexisting

Same as --noformat.

New in version Fedora17.

--label LABEL

Specify the label to give to the filesystem to be made. If the given label is already in use by another filesystem, a new label will be created. This option has no meaning for subvolumes.

New in version Fedora17.

--data DATALEVEL

RAID level to use (0, 1, 10) for filesystem data. Optional. This option has no meaning for subvolumes.

New in version Fedora17.

--metadata METADATALEVEL

RAID level to use (0, 1, 10) for filesystem/volume metadata. Optional. This option has no meaning for subvolumes.

New in version Fedora17.

--subvol

Create BTRFS subvolume.

New in version Fedora17.

--parent PARENT

BTRFS parent device

New in version Fedora17.

--name NAME

Subvolume name.

New in version Fedora17.

--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora23.

The following example shows how to create a BTRFS volume from member partitions on three disks with subvolumes for root and home. The main volume is not mounted or used directly in this example – only the root and home subvolumes:

part btrfs.01 --size=6000 --ondisk=sda
part btrfs.02 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdb
part btrfs.03 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdc

btrfs none --data=0 --metadata=1 --label=f17 btrfs.01 btrfs.02 btrfs.03
btrfs / --subvol --name=root LABEL=f17
btrfs /home --subvol --name=home f17

cdrom ¶

cdrom

New in version Fedora3.

Install from the first CD-ROM/DVD drive on the system.

clearpart ¶

clearpart [--all] [--initlabel] [--linux] [--none] [--disklabel DISKLABEL]
      [--drives DRIVES] [--list DEVICES] [--cdl]

New in version Fedora3.

Removes partitions from the system, prior to creation of new partitions. By default, no partitions are removed.

If the clearpart command is used, then the --onpart command cannot be used on a logical partition.

options:

--all

Erases all partitions from the system.

New in version Fedora3.

--initlabel

Initializes the disk label to the default for your architecture (for example msdos for x86 and gpt for Itanium). This is only meaningful in combination with the ‘–all’ option.

New in version Fedora3.

--linux

Erases all Linux partitions.

New in version Fedora3.

--none

Do not remove any partitions. This is the default

New in version Fedora3.

--disklabel DISKLABEL

Set the default disklabel to use. Only disklabels supported for the platform will be accepted. eg. msdos and gpt for x86_64 but not dasd.

New in version Fedora21.

--drives DRIVES

Specifies which drives to clear partitions from. For example, the following clears the partitions on the first two drives on the primary IDE controller:
``clearpart --all --drives=sda,sdb``
New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora25.

The following clears the partitions on the first two drives on the system:

clearpart --drives=sda,sdb

or clear as many drives as it could and skip the missing (at least one must be matched):

clearpart --drives=sda|sdb1

or clear all virtio drives and only first scsi device if exists

clearpart --drives=sda|vd*

--list DEVICES

Specifies which partitions to clear. If given, this supersedes any of the --all and --linux options. This can be across different drives:
``clearpart --list=sda2,sda3,sdb1``
New in version Fedora17.

Changed in version Fedora25.

The following clears the partitions on the first two drives on the system:

clearpart --list=sda,sdb

or clear as many drives as it could and skip the missing (at least one must be matched):

clearpart --list=sda|sdb1

or clear all virtio drives and only first scsi device if exists

clearpart --list=sda|vd*

--cdl

Reformat any LDL DASDs to CDL format.

New in version Fedora28.

graphical or text or cmdline ¶

graphical|text|cmdline [--non-interactive]

New in version Fedora3.

Controls which display mode will be used for the installation and for the installed system. If text or cmdline is chosen the system will boot in text mode. And when cmdline is used all required installation options must be configured via kickstart, otherwise the installation will fail.

options:

--non-interactive

Perform the installation in a completely non-interactive mode. This mode will kill the installation when user interaction will be required. Can’t be used with cmdline mode. This option is especially useful for automated testing purpose.

New in version Fedora26.

device ¶

device [--opts MODULEOPTS]

New in version Fedora3.

On most PCI systems, the installation program will autoprobe for Ethernet and SCSI cards properly. On older systems and some PCI systems, however, kickstart needs a hint to find the proper devices. The device command, which tells the installation program to install extra modules, is in this format:

device <moduleName> --opts=<options>

<moduleName>

Replace with the name of the kernel module which should be installed.

Deprecated since version Fedora24.

Removed in version Fedora34.

options:

--opts MODULEOPTS

Options to pass to the kernel module. For example:

--opts="aic152x=0x340 io=11"

New in version Fedora3.

deviceprobe ¶

deviceprobe

New in version Fedora3.

probe for devices

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

dmraid ¶

dmraid --name NAME --dev DEVICES

New in version Fedora6.

define a software RAID device

Deprecated since version Fedora24.

Removed in version Fedora34.

options:

--name NAME

Name of dmraid

New in version Fedora6.

--dev DEVICES

device to add to the dmraid

New in version Fedora6.

driverdisk ¶

driverdisk [--source SOURCE] [--biospart BIOSPART] [partition ...]

New in version Fedora3.

Driver diskettes can be used during kickstart installations. You need to copy the driver disk’s contents to the root directory of a partition on the system’s hard drive. Then you need to use the driverdisk command to tell the installation program where to look for the driver disk.

positional arguments:

partition

Partition containing the driver disk. This can be specified by device name, UUID=, or LABEL= just like the harddrive command may be.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--source SOURCE

Specify a URL for the driver disk. NFS locations can be given with nfs:host:/path/to/img.

New in version Fedora3.

--biospart BIOSPART

BIOS partition containing the driver disk (such as 82p2).

New in version Fedora4.

--type TYPE

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora12.

Removed in version Fedora14.

eula ¶

eula [--agreed]

New in version Fedora20.

Automatically accept Red Hat’s EULA

options:

--agreed, --agree, --accepted, --accept

Accept the EULA. This is mandatory option!

New in version Fedora20.

fcoe ¶

fcoe --nic NIC [--dcb] [--autovlan]

New in version Fedora12.

Discover and attach FCoE storage devices accessible via specified network interface

options:

--nic NIC

Name of the network device connected to the FCoE switch

New in version Fedora12.

--dcb

Enable Data Center Bridging awareness in installer. This option should only be enabled for network interfaces that require a host-based DCBX client. Configurations on interfaces that implement a hardware DCBX client should not use it.

New in version Fedora13.

--autovlan

Perform automatic VLAN discovery and setup. This option is enabled by default.

New in version Fedora28.

firewall ¶

firewall [--disable] [--enable] [--port PORTS] [--trust TRUSTS]
     [--service SERVICES] [--ftp] [--http] [--smtp] [--ssh]
     [--remove-service REMOVE_SERVICES] [--use-system-defaults]

New in version Fedora3.

This option corresponds to the Firewall Configuration screen in the installation program

options:

--disable, --disabled

Do not configure any iptables rules.

New in version Fedora3.

--enable, --enabled

Reject incoming connections that are not in response to outbound requests, such as DNS replies or DHCP requests. If access to services running on this machine is needed, you can choose to allow specific services through the firewall.

New in version Fedora3.

--high HIGH

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--medium MEDIUM

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--port PORTS

You can specify that ports be allowed through the firewall using the port:protocol format. You can also specify ports numerically. Multiple ports can be combined into one option as long as they are separated by commas. For example:
``firewall --port=imap:tcp,1234:ucp,47``
New in version Fedora3.

--trust TRUSTS

Listing a device here, such as eth0, allows all traffic coming from that device to go through the firewall. To list more than one device, use –trust eth0 –trust eth1. Do NOT use a comma-separated format such as –trust eth0, eth1.

New in version Fedora3.

--service SERVICES

This option provides a higher-level way to allow services through the firewall. Some services (like cups, avahi, etc.) require multiple ports to be open or other special configuration in order for the service to work. You could specify each individual service with the --port option, or specify --service= and open them all at once.

Valid options are anything recognized by the firewall-cmd program in the firewalld package. If firewalld is running:
``firewall-cmd --get-services``
will provide a list of known service names.

New in version Fedora10.

--ftp

Open port 21:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora10.

Open the ftp service port

--http

Open ports 80:tcp and 443:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora10.

Open the http service port

--smtp

Open port 25:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora10.

Open the smtp service port

--ssh

Open port 22:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora10.

Open the ssh service port

--telnet TELNET

Open port 23:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--remove-service REMOVE_SERVICES

Close ports for the comma-separated list of services

New in version Fedora20.

--use-system-defaults

Don’t configure the firewall at all. This instructs anaconda to do nothing and allows the system to rely on the defaults that were provided with the package or ostree. If this option is used with other options then all other options will be ignored.

New in version Fedora28.

firstboot ¶

firstboot [--disable] [--enable] [--reconfig]

New in version Fedora3.

Determine whether the Setup Agent starts the first time the system is booted. If enabled, the initial-setup package must be installed. If not specified, the setup agent (initial-setup) is disabled by default.

options:

--disable, --disabled

The Setup Agent is not started the first time the system boots.

New in version Fedora3.

--enable, --enabled

The Setup Agent is started the first time the system boots.

New in version Fedora3.

--reconfig

Enable the Setup Agent to start at boot time in reconfiguration mode. This mode enables the language, mouse, keyboard, root password, security level, time zone, and networking configuration options in addition to the default ones.

New in version Fedora3.

group ¶

group --name NAME [--gid GID]

New in version Fedora12.

Creates a new user group on the system. If a group with the given name or GID already exists, this command will fail. In addition, the user command can be used to create a new group for the newly created user.

options:

--name NAME

Provides the name of the new group.

New in version Fedora12.

--gid GID

The group’s GID. If not provided, this defaults to the next available non-system GID.

New in version Fedora12.

reboot or poweroff or shutdown or halt ¶

reboot|poweroff|shutdown|halt [--eject] [--kexec]

New in version Fedora3.

reboot

Reboot after the installation is complete. Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.

poweroff

Turn off the machine after the installation is complete. Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.

shutdown

At the end of installation, shut down the machine. This is the same as the poweroff command. Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.

halt

At the end of installation, display a message and wait for the user to press a key before rebooting. This is the default action.

Changed in version Fedora18.

The ‘halt’ command was added!

options:

--eject

Attempt to eject CD or DVD media before rebooting.

New in version Fedora6.

--kexec

Use kexec to reboot into the new system, bypassing BIOS/Firmware and bootloader.

New in version Fedora23.

harddrive ¶

harddrive --dir DIR --partition PARTITION

New in version Fedora3.

Install from a directory of ISO images on a local drive, which must be either vfat or ext2. In addition to this directory, you must also provide the install.img in some way. You can either do this by booting off the boot.iso or by creating an images/ directory in the same directory as the ISO images and placing install.img in there.

options:

--biospart BIOSPART

BIOS partition to install from (such as 82p2).

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora33.

--dir DIR

Directory containing both the ISO images and the images/install.img. For example:
``harddrive --partition=hdb2 --dir=/tmp/install-tree``
New in version Fedora3.

--partition PARTITION

Partition to install from (such as, sdb2).

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora33.

Partition to install from (such as, sdb2).

hmc ¶

hmc

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux7.

Install from an installation medium via SE/HMC on z Systems.

ignoredisk ¶

ignoredisk [--drives IGNOREDISK] [--only-use ONLYUSE]

New in version Fedora3.

Controls anaconda’s access to disks attached to the system. By default, all disks will be available for partitioning. Only one of the following three options may be used.

options:

--drives IGNOREDISK

Specifies those disks that anaconda should not touch when partitioning, formatting, and clearing.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora8.

This argument is no longer required!

Changed in version Fedora25.

The following ignores the partitions on the first two drives on the system:

ignoredisk --drives=sda,sdb

or ignores as many drives as it could and skip the missing (at least one must be matched):

ignoredisk --drives=sda|sdb1

or ignores all virtio drives and only first scsi device if exists

ignoredisk --drives=sda|vd*

--only-use ONLYUSE

Specifies the opposite - only disks listed here will be used during installation.

New in version Fedora8.

Changed in version Fedora25.

The following ignores the partitions on the first two drives on the system:

ignoredisk --only-use=sda,sdb

or ignores as many drives as it could and skip the missing (at least one must be matched):

ignoredisk --only-use=sda|sdb1

or ignores all virtio drives and only first scsi device if exists

ignoredisk --only-use=sda|vd*

--interactive

Allow the user manually navigate the advanced storage screen.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux6.

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

install ¶

install [--root-device ROOT_DEVICE]

        Install a fresh system. You must specify the type of
        installation from one of cdrom, harddrive, nfs, or url
        (for ftp or http installations).
        The install command and the installation method command
        must be on separate lines.

        Important: before Fedora 20 this command was known as
        install or upgrade but the upgrade part was deprecated!

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

options:

--root-device ROOT_DEVICE

On a system with multiple installs, this option specifies which filesystem holds the installation to be upgraded. This can be specified by device name, UUID=, or LABEL= just like the harddrive command may be.

New in version Fedora11.

interactive ¶

interactive

New in version Fedora3.

Use interactive kickstart installation method.

Deprecated since version Fedora14.

Removed in version Fedora15.

iscsi ¶

iscsi [--target TARGET] --ipaddr IPADDR [--port PORT] [--user USER]
  [--password PASSWORD] [--reverse-user USER_IN]
  [--reverse-password PASSWORD_IN] [--iface IFACE]

New in version Fedora6.

Specifies additional iSCSI storage to be attached during installation. If you use the iscsi parameter, you must also assign a name to the iSCSI node, using the iscsiname parameter. The iscsiname parameter must appear before the iscsi parameter in the kickstart file.

We recommend that wherever possible you configure iSCSI storage in the system BIOS or firmware (iBFT for Intel systems) rather than use the iscsi parameter. Anaconda automatically detects and uses disks configured in BIOS or firmware and no special configuration is necessary in the kickstart file.

If you must use the iscsi parameter, ensure that networking is activated at the beginning of the installation, and that the iscsi parameter appears in the kickstart file before you refer to iSCSI disks with parameters such as clearpart or ignoredisk.

options:

--target TARGET

The target iqn.

New in version Fedora6.

--ipaddr IPADDR

The IP address of the target to connect to.

New in version Fedora6.

--port PORT

The port number to connect to (default, –port=3260).

New in version Fedora6.

--user USER

The username required to authenticate with the target.

New in version Fedora6.

--password PASSWORD

The password that corresponds with the username specified for the target.

New in version Fedora6.

--reverse-user USER_IN

The username required to authenticate with the initiator from a target that uses reverse CHAP authentication.

New in version Fedora10.

--reverse-password PASSWORD_IN

The password that corresponds with the username specified for the initiator.

New in version Fedora10.

--iface IFACE

Bind connection to specific network interface instead of using the default one determined by network layer. Once used, it must be specified for all iscsi commands.

New in version Fedora17.

iscsiname ¶

iscsiname <iqn>

New in version Fedora6.

Assigns an initiator name to the computer. If you use the iscsi parameter in your kickstart file, this parameter is mandatory, and you must specify iscsiname in the kickstart file before you specify iscsi.

positional arguments:

<iqn>

IQN name

New in version Fedora6.

keyboard ¶

keyboard [--vckeymap VC_KEYMAP] [--xlayouts X_LAYOUTS]
     [--switch SWITCH_OPTIONS]
     [kbd ...]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets system keyboard type.

Changed in version Fedora18.

See the documentation of --vckeymap option and the tip at the end of this section for a guide how to get values accepted by this command.

Either --vckeymap or --xlayouts must be used.

Alternatively, use the older format, arg, which is still supported. arg can be an X layout or VConsole keymap name.

Missing values will be automatically converted from the given one(s).

positional arguments:

kbd

Keyboard type

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--vckeymap VC_KEYMAP

Specify VConsole keymap that should be used. is a keymap name which is the same as the filename under /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps/ without the .map.gz extension.

New in version Fedora18.

--xlayouts X_LAYOUTS

Specify a list of X layouts that should be used (comma-separated list without spaces). Accepts the same values as setxkbmap(1), but uses either the layout format (such as cz) or the ‘layout (variant)’ format (such as ‘cz (qwerty)’). For example:
``keyboard --xlayouts=cz,'cz (qwerty)'`
New in version Fedora18.

--switch SWITCH_OPTIONS

Specify a list of layout switching options that should be used (comma-separated list without spaces). Accepts the same values as setxkbmap(1) for layout switching. For example:
``keyboard --xlayouts=cz,'cz (qwerty)' --switch=grp:alt_shift_toggle``
New in version Fedora18.

If you know only the description of the layout (e.g. Czech (qwerty)), you can use http://vpodzime.fedorapeople.org/layouts_list.py to list all available layouts and find the one you want to use. The string in square brackets is the valid layout specification as Anaconda accepts it. The same goes for switching options and http://vpodzime.fedorapeople.org/switching_list.py

lang ¶

lang [--addsupport LOCALE] <lang>

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets the language to use during installation and the default language to use on the installed system to <id>. This can be the same as any recognized setting for the $LANG environment variable, though not all languages are supported during installation.

Certain languages (mainly Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indic languages) are not supported during text mode installation. If one of these languages is specified using the lang command, installation will continue in English though the running system will have the specified langauge by default.

The file /usr/share/system-config-language/locale-list provides a list the valid language codes in the first column of each line and is part of the system-config-languages package.

positional arguments:

<lang>

Language ID.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--addsupport LOCALE

Install the support packages for the given locales, specified as a comma-separated list. Each locale may be specified in the same ways as the primary language may be, as described above.

New in version Fedora19.

langsupport ¶

langsupport [--default DEFLANG]

New in version Fedora3.

Install the support packages for the given locales.

Deprecated since version Fedora5.

Removed in version Fedora7.

options:

--default DEFLANG

Default locale

New in version Fedora3.

lilo ¶

lilo [--append APPENDLINE] [--linear] [--nolinear]
 [--location {mbr,partition,none,boot}] [--lba32] [--password PASSWORD]
 [--md5pass MD5PASS] [--upgrade] [--useLilo] [--driveorder DRIVEORDER]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command specifies how the boot loader should be installed.

There must be a biosboot partition for the bootloader to be installed successfully onto a disk that contains a GPT/GUID partition table, which includes disks initialized by anaconda. This partition may be created with the kickstart command part biosboot --fstype=biosboot --size=1. However, in the case that a disk has an existing biosboot partition, adding a part biosboot option is unnecessary.

Removed in version Fedora4.

options:

--append APPENDLINE

Specifies additional kernel parameters. For example:

bootloader --location=mbr --append="hdd=ide-scsi ide=nodma"

Note The installer will add the bootloader arguments rhgb quiet if plymouth is installed on the target system. You can disable these options with -plymouth in the %packages section.

New in version Fedora3.

--linear

use linear mode to access hard disks (for LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

--nolinear

do not use linear mode to access hard disks (for LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

--location {mbr,partition,none,boot}

Specifies where the boot record is written. Valid values are the following: mbr (the default), partition (installs the boot loader on the first sector of the partition containing the kernel), or none (do not install the boot loader).

Note bootloader –location=none is different from bootloader –location=none –disabled. –location=none prevents extra installation steps that makes the target machine bootable, e.g. write to MBR on x86 BIOS systems. However, the corresponding RPM packages are still installed, and –disabled can be appended to prevent it. bootloader –disabled only does not prevent the installation of the bootloader and Anaconda will complain if no other options are provided.

New in version Fedora3.

--lba32

force the use of LBA32 mode for hard disk access (LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

--password PASSWORD

If using GRUB, sets the GRUB boot loader password. This should be used to restrict access to the GRUB shell, where arbitrary kernel options can be passed.

New in version Fedora3.

--md5pass MD5PASS

If using GRUB, similar to --password= except the password should already be encrypted.

New in version Fedora3.

--upgrade

upgrade the boot loader installed on disk

New in version Fedora3.

--useLilo

force the use of LILO

New in version Fedora3.

--driveorder DRIVEORDER

define the explicit hard disk order the boot loader should use

New in version Fedora3.

lilocheck ¶

lilocheck

New in version Fedora3.

check LILO boot loader

Removed in version Fedora4.

liveimg ¶

liveimg --url <url> [--proxy <proxyurl>] [--noverifyssl] [--checksum <sha256>]

New in version Fedora19.

Install a disk image instead of packages. The image can be the squashfs.img from a Live iso, or any filesystem mountable by the install media (eg. ext4). Anaconda expects the image to contain utilities it needs to complete the system install so the best way to create one is to use livemedia-creator to make the disk image. If the image contains /LiveOS/*.img (this is how squashfs.img is structured) the first *.img file inside LiveOS will be mounted and used to install the target system. The URL may also point to a tarfile of the root filesystem. The file must end in .tar, .tbz, .tgz, .txz, .tar.bz2, tar.gz, tar.xz

options:

--url <url>

The URL to install from. http, https, ftp and file are supported.

New in version Fedora19.

--proxy <proxyurl>

Specify an HTTP/HTTPS/FTP proxy to use while performing the install. The various parts of the argument act like you would expect. Syntax is:
``--proxy=[protocol://][username[:password]@]host[:port]``
New in version Fedora19.

--noverifyssl

For a tree on a HTTPS server do not check the server’s certificate with what well-known CA validate and do not check the server’s hostname matches the certificate’s domain name.

New in version Fedora19.

--checksum <sha256>

Optional sha256 checksum of the image file

New in version Fedora19.

logging ¶

logging [--host HOST] [--port PORT]

New in version Fedora6.

This command controls the error logging of anaconda during installation. It has no effect on the installed system.

options:

--host HOST

Send logging information to the given remote host, which must be running a syslogd process configured to accept remote logging.

New in version Fedora6.

--port PORT

If the remote syslogd process uses a port other than the default, it may be specified with this option.

New in version Fedora6.

--level LEVEL

Specify the minimum level of messages that appear on tty3. All messages will still be sent to the log file regardless of this level, however.

New in version Fedora6.

Deprecated since version Fedora34.

Removed in version Fedora40.

logvol ¶

logvol [--fstype FSTYPE] [--grow] [--maxsize MAXSIZEMB] --name NAME
   [--noformat] [--percent PERCENT] [--recommended] [--size SIZE]
   [--useexisting] --vgname VGNAME [--fsoptions FSOPTS]
   [--fsprofile FSPROFILE] [--encrypted] [--passphrase PASSPHRASE]
   [--escrowcert <url>] [--backuppassphrase] [--label LABEL] [--resize]
   [--hibernation] [--cipher CIPHER] [--thinpool] [--thin]
   [--poolname POOL_NAME] [--chunksize CHUNK_SIZE]
   [--metadatasize METADATA_SIZE] [--profile PROFILE]
   [--cachesize CACHE_SIZE] [--cachemode CACHE_MODE]
   [--cachepvs CACHE_PVS] [--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS]
   [--luks-version LUKS_VERSION] [--pbkdf PBKDF]
   [--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME]
   [--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS]
   <mntpoint>

New in version Fedora3.

Create a logical volume for Logical Volume Management (LVM).

Note

logvol cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

positional arguments:

<mntpoint>

Mountpoint for this logical volume or ‘none’.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--fstype FSTYPE

Sets the file system type for the logical volume. Valid values include ext4, ext3, ext2, btrfs, swap, and vfat. Other filesystems may be valid depending on command line arguments passed to Anaconda to enable other filesystems.

New in version Fedora3.

--grow

Tells the logical volume to grow to fill available space (if any), or up to the maximum size setting. Note that --grow is not supported for logical volumes containing a RAID volume on top of them.

New in version Fedora3.

--maxsize MAXSIZEMB

The maximum size in MiB the logical volume may grow to. Specify an integer value here, and do not append any units. This option is only relevant if --grow is specified as well.

New in version Fedora3.

--name NAME

The name of this logical volume.

New in version Fedora3.

--noformat

Use an existing logical volume and do not format it.

New in version Fedora3.

--percent PERCENT

Specify the size of the logical volume as a percentage of available space in the volume group. Without the above --grow option, this may not work.

New in version Fedora3.

--recommended

Determine the size of the logical volume automatically.

New in version Fedora3.

--size SIZE

Size of this logical volume.

New in version Fedora3.

--useexisting

Use an existing logical volume and reformat it.

New in version Fedora3.

--vgname VGNAME

Name of the Volume Group this logical volume belongs to.

New in version Fedora3.

--fsoptions FSOPTS

Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the /etc/fstab file of the installed system and should be enclosed in quotes.

New in version Fedora4.

--bytes-per-inode BYTES_PER_INODE

Specify the bytes/inode ratio.

New in version Fedora4.

Deprecated since version Fedora9.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--fsprofile FSPROFILE

Specifies a usage type to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. A usage type defines a variety of tuning parameters to be used when making a filesystem. For this option to work, the filesystem must support the concept of usage types and there must be a configuration file that lists valid types. For ext2/3/4, this configuration file is /etc/mke2fs.conf.

New in version Fedora9.

--encrypted

Specify that this logical volume should be encrypted.

New in version Fedora9.

--passphrase PASSPHRASE

Specify the passphrase to use when encrypting this logical volume. Without the above --encrypted option, this option does nothing. If no passphrase is specified, the default system-wide one is used, or the installer will stop and prompt if there is no default.

New in version Fedora9.

--escrowcert <url>

Load an X.509 certificate from <url>. Store the data encryption key of this logical volume, encrypted using the certificate, as a file in /root. Only relevant if --encrypted is specified as well.

New in version Fedora12.

--backuppassphrase

Only relevant if --escrowcert is specified as well. In addition to storing the data encryption key, generate a random passphrase and add it to this logical volume. Then store the passphrase, encrypted using the certificate specified by --escrowcert, as a file in /root. If more than one LUKS volume uses --backuppassphrase, the same passphrase will be used for all such volumes.

New in version Fedora12.

--label LABEL

Specify the label to give to the filesystem to be made. If the given label is already in use by another filesystem, a new label will be created.

New in version Fedora15.

--resize

Attempt to resize this logical volume to the size given by --size=. This option must be used with --useexisting --size=, or an error will be raised.

New in version Fedora17.

--hibernation

This option can be used to automatically determine the size of the swap partition big enough for hibernation.

New in version Fedora18.

--cipher CIPHER

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which encryption algorithm should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora18.

--thinpool

Create a thin pool logical volume. Use a mountpoint of ‘none’.

New in version Fedora20.

--thin

Create a thin logical volume. Requires --poolname.

New in version Fedora20.

--poolname POOL_NAME

Specify the name of the thin pool in which to create a thin logical volume. Requires --thin.

New in version Fedora20.

--chunksize CHUNK_SIZE

Specify the chunk size (in KiB) for a new thin pool device.

New in version Fedora20.

--metadatasize METADATA_SIZE

Specify the metadata area size (in MiB) for a new thin pool device.

New in version Fedora20.

--profile PROFILE

Specify an LVM profile for the thin pool (see lvm(8), standard profiles are default and thin-performance defined in the /etc/lvm/profile/ directory).

New in version Fedora21.

--cachesize CACHE_SIZE

Requested size (in MiB) of cache attached to the logical volume. Requires --cachepvs.

New in version Fedora23.

--cachemode CACHE_MODE

Mode that should be used for the cache. Either writeback or writethrough.

New in version Fedora23.

--cachepvs CACHE_PVS

Comma-separated list of (fast) physical volumes that should be used for the cache.

New in version Fedora23.

--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora23.

--luks-version LUKS_VERSION

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which version of LUKS format should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf PBKDF

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) algorithm for LUKS keyslot. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the memory cost for PBKDF. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of milliseconds to spend with PBKDF passphrase processing. See --iter-time in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of iterations directly and avoids PBKDF benchmark. See --pbkdf-force-iterations in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

Create the partition first, create the logical volume group, and then create the logical volume. For example:

part pv.01 --size 3000
volgroup myvg pv.01
logvol / --vgname=myvg --size=2000 --name=rootvol

mediacheck ¶

mediacheck

New in version Fedora4.

If given, this will force anaconda to run mediacheck on the installation media. This command requires that installs be attended, so it is disabled by default.

method ¶

method

New in version Fedora3.

Proxy to the actual installation method. Valid installation methods are:

cdrom
harddrive
nfs
url
liveimg

Deprecated since version Fedora34.

Removed in version Fedora40.

module ¶

module --name <module_name> [--stream <module_stream_name>] [--disable]

New in version Fedora29.

The module command makes it possible to manipulate modules.

(In this case we mean modules as introduced by the Fedora modularity initiative.)

A module is defined by a unique name and a stream id, where single module can (and usually has) multiple available streams.

Streams will in most cases corresponds to stable releases of the given software components (such as Node.js, Django, etc.) but there could be also other use cases, such as a raw upstream master branch stream or streams corresponding to an upcoming stable release.

For more information see the Fedora modularity initiative documentation: https://docs.pagure.org/modularity/

options:

--name <module_name>

Name of the module to enable.

New in version Fedora29.

--stream <module_stream_name>

Name of the module stream to enable.

New in version Fedora29.

--disable

Disable module.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

monitor ¶

monitor [--hsync HSYNC] [--monitor MONITOR] [--vsync VSYNC] [--noprobe]

New in version Fedora3.

If the monitor command is not given, anaconda will use X to automatically detect your monitor settings. Please try this before manually configuring your monitor.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora18.

options:

--hsync HSYNC

Specifies the horizontal sync frequency of the monitor.

New in version Fedora3.

--monitor MONITOR

Use specified monitor; monitor name should be from the list of monitors in /usr/share/hwdata/MonitorsDB from the hwdata package. The list of monitors can also be found on the X Configuration screen of the Kickstart Configurator. This is ignored if --hsync or --vsync is provided. If no monitor information is provided, the installation program tries to probe for it automatically.

New in version Fedora3.

--vsync VSYNC

Specifies the vertical sync frequency of the monitor.

New in version Fedora3.

--noprobe

Do not probe the monitor.

New in version Fedora6.

mount ¶

mount [--reformat [REFORMAT]] [--mkfsoptions MKFS_OPTS]
  [--mountoptions MOUNT_OPTS]
  <device> <mntpoint>

New in version Fedora27.

Assigns a mount point to a block device and optionally reformats it to a given format. It at least requires a device and a mount point where the mount point can be none in case the format on the device is not mountable or in case the device should just be reformatted.

The difference between this command and the other commands for storage configuration (part, logvol,…) is that it doesn’t require the whole storage stack to be described in the kickstart file. The user just needs to make sure that the specified block device exists in the system. The installer doesn’t necessarily have to know all the details about of the given device. If, on the other hand, the installer is supposed to create the storage stack with all the devices mounted at various places, the part, logvol, raid, etc. commands have to be used.

Note

mount cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, partition, raid, volgroup, logvol, reqpart

positional arguments:

<device>

The block device to mount

New in version Fedora27.

<mntpoint>

The <mntpoint> is where the <device> will be mounted. Must be a valid mount point, for example /, /usr, /home, or none if the device cannot (e.g. swap) or should not be mounted.

New in version Fedora27.

options:

--reformat [REFORMAT]

Specifies the new format (e.g. a file system) for the device.

New in version Fedora27.

--mkfsoptions MKFS_OPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora27.

--mountoptions MOUNT_OPTS

Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the /etc/fstab file of the installed system and should be enclosed in quotes.

New in version Fedora27.

mouse ¶

mouse [--device DEVICE] [--emulthree]

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux3.

Configure the system mouse

Deprecated since version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora7.

options:

--device DEVICE

Which device node to use for mouse

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux3.

--emulthree

If set emulate 3 mouse buttons

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux3.

multipath ¶

multipath --name NAME --device DEVICE --rule RULE

New in version Fedora6.

define a multipath storage device

Deprecated since version Fedora24.

Removed in version Fedora34.

options:

--name NAME

multipath device name

New in version Fedora6.

--device DEVICE

multipath device node

New in version Fedora6.

--rule RULE

multipath device rule

New in version Fedora6.

network ¶

network [--bootproto {dhcp,bootp,static,query,ibft}] [--dhcpclass DHCPCLASS]
    [--device DEVICE] [--essid ESSID] [--ethtool ETHTOOL]
    [--gateway GATEWAY] [--hostname HOSTNAME] [--ip IP] [--mtu MTU]
    [--nameserver NAMESERVER] [--netmask NETMASK] [--nodns]
    [--onboot ONBOOT] [--wepkey WEPKEY] [--notksdevice] [--noipv4]
    [--noipv6] [--ipv6 IPV6] [--activate] [--nodefroute] [--wpakey WPAKEY]
    [--bondslaves BONDSLAVES] [--bondopts BONDOPTS] [--vlanid VLANID]
    [--ipv6gateway IPV6GATEWAY] [--teamslaves TEAMSLAVES]
    [--teamconfig TEAMCONFIG] [--interfacename INTERFACENAME]
    [--bridgeslaves BRIDGESLAVES] [--bridgeopts BRIDGEOPTS]
    [--no-activate] [--bindto {mac}] [--ipv4-dns-search IPV4_DNS_SEARCH]
    [--ipv6-dns-search IPV6_DNS_SEARCH] [--ipv4-ignore-auto-dns]
    [--ipv6-ignore-auto-dns]

New in version Fedora3.

Configures network information for target system and activates network devices in installer environment. The device specified in the first network command is activated automatically. Activation of the device can be also explicitly required by --activate option

options:

--bootproto {dhcp,bootp,static,query,ibft}

The method of IPv4 configuration. For IPv6 configuration use --ipv6 option.

The default setting is dhcp. To turn IPv4 configuration off use --noipv4 option.

The dhcp method uses a DHCP server system to obtain its networking configuration.

The static method requires that you specify at least IP address and netmask with --ip and --netmask options.

For example:
``network --device=link --bootproto=static --ip=10.0.2.15 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.0.2.254 --nameserver=10.0.2.1``
ibft setting is for reading the configuration from iBFT table.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora9.

The ‘query’ value was added.

Changed in version Fedora16.

The ‘ibft’ value was added.

--dhcpclass DHCPCLASS

Specifies the DHCP vendor class identifier. The dhcpd service will see this value as vendor-class-identifier.

New in version Fedora3.

--device DEVICE

Specifies the device to be configured (and eventually activated in Anaconda) with the network command.

You can specify a device to be activated in any of the following ways:

the device name of the interface, for example, em1

the MAC address of the interface, for example, 01:23:45:67:89:ab

the keyword link, which specifies the first interface with its link in the up state

the keyword bootif, which uses the MAC address that pxelinux set in the BOOTIF variable. Set IPAPPEND 2 in your pxelinux.cfg file to have pxelinux set the BOOTIF variable.

For example:
``network --bootproto=dhcp --device=ens3``
If the --device= option is missing on the first use of the network command, the value of the ksdevice= Anaconda boot option is used, if available. If ksdevice= is not set, link value is used. Note that this is considered deprecated behavior; in most cases, you should always specify a --device= for every network command. The behavior of any subsequent network command in the same Kickstart file is unspecified if its --device= option is missing. Make sure you specify this option for any network command beyond the first.

New in version Fedora3.

--essid ESSID

The network ID for wireless networks.

New in version Fedora3.

--ethtool ETHTOOL

Specifies additional low-level settings for the network device which will be passed to the ethtool program.

New in version Fedora3.

--gateway GATEWAY

Default gateway, as a single IPv4 address.

New in version Fedora3.

--hostname HOSTNAME

The host name for the installed system.

The host name can either be a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) in the format hostname.domainname, or a short host name with no domain. Many networks have a DHCP service which automatically supplies connected systems with a domain name; to allow DHCP to assign the domain name, only specify a short host name.

New in version Fedora3.

--ip IP

IPv4 address for the interface.

New in version Fedora3.

--mtu MTU

The MTU of the device.

New in version Fedora3.

--nameserver NAMESERVER

Primary nameserver, as an IP address. Multiple nameservers must be comma separated.

New in version Fedora3.

--netmask NETMASK

IPv4 network mask of the device.

New in version Fedora3.

--nodns

Do not configure any DNS server.

New in version Fedora3.

--onboot ONBOOT

Whether or not to enable the device a boot time.

New in version Fedora3.

--wepkey WEPKEY

The WEP encryption key for wireless networks.

New in version Fedora3.

--notksdevice

This network device is not used for kickstart.

New in version Fedora4.

--noipv4

Disable IPv4 configuration of this device.

New in version Fedora6.

--noipv6

Disable IPv6 configuration of this device.

New in version Fedora6.

--ipv6 IPV6

IPv6 address for the interface. This can be: - the static address in form <IPv6 address>[/<prefix length>], e.g. 3ffe:ffff:0:1::1/128 (if prefix is omitted 64 is assumed), - auto for stateless automatic address autoconfiguration, or - dhcp for DHCPv6-only configuration (no router advertisements).

New in version Fedora8.

--activate

As noted above, using this option ensures any matching devices beyond the first will also be activated.

New in version Fedora16.

--nodefroute

Prevents grabbing of the default route by the device. It can be useful when activating additional devices in installer using --activate option.

New in version Fedora16.

--wpakey WPAKEY

The WPA encryption key for wireless networks.

New in version Fedora16.

--bondslaves BONDSLAVES

Bonded device with name specified by --device option will be created using slaves specified in this option. Example:
``network --device bond0 --bootproto static --ip=10.34.102.222 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.34.102.254 --nameserver=10.34.39.2 --bondslaves=ens7,ens8 --bondopts=mode=active-backup,primary=ens7 --activate``
New in version Fedora19.

--bondopts BONDOPTS

A comma-separated list of optional parameters for bonded interface specified by --bondslaves and --device options. Example:
``--bondopts=mode=active-backup,primary=eth1``
If an option itself contains comma as separator use semicolon to separate the options. Example:
``--bondopts=mode=active-backup,balance-rr;primary=eth1``
New in version Fedora19.

--vlanid VLANID

Id (802.1q tag) of vlan device to be created using parent device specified by --device option. For example:
``network --device=eth0 --vlanid=171``
will create vlan device eth0.171.

New in version Fedora19.

--ipv6gateway IPV6GATEWAY

Default gateway, as a single IPv6 address.

New in version Fedora19.

--teamslaves TEAMSLAVES

Team device with name specified by --device option will be created using slaves specified in this option. Slaves are separated by comma. A slave can be followed by its configuration which is a single-quoted json format string with double qoutes escaped by '' character. Example:
``--teamslaves="p3p1'{"prio": -10, "sticky": true}',p3p2'{"prio": 100}'"``.
See also --teamconfig option.

New in version Fedora20.

--teamconfig TEAMCONFIG

Double-quoted team device configuration which is a json format string with double quotes escaped with '' character. The device name is specified by --device option and its slaves and their configuration by --teamslaves option. Example:
``network --device team0 --activate --bootproto static --ip=10.34.102.222 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.34.102.254 --nameserver=10.34.39.2 --teamslaves="p3p1'{"prio": -10, "sticky": true}',p3p2'{"prio": 100}'" --teamconfig="{"runner": {"name": "activebackup"}}"``
New in version Fedora20.

--interfacename INTERFACENAME

Specify a custom interface name for a virtual LAN device. This option should be used when the default name generated by the --vlanid= option is not desirable. This option must be used along with --vlanid=. For example:
``network --device=em1 --vlanid=171 --interfacename=vlan171``
The above command creates a virtual LAN interface named vlan171 on the em1 device with an ID of 171. The interface name can be arbitrary (for example, my-vlan), but in specific cases, the following conventions must be followed:

If the name contains a dot (.), it must take the form of NAME.ID. The NAME is arbitrary, but the ID must be the VLAN ID. For example: em1.171 or my-vlan.171. Names starting with vlan must take the form of vlanID - for example: vlan171.

New in version Fedora21.

--bridgeslaves BRIDGESLAVES

When this option is used, the network bridge with device name specified using the --device= option will be created and devices defined in the --bridgeslaves= option will be added to the bridge. For example:
``network --device=bridge0 --bridgeslaves=em1``
New in version Fedora22.

--bridgeopts BRIDGEOPTS

An optional comma-separated list of parameters for the bridged interface. Available values are stp, priority, forward-delay, hello-time, max-age, and ageing-time. For information about these parameters, see the bridge setting table in the nm-settings(5) man page or at https://developer.gnome.org/NetworkManager/0.9/ref-settings.html.

New in version Fedora22.

--no-activate

Use this option with first network command to prevent activation of the device in istaller environment

New in version Fedora25.

--bindto {mac}

Optionally allows to specify how the connection configuration created for the device should be bound. If the option is not used, the connection binds to interface name (DEVICE value in ifcfg file). For virtual devices (bond, team, bridge) it configures binding of slaves. Not applicable to vlan devices.

Note that this option is independent of how the --device is specified.

Currently only the value mac is suported. --bindto=mac will bind the connection to MAC address of the device (HWADDR value in ifcfg file).

For example:
``network --device=01:23:45:67:89:ab --bootproto=dhcp --bindto=mac``
will bind the configuration of the device specified by MAC address 01:23:45:67:89:ab to its MAC address.

network --device=01:23:45:67:89:ab --bootproto=dhcp

will bind the configuration of the device specified by MAC address 01:23:45:67:89:ab to its interface name (eg ens3).

network --device=ens3 --bootproto=dhcp --bindto=mac

will bind the configuration of the device specified by interface name ens3 to its MAC address.

New in version Fedora27.

--ipv4-dns-search IPV4_DNS_SEARCH

Use this option to set IPv4 search domains. For example: --ipv4-dns-search domain1.example.com,domain2.example.com

Requires --device to be specified.

New in version Fedora39.

--ipv6-dns-search IPV6_DNS_SEARCH

Use this option to set IPv6 search domains. For example: --ipv6-dns-search domain1.example.com,domain2.example.com

Requires --device to be specified.

New in version Fedora39.

--ipv4-ignore-auto-dns

Use this option to ignore IPv4 automatic DNS.

Requires --device to be specified.

New in version Fedora39.

--ipv6-ignore-auto-dns

Use this option to ignore IPv6 automatic DNS.

Requires --device to be specified.

New in version Fedora39.

nfs ¶

nfs --server <hostname> --dir <directory> [--opts <options>]

New in version Fedora3.

Install from the NFS server specified. This can either be an exploded installation tree or a directory of ISO images. In the latter case, the install.img must also be provided subject to the same rules as with the harddrive installation method described above.

options:

--server <hostname>

Server from which to install (hostname or IP).

New in version Fedora3.

--dir <directory>

Directory containing the Packages/ directory of the installation tree. If doing an ISO install, this directory must also contain images/install.img.

New in version Fedora3.

--opts <options>

Mount options to use for mounting the NFS export. Any options that can be specified in /etc/fstab for an NFS mount are allowed. The options are listed in the nfs(5) man page. Multiple options are separated with a comma.

New in version Fedora6.

nvdimm ¶

nvdimm [--namespace <namespace>]
   [--blockdevs <devspec1>,<devspec2>,...,<devspecN>] [--mode {sector}]
   [--sectorsize SECTORSIZE]
   {reconfigure,use}

New in version Fedora28.

Perform an action on an nvdimm device.

Deprecated since version Fedora40.

positional arguments:

{reconfigure,use}

The action to be performed on the device specified by further options. The device can be specified by --namespace or --blockdevs options, depending on the action.

Valid actions: - reconfigure: Reconfigures the device specified by --namespace into the mode specified by --mode and (depending on the mode) --sectorsize options. The device reconfigured into sector mode will be allowed to be used for storage configuration. - use: Allow the device to be used for storage configuration. By default nvdimm devices are ignored. Only devices in sector mode can be used.

New in version Fedora28.

options:

--namespace <namespace>

The device specification by namespace.

New in version Fedora28.

--blockdevs <devspec1>,<devspec2>,...,<devspecN>

Specification of devices by comma separated list of block device names.

New in version Fedora28.

--mode {sector}

The mode specification.

New in version Fedora28.

--sectorsize SECTORSIZE

Size of a sector for sector mode.

New in version Fedora28.

ostreecontainer ¶

ostreecontainer [--stateroot STATEROOT] --url URL [--transport TRANSPORT]
            [--remote REMOTE] [--no-signature-verification]

New in version Fedora38.

Used for OSTree installations from native container. See https://coreos.github.io/rpm-ostree/container/ for more information about OSTree.

Experimental. Use on your own risk.

Note

ostreecontainer cannot be used with the following commands: ostreesetup

options:

--stateroot STATEROOT

Name for the state directory, also known as “osname”. Default value will be default.

New in version Fedora38.

--url URL

Name of the container image; for the registry transport. This would be e.g. quay.io/exampleos/foo:latest.

New in version Fedora38.

--transport TRANSPORT

The transport; e.g. registry, oci, oci-archive. The default is registry.

New in version Fedora38.

--remote REMOTE

Name of the OSTree remote.

New in version Fedora38.

--no-signature-verification

Disable verification via an ostree remote.

New in version Fedora38.

ostreesetup ¶

ostreesetup --osname OSNAME [--remote REMOTE] --url URL --ref REF [--nogpg]

New in version Fedora21.

Used for OSTree installations. See https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Projects/OSTree for more information about OSTree.

Note

ostreesetup cannot be used with the following commands: ostreecontainer

options:

--osname OSNAME

Management root for OS installation.

New in version Fedora21.

--remote REMOTE

Management root for OS installation.

New in version Fedora21.

--url URL

Repository URL.

New in version Fedora21.

--ref REF

Name of branch inside the repository.

New in version Fedora21.

--nogpg

Disable GPG key verification.

New in version Fedora21.

part or partition ¶

part|partition [--asprimary] [--fstype FSTYPE] [--grow] [--maxsize MAXSIZEMB]
           [--noformat] [--onbiosdisk ONBIOSDISK] [--ondisk DISK]
           [--onpart ONPART] [--recommended] [--size SIZE]
           [--fsoptions FSOPTS] [--label LABEL] [--fsprofile FSPROFILE]
           [--encrypted] [--passphrase PASSPHRASE] [--escrowcert <url>]
           [--backuppassphrase] [--resize] [--hibernation]
           [--cipher CIPHER] [--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS]
           [--luks-version LUKS_VERSION] [--pbkdf PBKDF]
           [--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME]
           [--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS]
           <mntpoint>

New in version Fedora3.

Creates a partition on the system. This command is required. All partitions created will be formatted as part of the installation process unless --noformat and --onpart are used.

Note

part|partition cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

positional arguments:

<mntpoint>

The <mntpoint> is where the partition will be mounted and must be of one of the following forms:

/<path>

For example, /, /usr, /home

swap

The partition will be used as swap space.

raid.<id>

The partition will be used for software RAID. Refer to the raid command.

pv.<id>

The partition will be used for LVM. Refer to the logvol command.

btrfs.<id>

The partition will be used for BTRFS volume. Rerefer to the btrfs command.

biosboot

The partition will be used for a BIOS Boot Partition. As of Fedora 16 there must be a biosboot partition for the bootloader to be successfully installed onto a disk that contains a GPT/GUID partition table. Rerefer to the bootloader command.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--asprimary

Forces automatic allocation of the partition as a primary partition or the partitioning will fail.

TIP: The --asprimary option only makes sense with the MBR partitioning scheme and is ignored when the GPT partitioning scheme is used.

New in version Fedora3.

--fstype FSTYPE, --type FSTYPE

Sets the file system type for the partition. Valid values include ext4, ext3, ext2, xfs, btrfs, swap, and vfat. Other filesystems may be valid depending on command line arguments passed to anaconda to enable other filesystems.

New in version Fedora3.

--grow

Tells the partition to grow to fill available space (if any), or up to the maximum size setting. Note that --grow is not supported for partitions containing a RAID volume on top of them.

New in version Fedora3.

--maxsize MAXSIZEMB

The maximum size in MiB the partition may grow to. Specify an integer value here, and do not append any units. This option is only relevant if --grow is specified as well.

New in version Fedora3.

--noformat

Tells the installation program not to format the partition, for use with the --onpart command.

New in version Fedora3.

--onbiosdisk ONBIOSDISK

Forces the partition to be created on a particular disk as discovered by the BIOS.

New in version Fedora3.

--ondisk DISK, --ondrive DISK

Forces the partition to be created on a particular disk.

New in version Fedora3.

--onpart ONPART, --usepart ONPART

Put the partition on an already existing device. Use --onpart=LABEL=name or --onpart=UUID=name to specify a partition by label or uuid respectively.

Anaconda may create partitions in any particular order, so it is safer to use labels than absolute partition names.

New in version Fedora3.

--recommended

Determine the size of the partition automatically.

New in version Fedora3.

--size SIZE

The minimum partition size in MiB. Specify an integer value here and do not append any units.

New in version Fedora3.

--fsoptions FSOPTS

Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the /etc/fstab file of the installed system and should be enclosed in quotes.

New in version Fedora4.

--label LABEL

Specify the label to give to the filesystem to be made on the partition. If the given label is already in use by another filesystem, a new label will be created for this partition.

New in version Fedora4.

--bytes-per-inode BYTES_PER_INODE

Specify the bytes/inode ratio.

New in version Fedora4.

Deprecated since version Fedora9.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--fsprofile FSPROFILE

Specifies a usage type to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. A usage type defines a variety of tuning parameters to be used when making a filesystem. For this option to work, the filesystem must support the concept of usage types and there must be a configuration file that lists valid types. For ext2/3/4, this configuration file is /etc/mke2fs.conf.

New in version Fedora9.

--encrypted

Specify that this partition should be encrypted.

New in version Fedora9.

--passphrase PASSPHRASE

Specify the passphrase to use when encrypting this partition. Without the above –encrypted option, this option does nothing. If no passphrase is specified, the default system-wide one is used, or the installer will stop and prompt if there is no default.

New in version Fedora9.

--start START

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora11.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--end END

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora11.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--escrowcert <url>

Load an X.509 certificate from <url>. Store the data encryption key of this partition, encrypted using the certificate, as a file in /root. Only relevant if --encrypted is specified as well.

New in version Fedora12.

--backuppassphrase

Only relevant if --escrowcert is specified as well. In addition to storing the data encryption key, generate a random passphrase and add it to this partition. Then store the passphrase, encrypted using the certificate specified by --escrowcert, as a file in /root. If more than one LUKS volume uses --backuppassphrase, the same passphrase will be used for all such volumes.

New in version Fedora12.

--resize

Attempt to resize this partition to the size given by --size=. This option must be used with --onpart --size=, or an error will be raised.

New in version Fedora17.

--hibernation

This option can be used to automatically determine the size of the swap partition big enough for hibernation.

New in version Fedora18.

--cipher CIPHER

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which encryption algorithm should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora18.

--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. This is similar to --fsprofile but works for all filesystems, not just the ones that support the profile concept. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora23.

--active

Set partition as active

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

--luks-version LUKS_VERSION

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which version of LUKS format should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf PBKDF

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) algorithm for LUKS keyslot. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the memory cost for PBKDF. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of milliseconds to spend with PBKDF passphrase processing. See --iter-time in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of iterations directly and avoids PBKDF benchmark. See --pbkdf-force-iterations in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

If partitioning fails for any reason, diagnostic messages will appear on virtual console 3.

raid ¶

raid --device DEVICE [--fstype FSTYPE] [--level LEVEL] [--noformat]
 [--spares SPARES] [--useexisting] [--fsoptions FSOPTS]
 [--fsprofile FSPROFILE] [--encrypted] [--passphrase PASSPHRASE]
 [--escrowcert <url>] [--backuppassphrase] [--label LABEL]
 [--cipher CIPHER] [--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS] [--chunksize CHUNK_SIZE]
 [--luks-version LUKS_VERSION] [--pbkdf PBKDF]
 [--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME]
 [--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS]
 <mntpoint> [<partitions*> ...]

New in version Fedora3.

Assembles a software RAID device.

Note

raid cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

positional arguments:

<mntpoint>

Location where the RAID file system is mounted. If it is /, the RAID level must be 1 unless a boot partition (/boot) is present. If a boot partition is present, the /boot partition must be level 1 and the root (/) partition can be any of the available types.

New in version Fedora3.

<partitions*>

The software raid partitions lists the RAID identifiers to add to the RAID array.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--device DEVICE

Name of the RAID device to use (such as ‘fedora-root’ or ‘home’). As of Fedora 19, RAID devices are no longer referred to by names like ‘md0’. If you have an old (v0.90 metadata) array that you cannot assign a name to, you can specify the array by a filesystem label or UUID (eg: –device=LABEL=fedora-root).

New in version Fedora3.

--fstype FSTYPE

Sets the file system type for the RAID array. Valid values include ext4, ext3, ext2, btrfs, swap, and vfat. Other filesystems may be valid depending on command line arguments passed to anaconda to enable other filesystems.

New in version Fedora3.

--level LEVEL

RAID level to use {‘RAID10’, ‘RAID1’, ‘RAID0’, ‘RAID4’, ‘RAID5’, ‘RAID6’}.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora7.

The “RAID10” level was added.

Changed in version Fedora13.

The “RAID4” level was added.

--noformat

Use an existing RAID device and do not format the RAID array.

New in version Fedora3.

--spares SPARES

Specifies the number of spare drives allocated for the RAID array. Spare drives are used to rebuild the array in case of drive failure.

New in version Fedora3.

--useexisting

Use an existing RAID device and reformat it.

New in version Fedora3.

--fsoptions FSOPTS

Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the /etc/fstab file of the installed system and should be enclosed in quotes.

New in version Fedora4.

--bytes-per-inode BYTES_PER_INODE

Specify the bytes/inode ratio.

New in version Fedora5.

Deprecated since version Fedora9.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--fsprofile FSPROFILE

Specifies a usage type to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. A usage type defines a variety of tuning parameters to be used when making a filesystem. For this option to work, the filesystem must support the concept of usage types and there must be a configuration file that lists valid types. For ext2/3/4, this configuration file is /etc/mke2fs.conf.

New in version Fedora9.

--encrypted

Specify that this RAID device should be encrypted.

New in version Fedora9.

--passphrase PASSPHRASE

Specify the passphrase to use when encrypting this RAID device. Without the above –encrypted option, this option does nothing. If no passphrase is specified, the default system-wide one is used, or the installer will stop and prompt if there is no default.

New in version Fedora9.

--escrowcert <url>

Load an X.509 certificate from <url>. Store the data encryption key of this partition, encrypted using the certificate, as a file in /root. Only relevant if --encrypted is specified as well.

New in version Fedora12.

--backuppassphrase

Only relevant if --escrowcert is specified as well. In addition to storing the data encryption key, generate a random passphrase and add it to this partition. Then store the passphrase, encrypted using the certificate specified by --escrowcert, as a file in /root. If more than one LUKS volume uses --backuppassphrase, the same passphrase will be used for all such volumes.

New in version Fedora12.

--label LABEL

Specify the label to give to the filesystem to be made. If the given label is already in use by another filesystem, a new label will be created.

New in version Fedora15.

--cipher CIPHER

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which encryption algorithm should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora18.

--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora23.

--chunksize CHUNK_SIZE

Specify the chunk size (in KiB) for this RAID array.

New in version Fedora25.

--luks-version LUKS_VERSION

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which version of LUKS format should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf PBKDF

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) algorithm for LUKS keyslot. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the memory cost for PBKDF. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of milliseconds to spend with PBKDF passphrase processing. See --iter-time in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of iterations directly and avoids PBKDF benchmark. See --pbkdf-force-iterations in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

The following example shows how to create a RAID level 1 partition for /, and a RAID level 5 for /usr, assuming there are three disks on the system. It also creates three swap partitions, one on each drive:

part raid.01 --size=6000 --ondisk=sda
part raid.02 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdb
part raid.03 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdc

part swap1 --size=512 --ondisk=sda
part swap2 --size=512 --ondisk=sdb
part swap3 --size=512 --ondisk=sdc

part raid.11 --size=6000 --ondisk=sda
part raid.12 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdb
part raid.13 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdc

raid / --level=1 --device=md0 raid.01 raid.02 raid.03
raid /usr --level=5 --device=md1 raid.11 raid.12 raid.13

realm ¶

realm

New in version Fedora19.

define an Active Directory realm to join

repo ¶

repo --name NAME [--baseurl BASEURL] [--mirrorlist MIRRORLIST] [--cost COST]
 [--excludepkgs EXCLUDEPKGS] [--includepkgs INCLUDEPKGS] [--proxy PROXY]
 [--noverifyssl] [--install] [--metalink METALINK] [--sslcacert SSLCACERT]
 [--sslclientcert SSLCLIENTCERT] [--sslclientkey SSLCLIENTKEY]

New in version Fedora6.

Configures additional yum repositories that may be used as sources for package installation. Multiple repo lines may be specified. By default, anaconda has a configured set of repos taken from /etc/anaconda.repos.d plus a special Installation Repo in the case of a media install. The exact set of repos in this directory changes from release to release and cannot be listed here. There will likely always be a repo named “updates”.

Note: If you want to enable one of the repos in /etc/anaconda.repos.d that is disabled by default (like “updates”), you should use –name= but none of the other options. anaconda will look for a repo by this name automatically. Providing a baseurl or mirrorlist URL will result in anaconda attempting to add another repo by the same name, which will cause a conflicting repo error.

options:

--name NAME

The repo id. This option is required. The RepoId must not contain spaces (do not confuse with the optional name used by yum). If a repo has a name that conflicts with a previously added one, the new repo will be ignored. Because anaconda has a populated list of repos when it starts, this means that users cannot create new repos that override these names. Please check /etc/anaconda.repos.d from the operating system you wish to install to see what names are not available.

New in version Fedora6.

--baseurl BASEURL

The URL for the repository. The variables that may be used in yum repo config files are not supported here. You may use one of either this option or --mirrorlist, not both. If an NFS repository is specified, it should be of the form nfs://host:/path/to/repo. Note that there is a colon after the host. Anaconda passes everything after “nfs:// “ directly to the mount command instead of parsing URLs according to RFC 2224. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora6.

Changed in version Fedora15.

--mirrorlist and --baseurl are not required anymore!

Changed in version Fedora27.

Another mutually exclusive option --metalink was added.

--mirrorlist MIRRORLIST

The URL pointing at a list of mirrors for the repository. The variables that may be used in yum repo config files are not supported here. You may use one of either this option or --baseurl, not both. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora6.

Changed in version Fedora15.

--mirrorlist and --baseurl are not required anymore!

Changed in version Fedora27.

Another mutually exclusive option --metalink was added.

--cost COST

An integer value to assign a cost to this repository. If multiple repositories provide the same packages, this number will be used to prioritize which repository will be used before another. Repositories with a lower cost take priority over repositories with higher cost.

New in version Fedora8.

--excludepkgs EXCLUDEPKGS

A comma-separated list of package names and globs that must not be fetched from this repository. This is useful if multiple repositories provide the same package and you want to make sure it is not fetched from a particular repository during installation.

New in version Fedora8.

--includepkgs INCLUDEPKGS

A comma-separated list of package names and globs that can be pulled from this repository. Any other packages provided by the repository not on this list will be ignored. This is useful if you want to install just a single package or set of packages from a repository while including all other packages the repository provides.

New in version Fedora8.

--proxy PROXY

Specify an HTTP/HTTPS/FTP proxy to use just for this repository. This setting does not affect any other repositories, nor how the install.img is fetched on HTTP installs. The various parts of the argument act like you would expect. The syntax is:
``--proxy=[protocol://][username[:password]@]host[:port]``
New in version Fedora13.

--noverifyssl

For a https repo do not check the server’s certificate with what well-known CA validate and do not check the server’s hostname matches the certificate’s domain name.

New in version Fedora14.

--install

Install this repository to the target system so that it can be used after reboot.

New in version Fedora21.

--metalink METALINK

The URL pointing at a metalink for the repository. The variables that may be used in yum repo config files are not supported here. You may use only one of the --baseurl, --mirrorlist, or --metalink options. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora27.

--sslcacert SSLCACERT

Path to the file holding one or more SSL certificates to verify the repository host with.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--sslclientcert SSLCLIENTCERT

Path to the SSL client certificate (PEM file) which should be used to connect to the repository.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--sslclientkey SSLCLIENTKEY

Path to the private key file associated with the client certificate given with –sslclientcert.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--ignoregroups IGNOREGROUPS

This option is used when composing installation trees and has no effect on the installation process itself. It tells the compose tools to not look at the package group information when mirroring trees so as to avoid mirroring large amounts of unnecessary data.

New in version Fedora11.

Deprecated since version Fedora33.

Removed in version Fedora40.

reqpart ¶

reqpart [--add-boot]

New in version Fedora23.

Automatically create partitions required by your hardware platform. These include a /boot/efi for x86_64 and Aarch64 systems with UEFI firmware, biosboot for x86_64 systems with BIOS firmware and GPT, and PRePBoot for IBM Power Systems.

Note: This command can not be used together with autopart, because autopart does the same and creates other partitions or logical volumes such as / and swap on top. In contrast with autopart, this command only creates platform-specific partitions and leaves the rest of the drive empty, allowing you to create a custom layout.

Note

reqpart cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

options:

--add-boot

Create a separate /boot partition in addition to the platform-specific partition created by the base command.

New in version Fedora23.

rescue ¶

rescue [--nomount] [--romount]

New in version Fedora10.

Automatically enter the installer’s rescue mode. This gives you a chance to repair the system should something catastrophic happen.

options:

--nomount

Don’t mount the installed system.

New in version Fedora10.

--romount

Mount the installed system in read-only mode.

New in version Fedora10.

By default, the installer will find your system and mount it in read-write mode, telling you where it has performed this mount. You may optionally choose to not mount anything or mount in read-only mode. Only one of these two options may be given at any one time.

rootpw ¶

rootpw [--iscrypted] [--lock] [--plaintext] [--allow-ssh] [<password>]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets the system’s root password.

positional arguments:

<password>

The desired root password.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--iscrypted

If this is present, the password argument is assumed to already be encrypted. To create an encrypted password you can use python:
``python -c 'import crypt; print(crypt.crypt("My Password", "$6$My Salt"))'``
This will generate sha512 crypt of your password using your provided salt.

New in version Fedora3.

--lock

If this is present, the root account is locked by default. That is, the root user will not be able to login from the console. When this option is present the <password> argument is not required.

New in version Fedora8.

--plaintext

The password argument is assumed to not be encrypted. This is the default!

New in version Fedora8.

--allow-ssh

This will allow remote root logins via ssh using only the password. Only use as a last resort.

New in version Fedora37.

selinux ¶

selinux [--disabled] [--enforcing] [--permissive]

New in version Fedora3.

Sets the state of SELinux on the installed system. SELinux defaults to enforcing in anaconda.

options:

--disabled

If this is present, SELinux is disabled.

New in version Fedora3.

--enforcing

If this is present, SELinux is set to enforcing mode.

New in version Fedora3.

--permissive

If this is present, SELinux is enabled, but only logs things that would be denied in enforcing mode.

New in version Fedora3.

Only one of --disabled, --enabled or --permissive must be specified!

services ¶

services [--disabled <list>] [--enabled <list>]

New in version Fedora6.

Modifies the default set of services that will run under the default runlevel. The services listed in the disabled list will be disabled before the services listed in the enabled list are enabled.

options:

--disabled <list>

Disable the services given in the comma separated list.

New in version Fedora6.

--enabled <list>

Enable the services given in the comma separated list.

New in version Fedora6.

One of --disabled or --enabled must be provided.

skipx ¶

skipx

New in version Fedora3.

If present, X is not configured on the installed system.

snapshot ¶

snapshot --name <snapshot_name> --when <post-install|pre-install>
     <originVG/originLV>

New in version Fedora26.

Create an LVM snapshot for devices on an LVM thin pool.

positional arguments:

<originVG/originLV>

Origin of the snapshot. The origin is specified as <VG>/<LV>.

New in version Fedora26.

options:

--name <snapshot_name>

Name of the newly created snapshot.

New in version Fedora26.

--when <post-install|pre-install>

You can specify two possible values: pre-install and post-install. When the pre-install value is used the snapshot is created before the installation but after the %pre section is run. When the post-install value is used the snapshot is created after the installation is done and after the %post section is run.

New in version Fedora26.

sshkey ¶

sshkey --username <user> "ssh key"

New in version Fedora22.

This installs a ssh key to the authorized_keys file of the specified user on the installed system.

positional arguments:

"ssh key"

The content of the ssh key to install.

New in version Fedora22.

options:

--username <user>

User for which to install the specified key. This option is required.

New in version Fedora22.

Note that the key should be quoted, if it contains spaces and the user should exist (or be root) either via creation by a package install or the kickstart user command.

sshpw ¶

sshpw --username <name> [--iscrypted] [--plaintext] [--lock] [--sshkey]
  [<password> ...]

New in version Fedora13.

The installer can start up ssh to provide for interactivity and inspection, just like it can with telnet. The “inst.sshd” option must be specified on the kernel command-line for Anaconda to start an ssh daemon. The sshpw command is used to control the accounts created in the installation environment that may be remotely logged into. For each instance of this command given, a user will be created. These users will not be created on the final system - they only exist for use while the installer is running.

Note that by default, root has a blank password. If you don’t want any user to be able to ssh in and have full access to your hardware, you must specify sshpw for username root. Also note that if Anaconda fails to parse the kickstart file, it will allow anyone to login as root and have full access to your hardware.

positional arguments:

<password>

The password string to use.

New in version Fedora13.

options:

--username <name>

Provides the name of the user. This option is required.

New in version Fedora13.

--iscrypted

If this is present, the password argument is assumed to already be encrypted.

New in version Fedora13.

--plaintext

If this is present, the password argument is assumed to not be encrypted. This is the default.

New in version Fedora13.

--lock

If this is present, the new user account is locked by default. That is, the user will not be able to login from the console.

New in version Fedora13.

--sshkey

If this is used then the <password> string is interpreted as an ssh key value.

New in version Fedora24.

timesource ¶

timesource [--ntp-server NTP_SERVER] [--ntp-pool NTP_POOL] [--ntp-disable]
       [--nts]

New in version Fedora33.

Configures a timesource.

options:

--ntp-server NTP_SERVER

A single NTP server.

--ntp-server, --ntp-pool and --ntp-disable are mutually exclusive.

New in version Fedora33.

--ntp-pool NTP_POOL

A single NTP pool.

--ntp-pool, --ntp-server and --ntp-disable are mutually exclusive.

New in version Fedora33.

--ntp-disable

If specified, disable any NTP based time sync, both on target system as well as in installation environment.

New in version Fedora33.

--nts

If specified, consider the provided hostname to be a NTS compatible time source. Without the --nts option it will be considered to be a plain NTP time source without NTS support.

New in version Fedora33.

timezone ¶

timezone [--utc] [--isUtc] [--nontp]
     [--ntpservers <server1>,<server2>,...,<serverN>]
     [<timezone> ...]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets the system time zone to which may be any of the time zones listed by timeconfig.

positional arguments:

<timezone>

Timezone name, e.g. Europe/Sofia. This is optional but at least one of the options needs to be used if no timezone is specified.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--utc

If present, the system assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC (Greenwich Mean) time.

To get the list of supported timezones, you can either run this script: http://vpodzime.fedorapeople.org/timezones_list.py or look at this list: http://vpodzime.fedorapeople.org/timezones_list.txt

New in version Fedora6.

--isUtc

This is an alias for the --utc option.

New in version Fedora6.

Deprecated since version Fedora40.

--nontp

Disable automatic starting of NTP service.

--nontp and --ntpservers are mutually exclusive.

New in version Fedora18.

Deprecated since version Fedora40.

--ntpservers <server1>,<server2>,...,<serverN>

Specify a list of NTP servers to be used (comma-separated list with no spaces). The chrony package is automatically installed when this option is used. If you don’t want the package to be automatically installed then use -chrony in package selection. For example:

timezone –ntpservers=ntp.cesnet.cz,tik.nic.cz Europe/Prague

New in version Fedora18.

Deprecated since version Fedora40.

updates ¶

updates [URL]

New in version Fedora7.

Specify the location of an updates.img for use in installation.

positional arguments:

[URL]

If present, the URL for an updates image.

If not present, anaconda will attempt to load from a floppy disk.

New in version Fedora7.

Changed in version Fedora34.

The URL for an updates image is required. Anaconda no longer supports updates on a floppy disk.

install or upgrade ¶

install|upgrade [--root-device ROOT_DEVICE]

New in version Fedora3.

Install a fresh system or upgrade an existing system. Install is the default mode. For installation, you must specify the type of installation from one of cdrom, harddrive, nfs, or url (for ftp or http installations). The install command and the installation method command must be on separate lines.

Deprecated since version Fedora20.

Starting with F18, upgrades are no longer supported in anaconda and should be done with FedUp, the Fedora update tool. Starting with F21, the DNF system-upgrade plugin is recommended instead. Therefore, the upgrade command essentially does nothing.

Removed in version Fedora29.

options:

--root-device ROOT_DEVICE

On a system with multiple installs, this option specifies which filesystem holds the installation to be upgraded. This can be specified by device name, UUID=, or LABEL= just like the harddrive command may be.

New in version Fedora11.

url ¶

url [--proxy URL] [--noverifyssl] [--mirrorlist URL] [--url URL]
[--metalink URL] [--sslcacert SSLCACERT] [--sslclientcert SSLCLIENTCERT]
[--sslclientkey SSLCLIENTKEY]

New in version Fedora3.

Install from an installation tree on a remote server via FTP or HTTP.

options:

--proxy URL

Specify an HTTP/HTTPS/FTP proxy to use while performing the install. The various parts of the argument act like you would expect. The syntax is:
[protocol://][username[:password]@]host[:port]
New in version Fedora13.

--noverifyssl

For a tree on a HTTPS server do not check the server’s certificate with what well-known CA validate and do not check the server’s hostname matches the certificate’s domain name.

New in version Fedora14.

--mirrorlist URL

The mirrorlist URL to install from. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora18.

--url URL

The URL to install from. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora18.

Only one of the –url or –mirrorlist can be specified.

Changed in version Fedora27.

Only one of the –url, –mirrorlist or –metalink can be specified.

--metalink URL

The metalink URL to install from. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora27.

--sslcacert SSLCACERT

Path to the file holding one or more SSL certificates to verify the repository host with.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--sslclientcert SSLCLIENTCERT

Path to the SSL client certificate (PEM file) which should be used to connect to the repository.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--sslclientkey SSLCLIENTKEY

Path to the private key file associated with the client certificate given with –sslclientcert.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

user ¶

user [--homedir HOMEDIR] [--iscrypted] --name NAME [--password PASSWORD]
 [--shell SHELL] [--uid INT] [--lock] [--plaintext] [--gecos GECOS]
 [--gid INT] [--groups GROUPS]

New in version Fedora6.

Creates a new user on the system.

options:

--homedir HOMEDIR

The home directory for the user. If not provided, this defaults to /home/.

New in version Fedora6.

--iscrypted

If specified, consider the password provided by --password already encrypted. This is the default.

New in version Fedora6.

--name NAME

Provides the name of the user. This option is required.

New in version Fedora6.

--password PASSWORD

The new user’s password. If not provided, the account will be locked by default. If this is present, the password argument is assumed to already be encrypted. --plaintext has the opposite effect - the password argument is assumed to not be encrypted. To create an encrypted password you can use:

mkpasswd -m yescrypt

This will generate a yescrypt hash of your password using a random salt. As a fallback for older distributions or in case mkpasswd is not available you can use:

python -c ‘import crypt; print(crypt.crypt(“My Password”, “$6$MySalt”))’

This will generate a SHA-512 hash of your password using your provided salt.

New in version Fedora6.

--shell SHELL

The user’s login shell. If not provided, this defaults to the system default.

New in version Fedora6.

--uid INT

The user’s UID. If not provided, this defaults to the next available non-system UID.

New in version Fedora6.

--lock

If this is present, the new user account is locked by default. That is, the user will not be able to login from the console.

New in version Fedora8.

--plaintext

If specified, consider the password provided by --password to be plain text.

New in version Fedora8.

--gecos GECOS

Provides the GECOS information for the user. This is a string of various system-specific fields separated by a comma. It is frequently used to specify the user’s full name, office number, and the like. See man 5 passwd for more details.

New in version Fedora12.

--gid INT

The GID of the user’s primary group. If not provided, this defaults to the next available non-system GID.

New in version Fedora19.

--groups GROUPS

In addition to the default group, a comma separated list of group names the user should belong to. Any groups that do not already exist will be created. If the group already exists with a different GID, an error will be raised.

New in version Fedora6.

Changed in version Fedora24.

The group name can optionally be followed by a GID in parenthesis, for example, newgroup(5002).

vnc ¶

vnc [--password PASSWORD] [--host HOST] [--port PORT]

New in version Fedora3.

Allows the graphical installation to be viewed remotely via VNC. This method is usually preferred over text mode, as there are some size and language limitations in text installs. With no options, this command will start a VNC server on the machine with no password and will print out the command that needs to be run to connect a remote machine.

options:

--password PASSWORD

Set a password which must be provided to connect to the VNC session. This is optional, but recommended.

New in version Fedora3.

--connect host[:port]

Connect to a remote host instead of starting VNC server locally.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora6.

Added support for host[:port] syntax.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--host HOST

Instead of starting a VNC server on the install machine, connect to the VNC viewer process listening on the given hostname.

New in version Fedora6.

--port PORT

Provide a port that the remote VNC viewer process is listening on. If not provided, anaconda will use the VNC default.

New in version Fedora6.

volgroup ¶

volgroup [--noformat] [--useexisting] [--reserved-space RESERVED_SPACE]
     [--reserved-percent RESERVED_PERCENT] [--pesize PESIZE]
     [<name> ...] [<partitions*> ...]

New in version Fedora3.

Creates a Logical Volume Management (LVM) group.

Note

volgroup cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

positional arguments:

<name>

Name given to the volume group. The (which denotes that multiple partitions can be listed) lists the identifiers to add to the volume group.

New in version Fedora3.

<partitions*>

Physical Volume partitions to be included in this Volume Group

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--noformat

Use an existing volume group. Do not specify partitions when using this option.

New in version Fedora3.

--useexisting

Use an existing volume group. Do not specify partitions when using this option.

New in version Fedora3.

--reserved-space RESERVED_SPACE

Specify an amount of space to leave unused in a volume group, in MiB. Do not append any units. This option is only used for new volume groups.

New in version Fedora16.

--reserved-percent RESERVED_PERCENT

Specify a percentage of total volume group space to leave unused (new volume groups only).

New in version Fedora16.

--pesize PESIZE

Set the size of the physical extents in KiB.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora21.

Set the size of the physical extents in KiB.

Create the partition first, create the logical volume group, and then create the logical volume. For example:

part pv.01 --size 3000
volgroup myvg pv.01
logvol / --vgname=myvg --size=2000 --name=rootvol

xconfig ¶

xconfig [--defaultdesktop GNOME|KDE] [--startxonboot]

New in version Fedora3.

Configures the X Window System. If this option is not given, Anaconda will use X and attempt to automatically configure. Please try this before manually configuring your system.

options:

--defaultdesktop GNOME|KDE

Specify either GNOME or KDE to set the default desktop (assumes that GNOME Desktop Environment and/or KDE Desktop Environment has been installed through %packages).

New in version Fedora3.

--server SERVER

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora6.

--startxonboot

Use a graphical login on the installed system.

New in version Fedora3.

--card CARD

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--hsync HSYNC

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--monitor MONITOR

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--noprobe NOPROBE

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--vsync VSYNC

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--driver DRIVER

REMOVED

New in version Fedora6.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--depth DEPTH

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--resolution RESOLUTION

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--videoram VIDEORAM

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

zerombr ¶

zerombr

New in version Fedora3.

If zerombr is specified, any disks whose formatting is unrecognized are initialized. This will destroy all of the contents of disks with invalid partition tables or other formatting unrecognizable to the installer. It is useful so that the installation program does not ask if it should initialize the disk label if installing to a brand new hard drive.

zfcp ¶

zfcp --devnum DEVNUM [--wwpn WWPN] [--fcplun FCPLUN]

New in version Fedora3.

Define a Fibre channel device. This option only applies on IBM System z.

Changed in version Fedora37.

It is sufficient to specify an FCP device bus ID if automatic LUN scanning is available. Otherwise all three parameters are required.

zfcp --devnum=<devnum> [--wwpn=<wwpn> --fcplun=<lun>]

Automatic LUN scanning is available for FCP devices operating in NPIV mode if it is not disabled through the zfcp.allow_lun_scan module parameter (enabled by default). It provides access to all SCSI devices, that is, WWPNs and FCP LUNs, found in the storage area network attached to the FCP device with the specified bus ID.

options:

--devnum DEVNUM

The device number (zFCP adaptor device bus ID).

New in version Fedora3.

--scsiid SCSIID

SCSI ID

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora12.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--scsilun SCSILUN

SCSI LUN

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora12.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--wwpn WWPN

The device’s World Wide Port Name (WWPN). Takes the form of a 16-digit number, preceded by 0x.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora37.

The argument is optional.

--fcplun FCPLUN

The device’s Logical Unit Number (LUN). Takes the form of a 16-digit number, preceded by 0x.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora37.

The argument is optional.

For example:

zfcp --devnum=0.0.6000
zfcp --devnum=0.0.4000 --wwpn=0x5005076300C213e9 --fcplun=0x5022000000000000

zipl ¶

zipl [--secure-boot] [--force-secure-boot] [--no-secure-boot]

New in version Fedora32.

This command specifies the ZIPL configuration for s390x.

options:

--secure-boot

Enable Secure Boot if supported by the installing machine.

Note When installed on a model newer than IBM z14, the installed system cannot be booted from an IBM z14 and earlier models.

New in version Fedora32.

--force-secure-boot

Enable Secure Boot unconditionally.

Note Installation will fail on IBM z14 and earlier models.

New in version Fedora32.

--no-secure-boot

Disable Secure Boot.

Note Secure Boot is not supported on IBM z14 and earlier models, therefore choose ‘–no-secure-boot’ if you intend to boot the installed system on such models.

New in version Fedora32.

%include ¶

Use the %include /path/to/file or %include <url> command to include the contents of another file in the kickstart file as though the contents were at the location of the %include command in the kickstart file.

Note the semantics of most kickstart commands default to “last keyword wins”, which means that for example if you have a services --enable=foo,bar in one file, and %include that file and use services --enable=baz, only the baz service will be enabled.

The Kickstart documentation usually notes which commands support multiple instances - this is mostly multi-line commands such as %packages and %post. Other exceptions include the user and group commands. Consult individual command documentation for semantics.

%ksappend ¶

The %ksappend url directive is very similar to %include in that it is used to include the contents of additional files as though they were at the location of the %ksappend directive. The difference is in when the two directives are processed. %ksappend is processed in an initial pass, before any other part of the kickstart file. Then, this expanded kickstart file is passed to the rest of anaconda where all %pre scripts are handled, and then finally the rest of the kickstart file is processed in order, which includes %include directives.

Thus, %ksappend provides a way to include a file containing %pre scripts, while %include does not.

Chapter 3. Kickstart Commands in Red Hat Enterprise Linux ¶

The following commands can be placed in a kickstart file. If you prefer to use a graphical interface for creating your kickstart file, you can use the Kickstart Configurator application.

Most commands take arguments. If an argument is followed equals mark (=), a value must be specified after it.

In the example commands, options in ‘’’[square brackets]’’’ are optional arguments for the command.

pykickstart processes arguments to commands just like the shell does:

If a list of arguments can be passed in, the arguments must be separated by
commas and not include any extra spaces.  If extra spaces are required in the
list of arguments, the entire argument must be surrounded by double quotes.
If quotes, spaces, or other special characters need to be added to the
arguments list, they must be escaped.

Note

Documentation for RHEL 8 commands can be found here

Commands for RHEL 9:

auth or authconfig ¶

auth|authconfig [options]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets up the authentication options for the system. This is just a wrapper around the authconfig program, so all options recognized by that program are valid for this command. See the manual page for authconfig for a complete list.

By default, passwords are normally encrypted and are not shadowed.

Changed in version Fedora28.

The authconfig program is deprecated. This command will use the authconfig compatibility tool, but you should use the authselect command instead.

positional arguments:

[options]

See man authconfig.

New in version Fedora3.

authselect ¶

authselect [options]

New in version Fedora28.

This command sets up the authentication options for the system. This is just a wrapper around the authselect program, so all options recognized by that program are valid for this command. See the manual page for authselect for a complete list.

positional arguments:

[options]

See man authselect.

New in version Fedora28.

autopart ¶

autopart [--encrypted] [--passphrase PASSPHRASE] [--escrowcert <url>]
     [--backuppassphrase] [--nolvm] [--type TYPE] [--cipher CIPHER]
     [--fstype FSTYPE] [--nohome] [--noboot] [--noswap]
     [--luks-version LUKS_VERSION] [--pbkdf PBKDF]
     [--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME]
     [--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS]

New in version Fedora3.

Automatically create partitions – a root (/) partition, a swap partition, and an appropriate boot partition for the architecture. On large enough drives, this will also create a /home partition.

Note

autopart cannot be used with the following commands: partition, raid, volgroup, logvol, reqpart

options:

--encrypted

Should all devices with support be encrypted by default? This is equivalent to checking the “Encrypt” checkbox on the initial partitioning screen.

New in version Fedora9.

--passphrase PASSPHRASE

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Provide a default system-wide passphrase for all encrypted devices.

New in version Fedora9.

--escrowcert <url>

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Load an X.509 certificate from <url>. Store the data encryption keys of all encrypted volumes created during installation, encrypted using the certificate, as files in /root.

New in version Fedora12.

--backuppassphrase

Only relevant if --escrowcert is specified. In addition to storing the data encryption keys, generate a random passphrase and add it to all encrypted volumes created during installation. Then store the passphrase, encrypted using the certificate specified by --escrowcert, as files in /root (one file for each encrypted volume).

New in version Fedora12.

--nolvm

Don’t use LVM when partitioning.

New in version Fedora16.

Changed in version Fedora17.

The same as --type=plain

--type TYPE

Select automatic partitioning scheme. Must be one of the following: [‘lvm’, ‘btrfs’, ‘plain’, ‘partition’, ‘thinp’]. Plain means regular partitions with no btrfs or lvm.

New in version Fedora17.

Changed in version Fedora20.

Partitioning scheme ‘thinp’ was added.

Changed in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

Partitioning scheme ‘btrfs’ was removed.

--cipher CIPHER

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which encryption algorithm should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora18.

--fstype FSTYPE

Use the specified filesystem type on the partitions. Note that it cannot be used with --type=btrfs since btrfs is both a partition scheme and a filesystem. eg. --fstype=ext4.

New in version Fedora21.

Changed in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

Partitioning scheme ‘btrfs’ was removed.

--nohome

Do not create a /home partition.

New in version Fedora26.

--noboot

Do not create a /boot partition.

New in version Fedora26.

--noswap

Do not create a swap partition. Only one of --noswap and --hibernation can be specified.

New in version Fedora26.

--luks-version LUKS_VERSION

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which version of LUKS format should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf PBKDF

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) algorithm for LUKS keyslot. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the memory cost for PBKDF. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of milliseconds to spend with PBKDF passphrase processing. See --iter-time in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of iterations directly and avoids PBKDF benchmark. See --pbkdf-force-iterations in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

autostep ¶

autostep [--autoscreenshot]

New in version Fedora3.

Kickstart installs normally skip unnecessary screens. This makes the installer step through every screen, displaying each briefly.

This is mostly used for debugging.

Deprecated since version Fedora34.

options:

--autoscreenshot

Take a screenshot at every step during installation and copy the images over to /root/anaconda-screenshots after installation is complete. This is most useful for documentation.

New in version Fedora3.

bootloader ¶

bootloader [--append APPENDLINE] [--location {mbr,partition,none,boot}]
       [--password PASSWORD] [--driveorder DRIVEORDER] [--timeout TIMEOUT]
       [--default DEFAULT] [--iscrypted] [--md5pass MD5PASS]
       [--boot-drive BOOTDRIVE] [--leavebootorder] [--extlinux]
       [--disabled] [--nombr]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command specifies how the boot loader should be installed.

There must be a biosboot partition for the bootloader to be installed successfully onto a disk that contains a GPT/GUID partition table, which includes disks initialized by anaconda. This partition may be created with the kickstart command part biosboot --fstype=biosboot --size=1. However, in the case that a disk has an existing biosboot partition, adding a part biosboot option is unnecessary.

options:

--append APPENDLINE

Specifies additional kernel parameters. For example:

bootloader --location=mbr --append="hdd=ide-scsi ide=nodma"

Note The installer will add the bootloader arguments rhgb quiet if plymouth is installed on the target system. You can disable these options with -plymouth in the %packages section.

New in version Fedora3.

--linear

use linear mode to access hard disks (for LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora4.

--nolinear

do not use linear mode to access hard disks (for LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora4.

--location {mbr,partition,none,boot}

Specifies where the boot record is written. Valid values are the following: mbr (the default), partition (installs the boot loader on the first sector of the partition containing the kernel), or none (do not install the boot loader).

Note bootloader –location=none is different from bootloader –location=none –disabled. –location=none prevents extra installation steps that makes the target machine bootable, e.g. write to MBR on x86 BIOS systems. However, the corresponding RPM packages are still installed, and –disabled can be appended to prevent it. bootloader –disabled only does not prevent the installation of the bootloader and Anaconda will complain if no other options are provided.

New in version Fedora3.

--password PASSWORD

If using GRUB, sets the GRUB boot loader password. This should be used to restrict access to the GRUB shell, where arbitrary kernel options can be passed.

New in version Fedora3.

--useLilo

force the use of LILO

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora4.

--driveorder DRIVEORDER

define the explicit hard disk order the boot loader should use

New in version Fedora3.

--timeout TIMEOUT

Specify the number of seconds before the bootloader times out and boots the default option.

New in version Fedora8.

--default DEFAULT

Sets the default boot image in the bootloader configuration.

New in version Fedora8.

--lba32

force the use of LBA32 mode for hard disk access (LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora12.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--iscrypted

If given, the password specified by --password= is already encrypted and should be passed to the bootloader configuration without additional modification.

New in version Fedora15.

--md5pass MD5PASS

If using GRUB, similar to --password= except the password should already be encrypted.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora15.

Alias for --password=MD5PASS --iscrypted.

--boot-drive BOOTDRIVE

Specifies which drive the bootloader should be written to and thus, which drive the computer will boot from.

New in version Fedora17.

--leavebootorder

On EFI or ISeries/PSeries machines, this option prevents the installer from making changes to the existing list of bootable images.

New in version Fedora18.

--extlinux

Use the extlinux bootloader instead of GRUB. This option only works on machines that are supported by extlinux.

New in version Fedora19.

--disabled

Do not install the boot loader.

Note bootloader –location=none is different from bootloader –location=none –disabled. –location=none prevents extra installation steps that makes the target machine bootable, e.g. write to MBR on x86 BIOS systems. However, the corresponding RPM packages are still installed, and –disabled can be appended to prevent it. bootloader –disabled only does not prevent the installation of the bootloader and Anaconda will complain if no other options are provided.

New in version Fedora21.

--nombr

do not install the boot loader to the MBR

New in version Fedora21.

--upgrade

upgrade the boot loader installed on disk

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

btrfs ¶

btrfs [--noformat] [--useexisting] [--label LABEL] [--data DATALEVEL]
  [--metadata METADATALEVEL] [--subvol] [--parent PARENT] [--name NAME]
  [--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS]

New in version Fedora17.

Defines a BTRFS volume or subvolume. This command is of the form:

btrfs <mntpoint> --data=<level> --metadata=<level> --label=<label> <partitions*>

for volumes and of the form:

btrfs <mntpoint> --subvol --name=<path> <parent>

for subvolumes.

The <partitions*> (which denotes that multiple partitions can be listed) lists the BTRFS identifiers to add to the BTRFS volume. For subvolumes, should be the identifier of the subvolume’s parent volume.

<mntpoint>

Location where the file system is mounted.

Deprecated since version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

options:

--noformat

Use an existing BTRFS volume (or subvolume) and do not reformat the filesystem.

New in version Fedora17.

--useexisting

Same as --noformat.

New in version Fedora17.

--label LABEL

Specify the label to give to the filesystem to be made. If the given label is already in use by another filesystem, a new label will be created. This option has no meaning for subvolumes.

New in version Fedora17.

--data DATALEVEL

RAID level to use (0, 1, 10) for filesystem data. Optional. This option has no meaning for subvolumes.

New in version Fedora17.

--metadata METADATALEVEL

RAID level to use (0, 1, 10) for filesystem/volume metadata. Optional. This option has no meaning for subvolumes.

New in version Fedora17.

--subvol

Create BTRFS subvolume.

New in version Fedora17.

--parent PARENT

BTRFS parent device

New in version Fedora17.

--name NAME

Subvolume name.

New in version Fedora17.

--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora23.

The following example shows how to create a BTRFS volume from member partitions on three disks with subvolumes for root and home. The main volume is not mounted or used directly in this example – only the root and home subvolumes:

part btrfs.01 --size=6000 --ondisk=sda
part btrfs.02 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdb
part btrfs.03 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdc

btrfs none --data=0 --metadata=1 --label=f17 btrfs.01 btrfs.02 btrfs.03
btrfs / --subvol --name=root LABEL=f17
btrfs /home --subvol --name=home f17

cdrom ¶

cdrom

New in version Fedora3.

Install from the first CD-ROM/DVD drive on the system.

clearpart ¶

clearpart [--all] [--initlabel] [--linux] [--none] [--disklabel DISKLABEL]
      [--drives DRIVES] [--list DEVICES] [--cdl]

New in version Fedora3.

Removes partitions from the system, prior to creation of new partitions. By default, no partitions are removed.

If the clearpart command is used, then the --onpart command cannot be used on a logical partition.

options:

--all

Erases all partitions from the system.

New in version Fedora3.

--initlabel

Initializes the disk label to the default for your architecture (for example msdos for x86 and gpt for Itanium). This is only meaningful in combination with the ‘–all’ option.

New in version Fedora3.

--linux

Erases all Linux partitions.

New in version Fedora3.

--none

Do not remove any partitions. This is the default

New in version Fedora3.

--disklabel DISKLABEL

Set the default disklabel to use. Only disklabels supported for the platform will be accepted. eg. msdos and gpt for x86_64 but not dasd.

New in version Fedora21.

--drives DRIVES

Specifies which drives to clear partitions from. For example, the following clears the partitions on the first two drives on the primary IDE controller:
``clearpart --all --drives=sda,sdb``
New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora25.

The following clears the partitions on the first two drives on the system:

clearpart --drives=sda,sdb

or clear as many drives as it could and skip the missing (at least one must be matched):

clearpart --drives=sda|sdb1

or clear all virtio drives and only first scsi device if exists

clearpart --drives=sda|vd*

--list DEVICES

Specifies which partitions to clear. If given, this supersedes any of the --all and --linux options. This can be across different drives:
``clearpart --list=sda2,sda3,sdb1``
New in version Fedora17.

Changed in version Fedora25.

The following clears the partitions on the first two drives on the system:

clearpart --list=sda,sdb

or clear as many drives as it could and skip the missing (at least one must be matched):

clearpart --list=sda|sdb1

or clear all virtio drives and only first scsi device if exists

clearpart --list=sda|vd*

--cdl

Reformat any LDL DASDs to CDL format.

New in version Fedora28.

graphical or text or cmdline ¶

graphical|text|cmdline [--non-interactive]

New in version Fedora3.

Controls which display mode will be used for the installation and for the installed system. If text or cmdline is chosen the system will boot in text mode. And when cmdline is used all required installation options must be configured via kickstart, otherwise the installation will fail.

options:

--non-interactive

Perform the installation in a completely non-interactive mode. This mode will kill the installation when user interaction will be required. Can’t be used with cmdline mode. This option is especially useful for automated testing purpose.

New in version Fedora26.

device ¶

device [--opts MODULEOPTS]

New in version Fedora3.

On most PCI systems, the installation program will autoprobe for Ethernet and SCSI cards properly. On older systems and some PCI systems, however, kickstart needs a hint to find the proper devices. The device command, which tells the installation program to install extra modules, is in this format:

device <moduleName> --opts=<options>

<moduleName>

Replace with the name of the kernel module which should be installed.

Deprecated since version Fedora24.

Removed in version Fedora34.

options:

--opts MODULEOPTS

Options to pass to the kernel module. For example:

--opts="aic152x=0x340 io=11"

New in version Fedora3.

deviceprobe ¶

deviceprobe

New in version Fedora3.

probe for devices

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

dmraid ¶

dmraid --name NAME --dev DEVICES

New in version Fedora6.

define a software RAID device

Deprecated since version Fedora24.

Removed in version Fedora34.

options:

--name NAME

Name of dmraid

New in version Fedora6.

--dev DEVICES

device to add to the dmraid

New in version Fedora6.

driverdisk ¶

driverdisk [--source SOURCE] [--biospart BIOSPART] [partition ...]

New in version Fedora3.

Driver diskettes can be used during kickstart installations. You need to copy the driver disk’s contents to the root directory of a partition on the system’s hard drive. Then you need to use the driverdisk command to tell the installation program where to look for the driver disk.

positional arguments:

partition

Partition containing the driver disk. This can be specified by device name, UUID=, or LABEL= just like the harddrive command may be.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--source SOURCE

Specify a URL for the driver disk. NFS locations can be given with nfs:host:/path/to/img.

New in version Fedora3.

--biospart BIOSPART

BIOS partition containing the driver disk (such as 82p2).

New in version Fedora4.

--type TYPE

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora12.

Removed in version Fedora14.

eula ¶

eula [--agreed]

New in version Fedora20.

Automatically accept Red Hat’s EULA

options:

--agreed, --agree, --accepted, --accept

Accept the EULA. This is mandatory option!

New in version Fedora20.

fcoe ¶

fcoe --nic NIC [--dcb] [--autovlan]

New in version Fedora12.

Discover and attach FCoE storage devices accessible via specified network interface

options:

--nic NIC

Name of the network device connected to the FCoE switch

New in version Fedora12.

--dcb

Enable Data Center Bridging awareness in installer. This option should only be enabled for network interfaces that require a host-based DCBX client. Configurations on interfaces that implement a hardware DCBX client should not use it.

New in version Fedora13.

--autovlan

Perform automatic VLAN discovery and setup. This option is enabled by default.

New in version Fedora28.

firewall ¶

firewall [--disable] [--enable] [--port PORTS] [--trust TRUSTS]
     [--service SERVICES] [--ftp] [--http] [--smtp] [--ssh]
     [--remove-service REMOVE_SERVICES] [--use-system-defaults]

New in version Fedora3.

This option corresponds to the Firewall Configuration screen in the installation program

options:

--disable, --disabled

Do not configure any iptables rules.

New in version Fedora3.

--enable, --enabled

Reject incoming connections that are not in response to outbound requests, such as DNS replies or DHCP requests. If access to services running on this machine is needed, you can choose to allow specific services through the firewall.

New in version Fedora3.

--high HIGH

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--medium MEDIUM

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--port PORTS

You can specify that ports be allowed through the firewall using the port:protocol format. You can also specify ports numerically. Multiple ports can be combined into one option as long as they are separated by commas. For example:
``firewall --port=imap:tcp,1234:ucp,47``
New in version Fedora3.

--trust TRUSTS

Listing a device here, such as eth0, allows all traffic coming from that device to go through the firewall. To list more than one device, use –trust eth0 –trust eth1. Do NOT use a comma-separated format such as –trust eth0, eth1.

New in version Fedora3.

--service SERVICES

This option provides a higher-level way to allow services through the firewall. Some services (like cups, avahi, etc.) require multiple ports to be open or other special configuration in order for the service to work. You could specify each individual service with the --port option, or specify --service= and open them all at once.

Valid options are anything recognized by the firewall-cmd program in the firewalld package. If firewalld is running:
``firewall-cmd --get-services``
will provide a list of known service names.

New in version Fedora10.

--ftp

Open port 21:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora10.

Open the ftp service port

--http

Open ports 80:tcp and 443:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora10.

Open the http service port

--smtp

Open port 25:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora10.

Open the smtp service port

--ssh

Open port 22:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora10.

Open the ssh service port

--telnet TELNET

Open port 23:tcp

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--remove-service REMOVE_SERVICES

Close ports for the comma-separated list of services

New in version Fedora20.

--use-system-defaults

Don’t configure the firewall at all. This instructs anaconda to do nothing and allows the system to rely on the defaults that were provided with the package or ostree. If this option is used with other options then all other options will be ignored.

New in version Fedora28.

firstboot ¶

firstboot [--disable] [--enable] [--reconfig]

New in version Fedora3.

Determine whether the Setup Agent starts the first time the system is booted. If enabled, the initial-setup package must be installed. If not specified, the setup agent (initial-setup) is disabled by default.

options:

--disable, --disabled

The Setup Agent is not started the first time the system boots.

New in version Fedora3.

--enable, --enabled

The Setup Agent is started the first time the system boots.

New in version Fedora3.

--reconfig

Enable the Setup Agent to start at boot time in reconfiguration mode. This mode enables the language, mouse, keyboard, root password, security level, time zone, and networking configuration options in addition to the default ones.

New in version Fedora3.

group ¶

group --name NAME [--gid GID]

New in version Fedora12.

Creates a new user group on the system. If a group with the given name or GID already exists, this command will fail. In addition, the user command can be used to create a new group for the newly created user.

options:

--name NAME

Provides the name of the new group.

New in version Fedora12.

--gid GID

The group’s GID. If not provided, this defaults to the next available non-system GID.

New in version Fedora12.

reboot or poweroff or shutdown or halt ¶

reboot|poweroff|shutdown|halt [--eject] [--kexec]

New in version Fedora3.

reboot

Reboot after the installation is complete. Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.

poweroff

Turn off the machine after the installation is complete. Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.

shutdown

At the end of installation, shut down the machine. This is the same as the poweroff command. Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.

halt

At the end of installation, display a message and wait for the user to press a key before rebooting. This is the default action.

Changed in version Fedora18.

The ‘halt’ command was added!

options:

--eject

Attempt to eject CD or DVD media before rebooting.

New in version Fedora6.

--kexec

Use kexec to reboot into the new system, bypassing BIOS/Firmware and bootloader.

New in version Fedora23.

harddrive ¶

harddrive --dir DIR --partition PARTITION

New in version Fedora3.

Install from a directory of ISO images on a local drive, which must be either vfat or ext2. In addition to this directory, you must also provide the install.img in some way. You can either do this by booting off the boot.iso or by creating an images/ directory in the same directory as the ISO images and placing install.img in there.

options:

--biospart BIOSPART

BIOS partition to install from (such as 82p2).

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora33.

--dir DIR

Directory containing both the ISO images and the images/install.img. For example:
``harddrive --partition=hdb2 --dir=/tmp/install-tree``
New in version Fedora3.

--partition PARTITION

Partition to install from (such as, sdb2).

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora33.

Partition to install from (such as, sdb2).

hmc ¶

hmc

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux7.

Install from an installation medium via SE/HMC on z Systems.

ignoredisk ¶

ignoredisk [--drives IGNOREDISK] [--only-use ONLYUSE]

New in version Fedora3.

Controls anaconda’s access to disks attached to the system. By default, all disks will be available for partitioning. Only one of the following three options may be used.

options:

--drives IGNOREDISK

Specifies those disks that anaconda should not touch when partitioning, formatting, and clearing.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora8.

This argument is no longer required!

Changed in version Fedora25.

The following ignores the partitions on the first two drives on the system:

ignoredisk --drives=sda,sdb

or ignores as many drives as it could and skip the missing (at least one must be matched):

ignoredisk --drives=sda|sdb1

or ignores all virtio drives and only first scsi device if exists

ignoredisk --drives=sda|vd*

--only-use ONLYUSE

Specifies the opposite - only disks listed here will be used during installation.

New in version Fedora8.

Changed in version Fedora25.

The following ignores the partitions on the first two drives on the system:

ignoredisk --only-use=sda,sdb

or ignores as many drives as it could and skip the missing (at least one must be matched):

ignoredisk --only-use=sda|sdb1

or ignores all virtio drives and only first scsi device if exists

ignoredisk --only-use=sda|vd*

--interactive

Allow the user manually navigate the advanced storage screen.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux6.

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

install ¶

install [--root-device ROOT_DEVICE]

        Install a fresh system. You must specify the type of
        installation from one of cdrom, harddrive, nfs, or url
        (for ftp or http installations).
        The install command and the installation method command
        must be on separate lines.

        Important: before Fedora 20 this command was known as
        install or upgrade but the upgrade part was deprecated!

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

options:

--root-device ROOT_DEVICE

On a system with multiple installs, this option specifies which filesystem holds the installation to be upgraded. This can be specified by device name, UUID=, or LABEL= just like the harddrive command may be.

New in version Fedora11.

interactive ¶

interactive

New in version Fedora3.

Use interactive kickstart installation method.

Deprecated since version Fedora14.

Removed in version Fedora15.

iscsi ¶

iscsi [--target TARGET] --ipaddr IPADDR [--port PORT] [--user USER]
  [--password PASSWORD] [--reverse-user USER_IN]
  [--reverse-password PASSWORD_IN] [--iface IFACE]

New in version Fedora6.

Specifies additional iSCSI storage to be attached during installation. If you use the iscsi parameter, you must also assign a name to the iSCSI node, using the iscsiname parameter. The iscsiname parameter must appear before the iscsi parameter in the kickstart file.

We recommend that wherever possible you configure iSCSI storage in the system BIOS or firmware (iBFT for Intel systems) rather than use the iscsi parameter. Anaconda automatically detects and uses disks configured in BIOS or firmware and no special configuration is necessary in the kickstart file.

If you must use the iscsi parameter, ensure that networking is activated at the beginning of the installation, and that the iscsi parameter appears in the kickstart file before you refer to iSCSI disks with parameters such as clearpart or ignoredisk.

options:

--target TARGET

The target iqn.

New in version Fedora6.

--ipaddr IPADDR

The IP address of the target to connect to.

New in version Fedora6.

--port PORT

The port number to connect to (default, –port=3260).

New in version Fedora6.

--user USER

The username required to authenticate with the target.

New in version Fedora6.

--password PASSWORD

The password that corresponds with the username specified for the target.

New in version Fedora6.

--reverse-user USER_IN

The username required to authenticate with the initiator from a target that uses reverse CHAP authentication.

New in version Fedora10.

--reverse-password PASSWORD_IN

The password that corresponds with the username specified for the initiator.

New in version Fedora10.

--iface IFACE

Bind connection to specific network interface instead of using the default one determined by network layer. Once used, it must be specified for all iscsi commands.

New in version Fedora17.

iscsiname ¶

iscsiname <iqn>

New in version Fedora6.

Assigns an initiator name to the computer. If you use the iscsi parameter in your kickstart file, this parameter is mandatory, and you must specify iscsiname in the kickstart file before you specify iscsi.

positional arguments:

<iqn>

IQN name

New in version Fedora6.

key ¶

key [--skip]

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux5.

set or skip the software installation key

options:

--skip

Skip the software installation key

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux5.

keyboard ¶

keyboard [--vckeymap VC_KEYMAP] [--xlayouts X_LAYOUTS]
     [--switch SWITCH_OPTIONS]
     [kbd ...]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets system keyboard type.

Changed in version Fedora18.

See the documentation of --vckeymap option and the tip at the end of this section for a guide how to get values accepted by this command.

Either --vckeymap or --xlayouts must be used.

Alternatively, use the older format, arg, which is still supported. arg can be an X layout or VConsole keymap name.

Missing values will be automatically converted from the given one(s).

positional arguments:

kbd

Keyboard type

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--vckeymap VC_KEYMAP

Specify VConsole keymap that should be used. is a keymap name which is the same as the filename under /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps/ without the .map.gz extension.

New in version Fedora18.

--xlayouts X_LAYOUTS

Specify a list of X layouts that should be used (comma-separated list without spaces). Accepts the same values as setxkbmap(1), but uses either the layout format (such as cz) or the ‘layout (variant)’ format (such as ‘cz (qwerty)’). For example:
``keyboard --xlayouts=cz,'cz (qwerty)'`
New in version Fedora18.

--switch SWITCH_OPTIONS

Specify a list of layout switching options that should be used (comma-separated list without spaces). Accepts the same values as setxkbmap(1) for layout switching. For example:
``keyboard --xlayouts=cz,'cz (qwerty)' --switch=grp:alt_shift_toggle``
New in version Fedora18.

If you know only the description of the layout (e.g. Czech (qwerty)), you can use http://vpodzime.fedorapeople.org/layouts_list.py to list all available layouts and find the one you want to use. The string in square brackets is the valid layout specification as Anaconda accepts it. The same goes for switching options and http://vpodzime.fedorapeople.org/switching_list.py

lang ¶

lang [--addsupport LOCALE] <lang>

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets the language to use during installation and the default language to use on the installed system to <id>. This can be the same as any recognized setting for the $LANG environment variable, though not all languages are supported during installation.

Certain languages (mainly Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indic languages) are not supported during text mode installation. If one of these languages is specified using the lang command, installation will continue in English though the running system will have the specified langauge by default.

The file /usr/share/system-config-language/locale-list provides a list the valid language codes in the first column of each line and is part of the system-config-languages package.

positional arguments:

<lang>

Language ID.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--addsupport LOCALE

Install the support packages for the given locales, specified as a comma-separated list. Each locale may be specified in the same ways as the primary language may be, as described above.

New in version Fedora19.

langsupport ¶

langsupport [--default DEFLANG]

New in version Fedora3.

Install the support packages for the given locales.

Deprecated since version Fedora5.

Removed in version Fedora7.

options:

--default DEFLANG

Default locale

New in version Fedora3.

lilo ¶

lilo [--append APPENDLINE] [--linear] [--nolinear]
 [--location {mbr,partition,none,boot}] [--lba32] [--password PASSWORD]
 [--md5pass MD5PASS] [--upgrade] [--useLilo] [--driveorder DRIVEORDER]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command specifies how the boot loader should be installed.

There must be a biosboot partition for the bootloader to be installed successfully onto a disk that contains a GPT/GUID partition table, which includes disks initialized by anaconda. This partition may be created with the kickstart command part biosboot --fstype=biosboot --size=1. However, in the case that a disk has an existing biosboot partition, adding a part biosboot option is unnecessary.

Removed in version Fedora4.

options:

--append APPENDLINE

Specifies additional kernel parameters. For example:

bootloader --location=mbr --append="hdd=ide-scsi ide=nodma"

Note The installer will add the bootloader arguments rhgb quiet if plymouth is installed on the target system. You can disable these options with -plymouth in the %packages section.

New in version Fedora3.

--linear

use linear mode to access hard disks (for LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

--nolinear

do not use linear mode to access hard disks (for LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

--location {mbr,partition,none,boot}

Specifies where the boot record is written. Valid values are the following: mbr (the default), partition (installs the boot loader on the first sector of the partition containing the kernel), or none (do not install the boot loader).

Note bootloader –location=none is different from bootloader –location=none –disabled. –location=none prevents extra installation steps that makes the target machine bootable, e.g. write to MBR on x86 BIOS systems. However, the corresponding RPM packages are still installed, and –disabled can be appended to prevent it. bootloader –disabled only does not prevent the installation of the bootloader and Anaconda will complain if no other options are provided.

New in version Fedora3.

--lba32

force the use of LBA32 mode for hard disk access (LILO only)

New in version Fedora3.

--password PASSWORD

If using GRUB, sets the GRUB boot loader password. This should be used to restrict access to the GRUB shell, where arbitrary kernel options can be passed.

New in version Fedora3.

--md5pass MD5PASS

If using GRUB, similar to --password= except the password should already be encrypted.

New in version Fedora3.

--upgrade

upgrade the boot loader installed on disk

New in version Fedora3.

--useLilo

force the use of LILO

New in version Fedora3.

--driveorder DRIVEORDER

define the explicit hard disk order the boot loader should use

New in version Fedora3.

lilocheck ¶

lilocheck

New in version Fedora3.

check LILO boot loader

Removed in version Fedora4.

liveimg ¶

liveimg --url <url> [--proxy <proxyurl>] [--noverifyssl] [--checksum <sha256>]

New in version Fedora19.

Install a disk image instead of packages. The image can be the squashfs.img from a Live iso, or any filesystem mountable by the install media (eg. ext4). Anaconda expects the image to contain utilities it needs to complete the system install so the best way to create one is to use livemedia-creator to make the disk image. If the image contains /LiveOS/*.img (this is how squashfs.img is structured) the first *.img file inside LiveOS will be mounted and used to install the target system. The URL may also point to a tarfile of the root filesystem. The file must end in .tar, .tbz, .tgz, .txz, .tar.bz2, tar.gz, tar.xz

options:

--url <url>

The URL to install from. http, https, ftp and file are supported.

New in version Fedora19.

--proxy <proxyurl>

Specify an HTTP/HTTPS/FTP proxy to use while performing the install. The various parts of the argument act like you would expect. Syntax is:
``--proxy=[protocol://][username[:password]@]host[:port]``
New in version Fedora19.

--noverifyssl

For a tree on a HTTPS server do not check the server’s certificate with what well-known CA validate and do not check the server’s hostname matches the certificate’s domain name.

New in version Fedora19.

--checksum <sha256>

Optional sha256 checksum of the image file

New in version Fedora19.

logging ¶

logging [--host HOST] [--port PORT] [--level LEVEL]

New in version Fedora6.

This command controls the error logging of anaconda during installation. It has no effect on the installed system.

options:

--host HOST

Send logging information to the given remote host, which must be running a syslogd process configured to accept remote logging.

New in version Fedora6.

--port PORT

If the remote syslogd process uses a port other than the default, it may be specified with this option.

New in version Fedora6.

--level LEVEL

Specify the minimum level of messages that appear on tty3. All messages will still be sent to the log file regardless of this level, however.

New in version Fedora6.

Deprecated since version Fedora34.

logvol ¶

logvol [--fstype FSTYPE] [--grow] [--maxsize MAXSIZEMB] --name NAME
   [--noformat] [--percent PERCENT] [--recommended] [--size SIZE]
   [--useexisting] --vgname VGNAME [--fsoptions FSOPTS]
   [--fsprofile FSPROFILE] [--encrypted] [--passphrase PASSPHRASE]
   [--escrowcert <url>] [--backuppassphrase] [--label LABEL] [--resize]
   [--hibernation] [--cipher CIPHER] [--thinpool] [--thin]
   [--poolname POOL_NAME] [--chunksize CHUNK_SIZE]
   [--metadatasize METADATA_SIZE] [--profile PROFILE]
   [--cachesize CACHE_SIZE] [--cachemode CACHE_MODE]
   [--cachepvs CACHE_PVS] [--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS]
   [--luks-version LUKS_VERSION] [--pbkdf PBKDF]
   [--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME]
   [--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS]
   <mntpoint>

New in version Fedora3.

Create a logical volume for Logical Volume Management (LVM).

Note

logvol cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

positional arguments:

<mntpoint>

Mountpoint for this logical volume or ‘none’.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--fstype FSTYPE

Sets the file system type for the logical volume. Valid values include ext4, ext3, ext2, btrfs, swap, and vfat. Other filesystems may be valid depending on command line arguments passed to Anaconda to enable other filesystems.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

Btrfs support was removed.

--grow

Tells the logical volume to grow to fill available space (if any), or up to the maximum size setting. Note that --grow is not supported for logical volumes containing a RAID volume on top of them.

New in version Fedora3.

--maxsize MAXSIZEMB

The maximum size in MiB the logical volume may grow to. Specify an integer value here, and do not append any units. This option is only relevant if --grow is specified as well.

New in version Fedora3.

--name NAME

The name of this logical volume.

New in version Fedora3.

--noformat

Use an existing logical volume and do not format it.

New in version Fedora3.

--percent PERCENT

Specify the size of the logical volume as a percentage of available space in the volume group. Without the above --grow option, this may not work.

New in version Fedora3.

--recommended

Determine the size of the logical volume automatically.

New in version Fedora3.

--size SIZE

Size of this logical volume.

New in version Fedora3.

--useexisting

Use an existing logical volume and reformat it.

New in version Fedora3.

--vgname VGNAME

Name of the Volume Group this logical volume belongs to.

New in version Fedora3.

--fsoptions FSOPTS

Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the /etc/fstab file of the installed system and should be enclosed in quotes.

New in version Fedora4.

--bytes-per-inode BYTES_PER_INODE

Specify the bytes/inode ratio.

New in version Fedora4.

Deprecated since version Fedora9.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--fsprofile FSPROFILE

Specifies a usage type to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. A usage type defines a variety of tuning parameters to be used when making a filesystem. For this option to work, the filesystem must support the concept of usage types and there must be a configuration file that lists valid types. For ext2/3/4, this configuration file is /etc/mke2fs.conf.

New in version Fedora9.

--encrypted

Specify that this logical volume should be encrypted.

New in version Fedora9.

--passphrase PASSPHRASE

Specify the passphrase to use when encrypting this logical volume. Without the above --encrypted option, this option does nothing. If no passphrase is specified, the default system-wide one is used, or the installer will stop and prompt if there is no default.

New in version Fedora9.

--escrowcert <url>

Load an X.509 certificate from <url>. Store the data encryption key of this logical volume, encrypted using the certificate, as a file in /root. Only relevant if --encrypted is specified as well.

New in version Fedora12.

--backuppassphrase

Only relevant if --escrowcert is specified as well. In addition to storing the data encryption key, generate a random passphrase and add it to this logical volume. Then store the passphrase, encrypted using the certificate specified by --escrowcert, as a file in /root. If more than one LUKS volume uses --backuppassphrase, the same passphrase will be used for all such volumes.

New in version Fedora12.

--label LABEL

Specify the label to give to the filesystem to be made. If the given label is already in use by another filesystem, a new label will be created.

New in version Fedora15.

--resize

Attempt to resize this logical volume to the size given by --size=. This option must be used with --useexisting --size=, or an error will be raised.

New in version Fedora17.

--hibernation

This option can be used to automatically determine the size of the swap partition big enough for hibernation.

New in version Fedora18.

--cipher CIPHER

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which encryption algorithm should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora18.

--thinpool

Create a thin pool logical volume. Use a mountpoint of ‘none’.

New in version Fedora20.

--thin

Create a thin logical volume. Requires --poolname.

New in version Fedora20.

--poolname POOL_NAME

Specify the name of the thin pool in which to create a thin logical volume. Requires --thin.

New in version Fedora20.

--chunksize CHUNK_SIZE

Specify the chunk size (in KiB) for a new thin pool device.

New in version Fedora20.

--metadatasize METADATA_SIZE

Specify the metadata area size (in MiB) for a new thin pool device.

New in version Fedora20.

--profile PROFILE

Specify an LVM profile for the thin pool (see lvm(8), standard profiles are default and thin-performance defined in the /etc/lvm/profile/ directory).

New in version Fedora21.

--cachesize CACHE_SIZE

Requested size (in MiB) of cache attached to the logical volume. Requires --cachepvs.

New in version Fedora23.

--cachemode CACHE_MODE

Mode that should be used for the cache. Either writeback or writethrough.

New in version Fedora23.

--cachepvs CACHE_PVS

Comma-separated list of (fast) physical volumes that should be used for the cache.

New in version Fedora23.

--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora23.

--luks-version LUKS_VERSION

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which version of LUKS format should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf PBKDF

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) algorithm for LUKS keyslot. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the memory cost for PBKDF. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of milliseconds to spend with PBKDF passphrase processing. See --iter-time in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of iterations directly and avoids PBKDF benchmark. See --pbkdf-force-iterations in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

Create the partition first, create the logical volume group, and then create the logical volume. For example:

part pv.01 --size 3000
volgroup myvg pv.01
logvol / --vgname=myvg --size=2000 --name=rootvol

mediacheck ¶

mediacheck

New in version Fedora4.

If given, this will force anaconda to run mediacheck on the installation media. This command requires that installs be attended, so it is disabled by default.

method ¶

method

New in version Fedora3.

Proxy to the actual installation method. Valid installation methods are:

cdrom
harddrive
nfs
url
liveimg

Deprecated since version Fedora34.

module ¶

module --name <module_name> [--stream <module_stream_name>] [--disable]

New in version Fedora29.

The module command makes it possible to manipulate modules.

(In this case we mean modules as introduced by the Fedora modularity initiative.)

A module is defined by a unique name and a stream id, where single module can (and usually has) multiple available streams.

Streams will in most cases corresponds to stable releases of the given software components (such as Node.js, Django, etc.) but there could be also other use cases, such as a raw upstream master branch stream or streams corresponding to an upcoming stable release.

For more information see the Fedora modularity initiative documentation: https://docs.pagure.org/modularity/

options:

--name <module_name>

Name of the module to enable.

New in version Fedora29.

--stream <module_stream_name>

Name of the module stream to enable.

New in version Fedora29.

--disable

Disable module.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

monitor ¶

monitor [--hsync HSYNC] [--monitor MONITOR] [--vsync VSYNC] [--noprobe]

New in version Fedora3.

If the monitor command is not given, anaconda will use X to automatically detect your monitor settings. Please try this before manually configuring your monitor.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora18.

options:

--hsync HSYNC

Specifies the horizontal sync frequency of the monitor.

New in version Fedora3.

--monitor MONITOR

Use specified monitor; monitor name should be from the list of monitors in /usr/share/hwdata/MonitorsDB from the hwdata package. The list of monitors can also be found on the X Configuration screen of the Kickstart Configurator. This is ignored if --hsync or --vsync is provided. If no monitor information is provided, the installation program tries to probe for it automatically.

New in version Fedora3.

--vsync VSYNC

Specifies the vertical sync frequency of the monitor.

New in version Fedora3.

--noprobe

Do not probe the monitor.

New in version Fedora6.

mount ¶

mount [--reformat [REFORMAT]] [--mkfsoptions MKFS_OPTS]
  [--mountoptions MOUNT_OPTS]
  <device> <mntpoint>

New in version Fedora27.

Assigns a mount point to a block device and optionally reformats it to a given format. It at least requires a device and a mount point where the mount point can be none in case the format on the device is not mountable or in case the device should just be reformatted.

The difference between this command and the other commands for storage configuration (part, logvol,…) is that it doesn’t require the whole storage stack to be described in the kickstart file. The user just needs to make sure that the specified block device exists in the system. The installer doesn’t necessarily have to know all the details about of the given device. If, on the other hand, the installer is supposed to create the storage stack with all the devices mounted at various places, the part, logvol, raid, etc. commands have to be used.

Note

mount cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, partition, raid, volgroup, logvol, reqpart

positional arguments:

<device>

The block device to mount

New in version Fedora27.

<mntpoint>

The <mntpoint> is where the <device> will be mounted. Must be a valid mount point, for example /, /usr, /home, or none if the device cannot (e.g. swap) or should not be mounted.

New in version Fedora27.

options:

--reformat [REFORMAT]

Specifies the new format (e.g. a file system) for the device.

New in version Fedora27.

--mkfsoptions MKFS_OPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora27.

--mountoptions MOUNT_OPTS

Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the /etc/fstab file of the installed system and should be enclosed in quotes.

New in version Fedora27.

mouse ¶

mouse [--device DEVICE] [--emulthree]

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux3.

Configure the system mouse

Deprecated since version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora7.

options:

--device DEVICE

Which device node to use for mouse

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux3.

--emulthree

If set emulate 3 mouse buttons

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux3.

multipath ¶

multipath --name NAME --device DEVICE --rule RULE

New in version Fedora6.

define a multipath storage device

Deprecated since version Fedora24.

Removed in version Fedora34.

options:

--name NAME

multipath device name

New in version Fedora6.

--device DEVICE

multipath device node

New in version Fedora6.

--rule RULE

multipath device rule

New in version Fedora6.

network ¶

network [--bootproto {dhcp,bootp,static,query,ibft}] [--dhcpclass DHCPCLASS]
    [--device DEVICE] [--essid ESSID] [--ethtool ETHTOOL]
    [--gateway GATEWAY] [--hostname HOSTNAME] [--ip IP] [--mtu MTU]
    [--nameserver NAMESERVER] [--netmask NETMASK] [--nodns]
    [--onboot ONBOOT] [--wepkey WEPKEY] [--notksdevice] [--noipv4]
    [--noipv6] [--ipv6 IPV6] [--activate] [--nodefroute] [--wpakey WPAKEY]
    [--bondslaves BONDSLAVES] [--bondopts BONDOPTS] [--vlanid VLANID]
    [--ipv6gateway IPV6GATEWAY] [--teamslaves TEAMSLAVES]
    [--teamconfig TEAMCONFIG] [--interfacename INTERFACENAME]
    [--bridgeslaves BRIDGESLAVES] [--bridgeopts BRIDGEOPTS]
    [--no-activate] [--bindto {mac}] [--ipv4-dns-search IPV4_DNS_SEARCH]
    [--ipv6-dns-search IPV6_DNS_SEARCH] [--ipv4-ignore-auto-dns]
    [--ipv6-ignore-auto-dns]

New in version Fedora3.

Configures network information for target system and activates network devices in installer environment. The device specified in the first network command is activated automatically. Activation of the device can be also explicitly required by --activate option

options:

--bootproto {dhcp,bootp,static,query,ibft}

The method of IPv4 configuration. For IPv6 configuration use --ipv6 option.

The default setting is dhcp. To turn IPv4 configuration off use --noipv4 option.

The dhcp method uses a DHCP server system to obtain its networking configuration.

The static method requires that you specify at least IP address and netmask with --ip and --netmask options.

For example:
``network --device=link --bootproto=static --ip=10.0.2.15 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.0.2.254 --nameserver=10.0.2.1``
ibft setting is for reading the configuration from iBFT table.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora9.

The ‘query’ value was added.

Changed in version Fedora16.

The ‘ibft’ value was added.

--dhcpclass DHCPCLASS

Specifies the DHCP vendor class identifier. The dhcpd service will see this value as vendor-class-identifier.

New in version Fedora3.

--device DEVICE

Specifies the device to be configured (and eventually activated in Anaconda) with the network command.

You can specify a device to be activated in any of the following ways:

the device name of the interface, for example, em1

the MAC address of the interface, for example, 01:23:45:67:89:ab

the keyword link, which specifies the first interface with its link in the up state

the keyword bootif, which uses the MAC address that pxelinux set in the BOOTIF variable. Set IPAPPEND 2 in your pxelinux.cfg file to have pxelinux set the BOOTIF variable.

For example:
``network --bootproto=dhcp --device=ens3``
If the --device= option is missing on the first use of the network command, the value of the ksdevice= Anaconda boot option is used, if available. If ksdevice= is not set, link value is used. Note that this is considered deprecated behavior; in most cases, you should always specify a --device= for every network command. The behavior of any subsequent network command in the same Kickstart file is unspecified if its --device= option is missing. Make sure you specify this option for any network command beyond the first.

New in version Fedora3.

--essid ESSID

The network ID for wireless networks.

New in version Fedora3.

--ethtool ETHTOOL

Specifies additional low-level settings for the network device which will be passed to the ethtool program.

New in version Fedora3.

--gateway GATEWAY

Default gateway, as a single IPv4 address.

New in version Fedora3.

--hostname HOSTNAME

The host name for the installed system.

The host name can either be a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) in the format hostname.domainname, or a short host name with no domain. Many networks have a DHCP service which automatically supplies connected systems with a domain name; to allow DHCP to assign the domain name, only specify a short host name.

New in version Fedora3.

--ip IP

IPv4 address for the interface.

New in version Fedora3.

--mtu MTU

The MTU of the device.

New in version Fedora3.

--nameserver NAMESERVER

Primary nameserver, as an IP address. Multiple nameservers must be comma separated.

New in version Fedora3.

--netmask NETMASK

IPv4 network mask of the device.

New in version Fedora3.

--nodns

Do not configure any DNS server.

New in version Fedora3.

--onboot ONBOOT

Whether or not to enable the device a boot time.

New in version Fedora3.

--wepkey WEPKEY

The WEP encryption key for wireless networks.

New in version Fedora3.

--notksdevice

This network device is not used for kickstart.

New in version Fedora4.

--noipv4

Disable IPv4 configuration of this device.

New in version Fedora6.

--noipv6

Disable IPv6 configuration of this device.

New in version Fedora6.

--ipv6 IPV6

IPv6 address for the interface. This can be: - the static address in form <IPv6 address>[/<prefix length>], e.g. 3ffe:ffff:0:1::1/128 (if prefix is omitted 64 is assumed), - auto for stateless automatic address autoconfiguration, or - dhcp for DHCPv6-only configuration (no router advertisements).

New in version Fedora8.

--activate

As noted above, using this option ensures any matching devices beyond the first will also be activated.

New in version Fedora16.

--nodefroute

Prevents grabbing of the default route by the device. It can be useful when activating additional devices in installer using --activate option.

New in version Fedora16.

--wpakey WPAKEY

The WPA encryption key for wireless networks.

New in version Fedora16.

--bondslaves BONDSLAVES

Bonded device with name specified by --device option will be created using slaves specified in this option. Example:
``network --device bond0 --bootproto static --ip=10.34.102.222 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.34.102.254 --nameserver=10.34.39.2 --bondslaves=ens7,ens8 --bondopts=mode=active-backup,primary=ens7 --activate``
New in version Fedora19.

--bondopts BONDOPTS

A comma-separated list of optional parameters for bonded interface specified by --bondslaves and --device options. Example:
``--bondopts=mode=active-backup,primary=eth1``
If an option itself contains comma as separator use semicolon to separate the options. Example:
``--bondopts=mode=active-backup,balance-rr;primary=eth1``
New in version Fedora19.

--vlanid VLANID

Id (802.1q tag) of vlan device to be created using parent device specified by --device option. For example:
``network --device=eth0 --vlanid=171``
will create vlan device eth0.171.

New in version Fedora19.

--ipv6gateway IPV6GATEWAY

Default gateway, as a single IPv6 address.

New in version Fedora19.

--teamslaves TEAMSLAVES

Team device with name specified by --device option will be created using slaves specified in this option. Slaves are separated by comma. A slave can be followed by its configuration which is a single-quoted json format string with double qoutes escaped by '' character. Example:
``--teamslaves="p3p1'{"prio": -10, "sticky": true}',p3p2'{"prio": 100}'"``.
See also --teamconfig option.

New in version Fedora20.

--teamconfig TEAMCONFIG

Double-quoted team device configuration which is a json format string with double quotes escaped with '' character. The device name is specified by --device option and its slaves and their configuration by --teamslaves option. Example:
``network --device team0 --activate --bootproto static --ip=10.34.102.222 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.34.102.254 --nameserver=10.34.39.2 --teamslaves="p3p1'{"prio": -10, "sticky": true}',p3p2'{"prio": 100}'" --teamconfig="{"runner": {"name": "activebackup"}}"``
New in version Fedora20.

--interfacename INTERFACENAME

Specify a custom interface name for a virtual LAN device. This option should be used when the default name generated by the --vlanid= option is not desirable. This option must be used along with --vlanid=. For example:
``network --device=em1 --vlanid=171 --interfacename=vlan171``
The above command creates a virtual LAN interface named vlan171 on the em1 device with an ID of 171. The interface name can be arbitrary (for example, my-vlan), but in specific cases, the following conventions must be followed:

If the name contains a dot (.), it must take the form of NAME.ID. The NAME is arbitrary, but the ID must be the VLAN ID. For example: em1.171 or my-vlan.171. Names starting with vlan must take the form of vlanID - for example: vlan171.

New in version Fedora21.

--bridgeslaves BRIDGESLAVES

When this option is used, the network bridge with device name specified using the --device= option will be created and devices defined in the --bridgeslaves= option will be added to the bridge. For example:
``network --device=bridge0 --bridgeslaves=em1``
New in version Fedora22.

--bridgeopts BRIDGEOPTS

An optional comma-separated list of parameters for the bridged interface. Available values are stp, priority, forward-delay, hello-time, max-age, and ageing-time. For information about these parameters, see the bridge setting table in the nm-settings(5) man page or at https://developer.gnome.org/NetworkManager/0.9/ref-settings.html.

New in version Fedora22.

--no-activate

Use this option with first network command to prevent activation of the device in istaller environment

New in version Fedora25.

--bindto {mac}

Optionally allows to specify how the connection configuration created for the device should be bound. If the option is not used, the connection binds to interface name (DEVICE value in ifcfg file). For virtual devices (bond, team, bridge) it configures binding of slaves. Not applicable to vlan devices.

Note that this option is independent of how the --device is specified.

Currently only the value mac is suported. --bindto=mac will bind the connection to MAC address of the device (HWADDR value in ifcfg file).

For example:
``network --device=01:23:45:67:89:ab --bootproto=dhcp --bindto=mac``
will bind the configuration of the device specified by MAC address 01:23:45:67:89:ab to its MAC address.

network --device=01:23:45:67:89:ab --bootproto=dhcp

will bind the configuration of the device specified by MAC address 01:23:45:67:89:ab to its interface name (eg ens3).

network --device=ens3 --bootproto=dhcp --bindto=mac

will bind the configuration of the device specified by interface name ens3 to its MAC address.

New in version Fedora27.

--ipv4-dns-search IPV4_DNS_SEARCH

Use this option to set IPv4 search domains. For example: --ipv4-dns-search domain1.example.com,domain2.example.com

Requires --device to be specified.

New in version Fedora39.

--ipv6-dns-search IPV6_DNS_SEARCH

Use this option to set IPv6 search domains. For example: --ipv6-dns-search domain1.example.com,domain2.example.com

Requires --device to be specified.

New in version Fedora39.

--ipv4-ignore-auto-dns

Use this option to ignore IPv4 automatic DNS.

Requires --device to be specified.

New in version Fedora39.

--ipv6-ignore-auto-dns

Use this option to ignore IPv6 automatic DNS.

Requires --device to be specified.

New in version Fedora39.

nfs ¶

nfs --server <hostname> --dir <directory> [--opts <options>]

New in version Fedora3.

Install from the NFS server specified. This can either be an exploded installation tree or a directory of ISO images. In the latter case, the install.img must also be provided subject to the same rules as with the harddrive installation method described above.

options:

--server <hostname>

Server from which to install (hostname or IP).

New in version Fedora3.

--dir <directory>

Directory containing the Packages/ directory of the installation tree. If doing an ISO install, this directory must also contain images/install.img.

New in version Fedora3.

--opts <options>

Mount options to use for mounting the NFS export. Any options that can be specified in /etc/fstab for an NFS mount are allowed. The options are listed in the nfs(5) man page. Multiple options are separated with a comma.

New in version Fedora6.

nvdimm ¶

nvdimm [--namespace <namespace>]
   [--blockdevs <devspec1>,<devspec2>,...,<devspecN>] [--mode {sector}]
   [--sectorsize SECTORSIZE]
   {reconfigure,use}

New in version Fedora28.

Perform an action on an nvdimm device.

positional arguments:

{reconfigure,use}

The action to be performed on the device specified by further options. The device can be specified by --namespace or --blockdevs options, depending on the action.

Valid actions: - reconfigure: Reconfigures the device specified by --namespace into the mode specified by --mode and (depending on the mode) --sectorsize options. The device reconfigured into sector mode will be allowed to be used for storage configuration. - use: Allow the device to be used for storage configuration. By default nvdimm devices are ignored. Only devices in sector mode can be used.

New in version Fedora28.

options:

--namespace <namespace>

The device specification by namespace.

New in version Fedora28.

--blockdevs <devspec1>,<devspec2>,...,<devspecN>

Specification of devices by comma separated list of block device names.

New in version Fedora28.

--mode {sector}

The mode specification.

New in version Fedora28.

--sectorsize SECTORSIZE

Size of a sector for sector mode.

New in version Fedora28.

ostreecontainer ¶

ostreecontainer [--stateroot STATEROOT] --url URL [--transport TRANSPORT]
            [--remote REMOTE] [--no-signature-verification]

New in version Fedora38.

Used for OSTree installations from native container. See https://coreos.github.io/rpm-ostree/container/ for more information about OSTree.

Experimental. Use on your own risk.

Note

ostreecontainer cannot be used with the following commands: ostreesetup

options:

--stateroot STATEROOT

Name for the state directory, also known as “osname”. Default value will be default.

New in version Fedora38.

--url URL

Name of the container image; for the registry transport. This would be e.g. quay.io/exampleos/foo:latest.

New in version Fedora38.

--transport TRANSPORT

The transport; e.g. registry, oci, oci-archive. The default is registry.

New in version Fedora38.

--remote REMOTE

Name of the OSTree remote.

New in version Fedora38.

--no-signature-verification

Disable verification via an ostree remote.

New in version Fedora38.

ostreesetup ¶

ostreesetup --osname OSNAME [--remote REMOTE] --url URL --ref REF [--nogpg]

New in version Fedora21.

Used for OSTree installations. See https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Projects/OSTree for more information about OSTree.

options:

--osname OSNAME

Management root for OS installation.

New in version Fedora21.

--remote REMOTE

Management root for OS installation.

New in version Fedora21.

--url URL

Repository URL.

New in version Fedora21.

--ref REF

Name of branch inside the repository.

New in version Fedora21.

--nogpg

Disable GPG key verification.

New in version Fedora21.

part or partition ¶

part|partition [--asprimary] [--fstype FSTYPE] [--grow] [--maxsize MAXSIZEMB]
           [--noformat] [--onbiosdisk ONBIOSDISK] [--ondisk DISK]
           [--onpart ONPART] [--recommended] [--size SIZE]
           [--fsoptions FSOPTS] [--label LABEL] [--fsprofile FSPROFILE]
           [--encrypted] [--passphrase PASSPHRASE] [--escrowcert <url>]
           [--backuppassphrase] [--resize] [--hibernation]
           [--cipher CIPHER] [--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS]
           [--luks-version LUKS_VERSION] [--pbkdf PBKDF]
           [--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME]
           [--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS]
           <mntpoint>

New in version Fedora3.

Creates a partition on the system. This command is required. All partitions created will be formatted as part of the installation process unless --noformat and --onpart are used.

Note

part|partition cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

positional arguments:

<mntpoint>

The <mntpoint> is where the partition will be mounted and must be of one of the following forms:

/<path>

For example, /, /usr, /home

swap

The partition will be used as swap space.

raid.<id>

The partition will be used for software RAID. Refer to the raid command.

pv.<id>

The partition will be used for LVM. Refer to the logvol command.

btrfs.<id>

The partition will be used for BTRFS volume. Rerefer to the btrfs command.

biosboot

The partition will be used for a BIOS Boot Partition. As of Fedora 16 there must be a biosboot partition for the bootloader to be successfully installed onto a disk that contains a GPT/GUID partition table. Rerefer to the bootloader command.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--asprimary

Forces automatic allocation of the partition as a primary partition or the partitioning will fail.

TIP: The --asprimary option only makes sense with the MBR partitioning scheme and is ignored when the GPT partitioning scheme is used.

New in version Fedora3.

--fstype FSTYPE, --type FSTYPE

Sets the file system type for the partition. Valid values include ext4, ext3, ext2, xfs, btrfs, swap, and vfat. Other filesystems may be valid depending on command line arguments passed to anaconda to enable other filesystems.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

Btrfs support was removed.

--grow

Tells the partition to grow to fill available space (if any), or up to the maximum size setting. Note that --grow is not supported for partitions containing a RAID volume on top of them.

New in version Fedora3.

--maxsize MAXSIZEMB

The maximum size in MiB the partition may grow to. Specify an integer value here, and do not append any units. This option is only relevant if --grow is specified as well.

New in version Fedora3.

--noformat

Tells the installation program not to format the partition, for use with the --onpart command.

New in version Fedora3.

--onbiosdisk ONBIOSDISK

Forces the partition to be created on a particular disk as discovered by the BIOS.

New in version Fedora3.

--ondisk DISK, --ondrive DISK

Forces the partition to be created on a particular disk.

New in version Fedora3.

--onpart ONPART, --usepart ONPART

Put the partition on an already existing device. Use --onpart=LABEL=name or --onpart=UUID=name to specify a partition by label or uuid respectively.

Anaconda may create partitions in any particular order, so it is safer to use labels than absolute partition names.

New in version Fedora3.

--recommended

Determine the size of the partition automatically.

New in version Fedora3.

--size SIZE

The minimum partition size in MiB. Specify an integer value here and do not append any units.

New in version Fedora3.

--fsoptions FSOPTS

Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the /etc/fstab file of the installed system and should be enclosed in quotes.

New in version Fedora4.

--label LABEL

Specify the label to give to the filesystem to be made on the partition. If the given label is already in use by another filesystem, a new label will be created for this partition.

New in version Fedora4.

--bytes-per-inode BYTES_PER_INODE

Specify the bytes/inode ratio.

New in version Fedora4.

Deprecated since version Fedora9.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--fsprofile FSPROFILE

Specifies a usage type to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. A usage type defines a variety of tuning parameters to be used when making a filesystem. For this option to work, the filesystem must support the concept of usage types and there must be a configuration file that lists valid types. For ext2/3/4, this configuration file is /etc/mke2fs.conf.

New in version Fedora9.

--encrypted

Specify that this partition should be encrypted.

New in version Fedora9.

--passphrase PASSPHRASE

Specify the passphrase to use when encrypting this partition. Without the above –encrypted option, this option does nothing. If no passphrase is specified, the default system-wide one is used, or the installer will stop and prompt if there is no default.

New in version Fedora9.

--start START

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora11.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--end END

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora11.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--escrowcert <url>

Load an X.509 certificate from <url>. Store the data encryption key of this partition, encrypted using the certificate, as a file in /root. Only relevant if --encrypted is specified as well.

New in version Fedora12.

--backuppassphrase

Only relevant if --escrowcert is specified as well. In addition to storing the data encryption key, generate a random passphrase and add it to this partition. Then store the passphrase, encrypted using the certificate specified by --escrowcert, as a file in /root. If more than one LUKS volume uses --backuppassphrase, the same passphrase will be used for all such volumes.

New in version Fedora12.

--resize

Attempt to resize this partition to the size given by --size=. This option must be used with --onpart --size=, or an error will be raised.

New in version Fedora17.

--hibernation

This option can be used to automatically determine the size of the swap partition big enough for hibernation.

New in version Fedora18.

--cipher CIPHER

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which encryption algorithm should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora18.

--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. This is similar to --fsprofile but works for all filesystems, not just the ones that support the profile concept. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora23.

--active

Set partition as active

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora29.

Removed in version Fedora34.

--luks-version LUKS_VERSION

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which version of LUKS format should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf PBKDF

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) algorithm for LUKS keyslot. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the memory cost for PBKDF. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of milliseconds to spend with PBKDF passphrase processing. See --iter-time in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of iterations directly and avoids PBKDF benchmark. See --pbkdf-force-iterations in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

If partitioning fails for any reason, diagnostic messages will appear on virtual console 3.

raid ¶

raid --device DEVICE [--fstype FSTYPE] [--level LEVEL] [--noformat]
 [--spares SPARES] [--useexisting] [--fsoptions FSOPTS]
 [--fsprofile FSPROFILE] [--encrypted] [--passphrase PASSPHRASE]
 [--escrowcert <url>] [--backuppassphrase] [--label LABEL]
 [--cipher CIPHER] [--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS] [--chunksize CHUNK_SIZE]
 [--luks-version LUKS_VERSION] [--pbkdf PBKDF]
 [--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME]
 [--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS]
 <mntpoint> [<partitions*> ...]

New in version Fedora3.

Assembles a software RAID device.

Note

raid cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

positional arguments:

<mntpoint>

Location where the RAID file system is mounted. If it is /, the RAID level must be 1 unless a boot partition (/boot) is present. If a boot partition is present, the /boot partition must be level 1 and the root (/) partition can be any of the available types.

New in version Fedora3.

<partitions*>

The software raid partitions lists the RAID identifiers to add to the RAID array.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--device DEVICE

Name of the RAID device to use (such as ‘fedora-root’ or ‘home’). As of Fedora 19, RAID devices are no longer referred to by names like ‘md0’. If you have an old (v0.90 metadata) array that you cannot assign a name to, you can specify the array by a filesystem label or UUID (eg: –device=LABEL=fedora-root).

New in version Fedora3.

--fstype FSTYPE

Sets the file system type for the RAID array. Valid values include ext4, ext3, ext2, btrfs, swap, and vfat. Other filesystems may be valid depending on command line arguments passed to anaconda to enable other filesystems.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

Btrfs support was removed.

--level LEVEL

RAID level to use {‘RAID4’, ‘RAID10’, ‘RAID5’, ‘RAID0’, ‘RAID6’, ‘RAID1’}.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora7.

The “RAID10” level was added.

Changed in version Fedora13.

The “RAID4” level was added.

--noformat

Use an existing RAID device and do not format the RAID array.

New in version Fedora3.

--spares SPARES

Specifies the number of spare drives allocated for the RAID array. Spare drives are used to rebuild the array in case of drive failure.

New in version Fedora3.

--useexisting

Use an existing RAID device and reformat it.

New in version Fedora3.

--fsoptions FSOPTS

Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the /etc/fstab file of the installed system and should be enclosed in quotes.

New in version Fedora4.

--bytes-per-inode BYTES_PER_INODE

Specify the bytes/inode ratio.

New in version Fedora5.

Deprecated since version Fedora9.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--fsprofile FSPROFILE

Specifies a usage type to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. A usage type defines a variety of tuning parameters to be used when making a filesystem. For this option to work, the filesystem must support the concept of usage types and there must be a configuration file that lists valid types. For ext2/3/4, this configuration file is /etc/mke2fs.conf.

New in version Fedora9.

--encrypted

Specify that this RAID device should be encrypted.

New in version Fedora9.

--passphrase PASSPHRASE

Specify the passphrase to use when encrypting this RAID device. Without the above –encrypted option, this option does nothing. If no passphrase is specified, the default system-wide one is used, or the installer will stop and prompt if there is no default.

New in version Fedora9.

--escrowcert <url>

Load an X.509 certificate from <url>. Store the data encryption key of this partition, encrypted using the certificate, as a file in /root. Only relevant if --encrypted is specified as well.

New in version Fedora12.

--backuppassphrase

Only relevant if --escrowcert is specified as well. In addition to storing the data encryption key, generate a random passphrase and add it to this partition. Then store the passphrase, encrypted using the certificate specified by --escrowcert, as a file in /root. If more than one LUKS volume uses --backuppassphrase, the same passphrase will be used for all such volumes.

New in version Fedora12.

--label LABEL

Specify the label to give to the filesystem to be made. If the given label is already in use by another filesystem, a new label will be created.

New in version Fedora15.

--cipher CIPHER

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which encryption algorithm should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora18.

--mkfsoptions MKFSOPTS

Specifies additional parameters to be passed to the program that makes a filesystem on this partition. No processing is done on the list of arguments, so they must be supplied in a format that can be passed directly to the mkfs program. This means multiple options should be comma-separated or surrounded by double quotes, depending on the filesystem.

New in version Fedora23.

--chunksize CHUNK_SIZE

Specify the chunk size (in KiB) for this RAID array.

New in version Fedora25.

--luks-version LUKS_VERSION

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Specifies which version of LUKS format should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf PBKDF

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) algorithm for LUKS keyslot. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-memory PBKDF_MEMORY

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the memory cost for PBKDF. See man cryptsetup.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-time PBKDF_TIME

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of milliseconds to spend with PBKDF passphrase processing. See --iter-time in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

--pbkdf-iterations PBKDF_ITERATIONS

Only relevant if --encrypted is specified. Sets the number of iterations directly and avoids PBKDF benchmark. See --pbkdf-force-iterations in man cryptsetup.

Only one of --pbkdf-time and --pbkdf-iterations can be specified.

New in version Fedora29.

The following example shows how to create a RAID level 1 partition for /, and a RAID level 5 for /usr, assuming there are three disks on the system. It also creates three swap partitions, one on each drive:

part raid.01 --size=6000 --ondisk=sda
part raid.02 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdb
part raid.03 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdc

part swap1 --size=512 --ondisk=sda
part swap2 --size=512 --ondisk=sdb
part swap3 --size=512 --ondisk=sdc

part raid.11 --size=6000 --ondisk=sda
part raid.12 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdb
part raid.13 --size=6000 --ondisk=sdc

raid / --level=1 --device=md0 raid.01 raid.02 raid.03
raid /usr --level=5 --device=md1 raid.11 raid.12 raid.13

realm ¶

realm

New in version Fedora19.

define an Active Directory realm to join

repo ¶

repo --name NAME [--baseurl BASEURL] [--mirrorlist MIRRORLIST] [--cost COST]
 [--excludepkgs EXCLUDEPKGS] [--includepkgs INCLUDEPKGS] [--proxy PROXY]
 [--noverifyssl] [--install] [--metalink METALINK] [--sslcacert SSLCACERT]
 [--sslclientcert SSLCLIENTCERT] [--sslclientkey SSLCLIENTKEY]
 [--ignoregroups IGNOREGROUPS]

New in version Fedora6.

Configures additional yum repositories that may be used as sources for package installation. Multiple repo lines may be specified. By default, anaconda has a configured set of repos taken from /etc/anaconda.repos.d plus a special Installation Repo in the case of a media install. The exact set of repos in this directory changes from release to release and cannot be listed here. There will likely always be a repo named “updates”.

Note: If you want to enable one of the repos in /etc/anaconda.repos.d that is disabled by default (like “updates”), you should use –name= but none of the other options. anaconda will look for a repo by this name automatically. Providing a baseurl or mirrorlist URL will result in anaconda attempting to add another repo by the same name, which will cause a conflicting repo error.

options:

--name NAME

The repo id. This option is required. The RepoId must not contain spaces (do not confuse with the optional name used by yum). If a repo has a name that conflicts with a previously added one, the new repo will be ignored. Because anaconda has a populated list of repos when it starts, this means that users cannot create new repos that override these names. Please check /etc/anaconda.repos.d from the operating system you wish to install to see what names are not available.

New in version Fedora6.

--baseurl BASEURL

The URL for the repository. The variables that may be used in yum repo config files are not supported here. You may use one of either this option or --mirrorlist, not both. If an NFS repository is specified, it should be of the form nfs://host:/path/to/repo. Note that there is a colon after the host. Anaconda passes everything after “nfs:// “ directly to the mount command instead of parsing URLs according to RFC 2224. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora6.

Changed in version Fedora15.

--mirrorlist and --baseurl are not required anymore!

Changed in version Fedora27.

Another mutually exclusive option --metalink was added.

--mirrorlist MIRRORLIST

The URL pointing at a list of mirrors for the repository. The variables that may be used in yum repo config files are not supported here. You may use one of either this option or --baseurl, not both. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora6.

Changed in version Fedora15.

--mirrorlist and --baseurl are not required anymore!

Changed in version Fedora27.

Another mutually exclusive option --metalink was added.

--cost COST

An integer value to assign a cost to this repository. If multiple repositories provide the same packages, this number will be used to prioritize which repository will be used before another. Repositories with a lower cost take priority over repositories with higher cost.

New in version Fedora8.

--excludepkgs EXCLUDEPKGS

A comma-separated list of package names and globs that must not be fetched from this repository. This is useful if multiple repositories provide the same package and you want to make sure it is not fetched from a particular repository during installation.

New in version Fedora8.

--includepkgs INCLUDEPKGS

A comma-separated list of package names and globs that can be pulled from this repository. Any other packages provided by the repository not on this list will be ignored. This is useful if you want to install just a single package or set of packages from a repository while including all other packages the repository provides.

New in version Fedora8.

--proxy PROXY

Specify an HTTP/HTTPS/FTP proxy to use just for this repository. This setting does not affect any other repositories, nor how the install.img is fetched on HTTP installs. The various parts of the argument act like you would expect. The syntax is:
``--proxy=[protocol://][username[:password]@]host[:port]``
New in version Fedora13.

--noverifyssl

For a https repo do not check the server’s certificate with what well-known CA validate and do not check the server’s hostname matches the certificate’s domain name.

New in version Fedora14.

--install

Install this repository to the target system so that it can be used after reboot.

New in version Fedora21.

--metalink METALINK

The URL pointing at a metalink for the repository. The variables that may be used in yum repo config files are not supported here. You may use only one of the --baseurl, --mirrorlist, or --metalink options. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora27.

--sslcacert SSLCACERT

Path to the file holding one or more SSL certificates to verify the repository host with.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--sslclientcert SSLCLIENTCERT

Path to the SSL client certificate (PEM file) which should be used to connect to the repository.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--sslclientkey SSLCLIENTKEY

Path to the private key file associated with the client certificate given with –sslclientcert.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--ignoregroups IGNOREGROUPS

This option is used when composing installation trees and has no effect on the installation process itself. It tells the compose tools to not look at the package group information when mirroring trees so as to avoid mirroring large amounts of unnecessary data.

New in version Fedora11.

Deprecated since version Fedora33.

reqpart ¶

reqpart [--add-boot]

New in version Fedora23.

Automatically create partitions required by your hardware platform. These include a /boot/efi for x86_64 and Aarch64 systems with UEFI firmware, biosboot for x86_64 systems with BIOS firmware and GPT, and PRePBoot for IBM Power Systems.

Note: This command can not be used together with autopart, because autopart does the same and creates other partitions or logical volumes such as / and swap on top. In contrast with autopart, this command only creates platform-specific partitions and leaves the rest of the drive empty, allowing you to create a custom layout.

Note

reqpart cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

options:

--add-boot

Create a separate /boot partition in addition to the platform-specific partition created by the base command.

New in version Fedora23.

rescue ¶

rescue [--nomount] [--romount]

New in version Fedora10.

Automatically enter the installer’s rescue mode. This gives you a chance to repair the system should something catastrophic happen.

options:

--nomount

Don’t mount the installed system.

New in version Fedora10.

--romount

Mount the installed system in read-only mode.

New in version Fedora10.

By default, the installer will find your system and mount it in read-write mode, telling you where it has performed this mount. You may optionally choose to not mount anything or mount in read-only mode. Only one of these two options may be given at any one time.

rhsm ¶

rhsm --organization <organization_name> --activation-key <activation_key>
 [--connect-to-insights] [--proxy PROXY]
 [--server-hostname <subscription_service_server_url>]
 [--rhsm-baseurl <content_base_url>]

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

The rhsm command is used to configure a Red Hat subscription. A Red Hat subscription is required for installing from the Red Hat CDN installation source as well connecting the target system to Red Hat Insights.

Subscription attached during the installation will also be available on the target system after the installation.

System Purpose data specified via the syspurpose command may influence what subscription will be attached to the system. System Purpose data set via the syspurpose command will override system purpose data attached to activation keys.

An organization id needs to be specified, as well as at least one activation key.

options:

--organization <organization_name>

Organization id.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

--activation-key <activation_key>

Activation key. Option can be used multiple times, once per activation key.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

--connect-to-insights

Connect to Red Hat Insights.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

--proxy PROXY

Specify an HTTP proxy to use for subscription purposes. The syntax is:
``--proxy=[protocol://][username[:password]@]host[:port]``
New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

--server-hostname <subscription_service_server_url>

Red Hat subscription service server URL.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

--rhsm-baseurl <content_base_url>

Content base URL.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

rootpw ¶

rootpw [--iscrypted] [--lock] [--plaintext] [--allow-ssh] [<password>]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets the system’s root password.

positional arguments:

<password>

The desired root password.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--iscrypted

If this is present, the password argument is assumed to already be encrypted. To create an encrypted password you can use python:
``python -c 'import crypt; print(crypt.crypt("My Password", "$6$My Salt"))'``
This will generate sha512 crypt of your password using your provided salt.

New in version Fedora3.

--lock

If this is present, the root account is locked by default. That is, the root user will not be able to login from the console. When this option is present the <password> argument is not required.

New in version Fedora8.

--plaintext

The password argument is assumed to not be encrypted. This is the default!

New in version Fedora8.

--allow-ssh

This will allow remote root logins via ssh using only the password. Only use as a last resort.

New in version Fedora37.

selinux ¶

selinux [--disabled] [--enforcing] [--permissive]

New in version Fedora3.

Sets the state of SELinux on the installed system. SELinux defaults to enforcing in anaconda.

options:

--disabled

If this is present, SELinux is disabled.

New in version Fedora3.

--enforcing

If this is present, SELinux is set to enforcing mode.

New in version Fedora3.

--permissive

If this is present, SELinux is enabled, but only logs things that would be denied in enforcing mode.

New in version Fedora3.

Only one of --disabled, --enabled or --permissive must be specified!

services ¶

services [--disabled <list>] [--enabled <list>]

New in version Fedora6.

Modifies the default set of services that will run under the default runlevel. The services listed in the disabled list will be disabled before the services listed in the enabled list are enabled.

options:

--disabled <list>

Disable the services given in the comma separated list.

New in version Fedora6.

--enabled <list>

Enable the services given in the comma separated list.

New in version Fedora6.

One of --disabled or --enabled must be provided.

skipx ¶

skipx

New in version Fedora3.

If present, X is not configured on the installed system.

snapshot ¶

snapshot --name <snapshot_name> --when <post-install|pre-install>
     <originVG/originLV>

New in version Fedora26.

Create an LVM snapshot for devices on an LVM thin pool.

positional arguments:

<originVG/originLV>

Origin of the snapshot. The origin is specified as <VG>/<LV>.

New in version Fedora26.

options:

--name <snapshot_name>

Name of the newly created snapshot.

New in version Fedora26.

--when <post-install|pre-install>

You can specify two possible values: pre-install and post-install. When the pre-install value is used the snapshot is created before the installation but after the %pre section is run. When the post-install value is used the snapshot is created after the installation is done and after the %post section is run.

New in version Fedora26.

sshkey ¶

sshkey --username <user> "ssh key"

New in version Fedora22.

This installs a ssh key to the authorized_keys file of the specified user on the installed system.

positional arguments:

"ssh key"

The content of the ssh key to install.

New in version Fedora22.

options:

--username <user>

User for which to install the specified key. This option is required.

New in version Fedora22.

Note that the key should be quoted, if it contains spaces and the user should exist (or be root) either via creation by a package install or the kickstart user command.

sshpw ¶

sshpw --username <name> [--iscrypted] [--plaintext] [--lock] [--sshkey]
  [<password> ...]

New in version Fedora13.

The installer can start up ssh to provide for interactivity and inspection, just like it can with telnet. The “inst.sshd” option must be specified on the kernel command-line for Anaconda to start an ssh daemon. The sshpw command is used to control the accounts created in the installation environment that may be remotely logged into. For each instance of this command given, a user will be created. These users will not be created on the final system - they only exist for use while the installer is running.

Note that by default, root has a blank password. If you don’t want any user to be able to ssh in and have full access to your hardware, you must specify sshpw for username root. Also note that if Anaconda fails to parse the kickstart file, it will allow anyone to login as root and have full access to your hardware.

positional arguments:

<password>

The password string to use.

New in version Fedora13.

options:

--username <name>

Provides the name of the user. This option is required.

New in version Fedora13.

--iscrypted

If this is present, the password argument is assumed to already be encrypted.

New in version Fedora13.

--plaintext

If this is present, the password argument is assumed to not be encrypted. This is the default.

New in version Fedora13.

--lock

If this is present, the new user account is locked by default. That is, the user will not be able to login from the console.

New in version Fedora13.

--sshkey

If this is used then the <password> string is interpreted as an ssh key value.

New in version Fedora24.

syspurpose ¶

syspurpose [--role <role_name>] [--sla <sla_name>] [--usage <usage>]
       [--addon <layered product or feature>]

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

The syspurpose command is used to describe how the system is intended to be used after the installation.

This information then can be used to apply the correct subscription entitlement to the system.

options:

--role <role_name>

The intended role of the system.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

--sla <sla_name>

Name of the sla intended for the system.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

--usage <usage>

The intended usage of the system.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

--addon <layered product or feature>

Any additional layered products or features. To add multiple items specify –addon multiple times, once per layered product/feature.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux8.

timesource ¶

timesource [--ntp-server NTP_SERVER] [--ntp-pool NTP_POOL] [--ntp-disable]
       [--nts]

New in version Fedora33.

Configures a timesource.

options:

--ntp-server NTP_SERVER

A single NTP server.

--ntp-server, --ntp-pool and --ntp-disable are mutually exclusive.

New in version Fedora33.

--ntp-pool NTP_POOL

A single NTP pool.

--ntp-pool, --ntp-server and --ntp-disable are mutually exclusive.

New in version Fedora33.

--ntp-disable

If specified, disable any NTP based time sync, both on target system as well as in installation environment.

New in version Fedora33.

--nts

If specified, consider the provided hostname to be a NTS compatible time source. Without the --nts option it will be considered to be a plain NTP time source without NTS support.

New in version Fedora33.

timezone ¶

timezone [--utc] [--isUtc] [--nontp]
     [--ntpservers <server1>,<server2>,...,<serverN>]
     [<timezone> ...]

New in version Fedora3.

This required command sets the system time zone to which may be any of the time zones listed by timeconfig.

positional arguments:

<timezone>

Timezone name, e.g. Europe/Sofia. This is optional but at least one of the options needs to be used if no timezone is specified.

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--utc

If present, the system assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC (Greenwich Mean) time.

To get the list of supported timezones, you can either run this script: http://vpodzime.fedorapeople.org/timezones_list.py or look at this list: http://vpodzime.fedorapeople.org/timezones_list.txt

New in version Fedora6.

--isUtc

This is an alias for the --utc option.

New in version Fedora6.

--nontp

Disable automatic starting of NTP service.

--nontp and --ntpservers are mutually exclusive.

New in version Fedora18.

--ntpservers <server1>,<server2>,...,<serverN>

Specify a list of NTP servers to be used (comma-separated list with no spaces). The chrony package is automatically installed when this option is used. If you don’t want the package to be automatically installed then use -chrony in package selection. For example:

timezone –ntpservers=ntp.cesnet.cz,tik.nic.cz Europe/Prague

New in version Fedora18.

unsupported_hardware ¶

unsupported_hardware

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux6.

allow installation to proceed on systems with tainted hardware

updates ¶

updates [URL]

New in version Fedora7.

Specify the location of an updates.img for use in installation.

positional arguments:

[URL]

If present, the URL for an updates image.

If not present, anaconda will attempt to load from a floppy disk.

New in version Fedora7.

Changed in version Fedora34.

The URL for an updates image is required. Anaconda no longer supports updates on a floppy disk.

install or upgrade ¶

install|upgrade [--root-device ROOT_DEVICE]

New in version Fedora3.

Install a fresh system or upgrade an existing system. Install is the default mode. For installation, you must specify the type of installation from one of cdrom, harddrive, nfs, or url (for ftp or http installations). The install command and the installation method command must be on separate lines.

Deprecated since version Fedora20.

Starting with F18, upgrades are no longer supported in anaconda and should be done with FedUp, the Fedora update tool. Starting with F21, the DNF system-upgrade plugin is recommended instead. Therefore, the upgrade command essentially does nothing.

Removed in version Fedora29.

options:

--root-device ROOT_DEVICE

On a system with multiple installs, this option specifies which filesystem holds the installation to be upgraded. This can be specified by device name, UUID=, or LABEL= just like the harddrive command may be.

New in version Fedora11.

url ¶

url [--proxy URL] [--noverifyssl] [--mirrorlist URL] [--url URL]
[--metalink URL] [--sslcacert SSLCACERT] [--sslclientcert SSLCLIENTCERT]
[--sslclientkey SSLCLIENTKEY]

New in version Fedora3.

Install from an installation tree on a remote server via FTP or HTTP.

options:

--proxy URL

Specify an HTTP/HTTPS/FTP proxy to use while performing the install. The various parts of the argument act like you would expect. The syntax is:
[protocol://][username[:password]@]host[:port]
New in version Fedora13.

--noverifyssl

For a tree on a HTTPS server do not check the server’s certificate with what well-known CA validate and do not check the server’s hostname matches the certificate’s domain name.

New in version Fedora14.

--mirrorlist URL

The mirrorlist URL to install from. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora18.

--url URL

The URL to install from. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora18.

Only one of the –url or –mirrorlist can be specified.

Changed in version Fedora27.

Only one of the –url, –mirrorlist or –metalink can be specified.

--metalink URL

The metalink URL to install from. Variable substitution is done for $releasever and $basearch in the url.

New in version Fedora27.

--sslcacert SSLCACERT

Path to the file holding one or more SSL certificates to verify the repository host with.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--sslclientcert SSLCLIENTCERT

Path to the SSL client certificate (PEM file) which should be used to connect to the repository.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

--sslclientkey SSLCLIENTKEY

Path to the private key file associated with the client certificate given with –sslclientcert.

Note Usage of this parameter is discouraged. It is designed for a specific image building tool use and there are plans for a replacement.

New in version Fedora30.

user ¶

user [--homedir HOMEDIR] [--iscrypted] --name NAME [--password PASSWORD]
 [--shell SHELL] [--uid INT] [--lock] [--plaintext] [--gecos GECOS]
 [--gid INT] [--groups GROUPS]

New in version Fedora6.

Creates a new user on the system.

options:

--homedir HOMEDIR

The home directory for the user. If not provided, this defaults to /home/.

New in version Fedora6.

--iscrypted

If specified, consider the password provided by --password already encrypted. This is the default.

New in version Fedora6.

--name NAME

Provides the name of the user. This option is required.

New in version Fedora6.

--password PASSWORD

The new user’s password. If not provided, the account will be locked by default. If this is present, the password argument is assumed to already be encrypted. --plaintext has the opposite effect - the password argument is assumed to not be encrypted. To create an encrypted password you can use:

mkpasswd -m yescrypt

This will generate a yescrypt hash of your password using a random salt. As a fallback for older distributions or in case mkpasswd is not available you can use:

python -c ‘import crypt; print(crypt.crypt(“My Password”, “$6$MySalt”))’

This will generate a SHA-512 hash of your password using your provided salt.

New in version Fedora6.

--shell SHELL

The user’s login shell. If not provided, this defaults to the system default.

New in version Fedora6.

--uid INT

The user’s UID. If not provided, this defaults to the next available non-system UID.

New in version Fedora6.

--lock

If this is present, the new user account is locked by default. That is, the user will not be able to login from the console.

New in version Fedora8.

--plaintext

If specified, consider the password provided by --password to be plain text.

New in version Fedora8.

--gecos GECOS

Provides the GECOS information for the user. This is a string of various system-specific fields separated by a comma. It is frequently used to specify the user’s full name, office number, and the like. See man 5 passwd for more details.

New in version Fedora12.

--gid INT

The GID of the user’s primary group. If not provided, this defaults to the next available non-system GID.

New in version Fedora19.

--groups GROUPS

In addition to the default group, a comma separated list of group names the user should belong to. Any groups that do not already exist will be created. If the group already exists with a different GID, an error will be raised.

New in version Fedora6.

Changed in version Fedora24.

The group name can optionally be followed by a GID in parenthesis, for example, newgroup(5002).

vnc ¶

vnc [--password PASSWORD] [--host HOST] [--port PORT]

New in version Fedora3.

Allows the graphical installation to be viewed remotely via VNC. This method is usually preferred over text mode, as there are some size and language limitations in text installs. With no options, this command will start a VNC server on the machine with no password and will print out the command that needs to be run to connect a remote machine.

options:

--password PASSWORD

Set a password which must be provided to connect to the VNC session. This is optional, but recommended.

New in version Fedora3.

--connect host[:port]

Connect to a remote host instead of starting VNC server locally.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora6.

Added support for host[:port] syntax.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--host HOST

Instead of starting a VNC server on the install machine, connect to the VNC viewer process listening on the given hostname.

New in version Fedora6.

--port PORT

Provide a port that the remote VNC viewer process is listening on. If not provided, anaconda will use the VNC default.

New in version Fedora6.

volgroup ¶

volgroup [--noformat] [--useexisting] [--reserved-space RESERVED_SPACE]
     [--reserved-percent RESERVED_PERCENT] [--pesize PESIZE]
     [<name> ...] [<partitions*> ...]

New in version Fedora3.

Creates a Logical Volume Management (LVM) group.

Note

volgroup cannot be used with the following commands: autopart, mount

positional arguments:

<name>

Name given to the volume group. The (which denotes that multiple partitions can be listed) lists the identifiers to add to the volume group.

New in version Fedora3.

<partitions*>

Physical Volume partitions to be included in this Volume Group

New in version Fedora3.

options:

--noformat

Use an existing volume group. Do not specify partitions when using this option.

New in version Fedora3.

--useexisting

Use an existing volume group. Do not specify partitions when using this option.

New in version Fedora3.

--reserved-space RESERVED_SPACE

Specify an amount of space to leave unused in a volume group, in MiB. Do not append any units. This option is only used for new volume groups.

New in version Fedora16.

--reserved-percent RESERVED_PERCENT

Specify a percentage of total volume group space to leave unused (new volume groups only).

New in version Fedora16.

--pesize PESIZE

Set the size of the physical extents in KiB.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora21.

Set the size of the physical extents in KiB.

Create the partition first, create the logical volume group, and then create the logical volume. For example:

part pv.01 --size 3000
volgroup myvg pv.01
logvol / --vgname=myvg --size=2000 --name=rootvol

xconfig ¶

xconfig [--defaultdesktop GNOME|KDE] [--startxonboot]

New in version Fedora3.

Configures the X Window System. If this option is not given, Anaconda will use X and attempt to automatically configure. Please try this before manually configuring your system.

options:

--defaultdesktop GNOME|KDE

Specify either GNOME or KDE to set the default desktop (assumes that GNOME Desktop Environment and/or KDE Desktop Environment has been installed through %packages).

New in version Fedora3.

--server SERVER

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Removed in version Fedora6.

--startxonboot

Use a graphical login on the installed system.

New in version Fedora3.

--card CARD

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--hsync HSYNC

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--monitor MONITOR

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--noprobe NOPROBE

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--vsync VSYNC

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora6.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--driver DRIVER

REMOVED

New in version Fedora6.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--depth DEPTH

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--resolution RESOLUTION

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--videoram VIDEORAM

REMOVED

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora10.

Removed in version Fedora14.

zerombr ¶

zerombr

New in version Fedora3.

If zerombr is specified, any disks whose formatting is unrecognized are initialized. This will destroy all of the contents of disks with invalid partition tables or other formatting unrecognizable to the installer. It is useful so that the installation program does not ask if it should initialize the disk label if installing to a brand new hard drive.

zfcp ¶

zfcp --devnum DEVNUM [--wwpn WWPN] [--fcplun FCPLUN]

New in version Fedora3.

Define a Fibre channel device. This option only applies on IBM System z.

Changed in version Fedora37.

It is sufficient to specify an FCP device bus ID if automatic LUN scanning is available. Otherwise all three parameters are required.

zfcp --devnum=<devnum> [--wwpn=<wwpn> --fcplun=<lun>]

Automatic LUN scanning is available for FCP devices operating in NPIV mode if it is not disabled through the zfcp.allow_lun_scan module parameter (enabled by default). It provides access to all SCSI devices, that is, WWPNs and FCP LUNs, found in the storage area network attached to the FCP device with the specified bus ID.

options:

--devnum DEVNUM

The device number (zFCP adaptor device bus ID).

New in version Fedora3.

--scsiid SCSIID

SCSI ID

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora12.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--scsilun SCSILUN

SCSI LUN

New in version Fedora3.

Deprecated since version Fedora12.

Removed in version Fedora14.

--wwpn WWPN

The device’s World Wide Port Name (WWPN). Takes the form of a 16-digit number, preceded by 0x.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora37.

The argument is optional.

--fcplun FCPLUN

The device’s Logical Unit Number (LUN). Takes the form of a 16-digit number, preceded by 0x.

New in version Fedora3.

Changed in version Fedora37.

The argument is optional.

For example:

zfcp --devnum=0.0.6000
zfcp --devnum=0.0.4000 --wwpn=0x5005076300C213e9 --fcplun=0x5022000000000000

zipl ¶

zipl [--secure-boot] [--force-secure-boot] [--no-secure-boot]

New in version Fedora32.

This command specifies the ZIPL configuration for s390x.

options:

--secure-boot

Enable Secure Boot if supported by the installing machine.

Note When installed on a model newer than IBM z14, the installed system cannot be booted from an IBM z14 and earlier models.

New in version Fedora32.

--force-secure-boot

Enable Secure Boot unconditionally.

Note Installation will fail on IBM z14 and earlier models.

New in version Fedora32.

--no-secure-boot

Disable Secure Boot.

Note Secure Boot is not supported on IBM z14 and earlier models, therefore choose ‘–no-secure-boot’ if you intend to boot the installed system on such models.

New in version Fedora32.

%include ¶

Use the %include /path/to/file or %include <url> command to include the contents of another file in the kickstart file as though the contents were at the location of the %include command in the kickstart file.

%ksappend ¶

The %ksappend url directive is very similar to %include in that it is used to include the contents of additional files as though they were at the location of the %ksappend directive. The difference is in when the two directives are processed. %ksappend is processed in an initial pass, before any other part of the kickstart file. Then, this expanded kickstart file is passed to the rest of anaconda where all %pre scripts are handled, and then finally the rest of the kickstart file is processed in order, which includes %include directives.

Thus, %ksappend provides a way to include a file containing %pre scripts, while %include does not.

Chapter 4. Pre-installation script ¶

%pre [--erroronfail] [--interpreter /usr/bin/python] [--log LOG]

New in version Fedora4.

You can add commands to run on the system immediately after the ks.cfg has been parsed and the lang, keyboard, and url options have been processed. This section must start with the %pre command. You can access the network in the %pre section; however, name service has not been configured at this point, so only IP addresses will work.

Preinstallation scripts are required to be closed with %end.

If your script spawns a daemon process, you must make sure to close stdout and stderr. Doing so is standard procedure for creating daemons. If you do not close these file descriptors, the installation will appear hung as anaconda waits for an EOF from the script.

Note

The pre-installation script is not run in the chroot environment.

options:

--erroronfail

If the error script fails, this option will cause an error dialog to be displayed and will halt installation. The error message will direct you to where the cause of the failure is logged.

New in version Fedora4.

--interpreter /usr/bin/python

Allows you to specify a different scripting language, such as Python. Replace /usr/bin/python with the scripting language of your choice.

New in version Fedora4.

--log LOG, --logfile LOG

Log all messages from the script to the given log file.

New in version Fedora4.

Example ¶

Here is an example %pre section:

%pre
#!/bin/bash
hds=""
mymedia=""

for file in /sys/block/sd*; do
hds="$hds $(basename $file)"
done

set $hds
numhd=$(echo $#)

drive1=$(echo $hds | cut -d' ' -f1)
drive2=$(echo $hds | cut -d' ' -f2)

if [ $numhd == "2" ]  ; then
    echo "#partitioning scheme generated in %pre for 2 drives" > /tmp/part-include
    echo "clearpart --all" >> /tmp/part-include
    echo "part /boot --fstype ext4 --size 512 --ondisk sda" >> /tmp/part-include
    echo "part / --fstype ext4 --size 10000 --grow --ondisk sda" >> /tmp/part-include
    echo "part swap --recommended --ondisk $drive1" >> /tmp/part-include
    echo "part /home --fstype ext4 --size 10000 --grow --ondisk sdb" >> /tmp/part-include
else
    echo "#partitioning scheme generated in %pre for 1 drive" > /tmp/part-include
    echo "clearpart --all" >> /tmp/part-include
    echo "part /boot --fstype ext4 --size 521" >> /tmp/part-include
    echo "part swap --recommended" >> /tmp/part-include
    echo "part / --fstype ext4 --size 2048" >> /tmp/part-include
    echo "part /home --fstype ext4 --size 2048 --grow" >> /tmp/part-include
fi
%end

This script determines the number of hard drives in the system and writes a text file with a different partitioning scheme depending on whether it has one or two drives. Instead of having a set of partitioning commands in the kickstart file, include the line:

%include /tmp/part-include

The partitioning commands selected in the script will be used.

Chapter 5. Pre-install Script ¶

%pre-install [--erroronfail] [--interpreter /usr/bin/python] [--log LOG]

New in version Fedora4.

You can use the %pre-install section to run commands after the system has been partitioned, filesystems created, and everything is mounted under /mnt/sysimage Like %pre these scripts do not run in the chrooted environment.

Each %pre-install section is required to be closed with a corresponding %end.

options:

--erroronfail

If the error script fails, this option will cause an error dialog to be displayed and will halt installation. The error message will direct you to where the cause of the failure is logged.

New in version Fedora4.

--interpreter /usr/bin/python

Allows you to specify a different scripting language, such as Python. Replace /usr/bin/python with the scripting language of your choice.

New in version Fedora4.

--log LOG, --logfile LOG

Log all messages from the script to the given log file.

New in version Fedora4.

Chapter 6. Post-installation Script ¶

%post [--erroronfail] [--interpreter /usr/bin/python] [--log LOG] [--nochroot]

New in version Fedora4.

You have the option of adding commands to run on the system once the installation is complete. This section must start with the %post command. This section is useful for functions such as installing additional software and configuring an additional nameserver.

You may have more than one %post section, which can be useful for cases where some post-installation scripts need to be run in the chroot and others that need access outside the chroot.

Each %post section is required to be closed with a corresponding %end.

If you configured the network with static IP information, including a nameserver, you can access the network and resolve IP addresses in the %post section. If you configured the network for DHCP, the /etc/resolv.conf file has not been completed when the installation executes the %post section. You can access the network, but you can not resolve IP addresses. Thus, if you are using DHCP, you must specify IP addresses in the %post section.

If your script spawns a daemon process, you must make sure to close stdout and stderr. Doing so is standard procedure for creating daemons. If you do not close these file descriptors, the installation will appear hung as anaconda waits for an EOF from the script.

The post-install script is run in a chroot environment; therefore, performing tasks such as copying scripts or RPMs from the installation media will not work.

options:

--erroronfail

If the error script fails, this option will cause an error dialog to be displayed and will halt installation. The error message will direct you to where the cause of the failure is logged.

New in version Fedora4.

--interpreter /usr/bin/python

Allows you to specify a different scripting language, such as Python. Replace /usr/bin/python with the scripting language of your choice.

New in version Fedora4.

--log LOG, --logfile LOG

Log all messages from the script to the given log file.

New in version Fedora4.

--nochroot

Allows you to specify commands that you would like to run outside of the chroot environment.

New in version Fedora4.

Examples ¶

Run a script named runme from an NFS share:

%post
mkdir /mnt/temp
mount 10.10.0.2:/usr/new-machines /mnt/temp
open -s -w -- /mnt/temp/runme
umount /mnt/temp
%end

Copy the file /etc/resolv.conf to the file system that was just installed:

%post --nochroot
if [ ! -e /mnt/sysimage/etc/resolf.conf ]; then
    cp -P /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/sysimage/etc/resolv.conf
fi
%end

%post
# do some stuff
rm /etc/resolv.conf
%end

If your kickstart is being interpreted by the livecd-creator tool, you should replace /mnt/sysimage above with $INSTALL_ROOT.

Also see Anaconda’s documentation.

Chapter 7. Handling Errors ¶

%onerror [--erroronfail] [--interpreter /usr/bin/python] [--log LOG]

New in version Fedora4.

These scripts run when the installer hits a fatal error, but not necessarily a bug in the installer. Some examples of these situations include errors in packages that have been requested to be installed, failures when starting VNC when requested, and error when scanning storage. When these situations happen, installation cannot continue. The installer will run all %onerror scripts in the order they are provided in the kickstart file.

In addition, %onerror scripts will be run on a traceback as well. To be exact, all %onerror scripts will be run and then all %traceback scripts will be run afterwards.

Each %onerror script is required to be closed with a corresponding %end.

Note

These scripts could potentially run at any stage in installation - early on, between making filesystems and installing packages, before the bootloader is installed, when attempting to reboot, and so on. For this reason, these scripts cannot be run in the chroot environment and you should not trust anything in the installed system. These scripts are primarily for testing and error reporting purposes.

options:

--erroronfail

If the error script fails, this option will cause an error dialog to be displayed and will halt installation. The error message will direct you to where the cause of the failure is logged.

New in version Fedora4.

--interpreter /usr/bin/python

Allows you to specify a different scripting language, such as Python. Replace /usr/bin/python with the scripting language of your choice.

New in version Fedora4.

--log LOG, --logfile LOG

Log all messages from the script to the given log file.

New in version Fedora4.

Chapter 8. Handling Tracebacks ¶

%traceback [--erroronfail] [--interpreter /usr/bin/python] [--log LOG]

New in version Fedora4.

These scripts run when the installer hits an internal error (a traceback, as they are called in Python) and cannot continue. When this situation happens, the installer will display an error dialog to the screen that prompts the user to file a bug or reboot. At the same time, it will run all %traceback scripts in the order they are provided in the kickstart file.

Each %traceback script is required to be closed with a corresponding %end.

Note

These scripts could potentially run at any stage in installation - early on, between making filesystems and installing packages, before the bootloader is installed, when attempting to reboot, and so on. For this reason, these scripts cannot be run in the chroot environment and you should not trust anything in the installed system. These scripts are primarily for testing and error reporting purposes.

options:

--erroronfail

If the error script fails, this option will cause an error dialog to be displayed and will halt installation. The error message will direct you to where the cause of the failure is logged.

New in version Fedora4.

--interpreter /usr/bin/python

Allows you to specify a different scripting language, such as Python. Replace /usr/bin/python with the scripting language of your choice.

New in version Fedora4.

--log LOG, --logfile LOG

Log all messages from the script to the given log file.

New in version Fedora4.

Chapter 9. Package Selection ¶

%packages [--excludedocs] [--ignoremissing] [--default] [--multilib]
      [--nocore] [--timeout TIMEOUT] [--retries RETRIES]
      [--inst-langs INSTLANGS] [--exclude-weakdeps] [--ignorebroken]
      [--instLangs INSTLANGS] [--excludeWeakdeps]

New in version Fedora4.

Use the %packages command to begin a kickstart file section that lists the packages you would like to install.

Packages can be specified by group or by individual package name. The installation program defines several groups that contain related packages. Refer to the repodata/*comps*.xml file on the installation media or in installation repository for a list of groups. Each group has an id, user visibility value, name, description, and package list. In the package list, the packages marked as mandatory are always installed if the group is selected, the packages marked default are selected by default if the group is selected, and the packages marked optional must be specifically selected even if the group is selected to be installed.

In most cases, it is only necessary to list the desired groups and not individual packages. Note that the Core group is always selected by default, so it is not necessary to specify it in the %packages section.

The %packages section is required to be closed with %end. Also, multiple %packages sections may be given. This may be handy if the kickstart file is used as a template and pulls in various other files with the %include mechanism.

Here is an example %packages selection:

%packages
@X Window System
@GNOME Desktop Environment
@Graphical Internet
@Sound and Video
dhcp
%end

As you can see, groups are specified, one to a line, starting with an @ symbol followed by the full group name as given in the comps.xml file. Groups can also be specified using the id for the group, such as gnome-desktop. Specify individual packages with no additional characters (the dhcp line in the example above is an individual package).

The @ prefix is also used to request installation of module streams in the following format:

@<module name>:<stream name>/<profile name>

Profile name is optional and multiple profiles can be installed by using multiple lines, one per profile. Stream name is only optional only if the given module has a default stream.

If there are a module and a group named the same, and no stream name and profile are specified, module will be selected instead of a group.

Requesting one module more than once with different streams or not specifying a stream name for a module without a default stream will result in an error.

Here is an example %packages selection with modules:

%packages
@^Fedora Server Edition
@nodejs:10
@django:1.6
@postgresql:9.6/server
@mariadb:10.1/server
@mysql:5.7/default
@scala:2.10/default
@gimp:2.10/devel
vim
%end

You can also specify environments using the @^ prefix followed by full environment name as given in the comps.xml file. If multiple environments are specified, only the last one specified will be used. Environments can be mixed with both group specifications (even if the given group is not part of the specified environment) and package specifications.

Here is an example of requesting the GNOME Desktop environment to be selected for installation:

%packages
@^gnome-desktop-environment
%end

Additionally, individual packages may be specified using globs. For instance:

%packages
vim*
kde-i18n-*
%end

This would install all packages whose names start with “vim” or “kde-i18n-“.

You can also specify which packages or groups not to install from the default package list:

%packages
-autofs
-@Sound and Video
%end

options:

--excludedocs

Do not install any of the documentation from any packages. For the most part, this means files in /usr/share/doc* will not get installed though it could mean other files as well, depending on how the package was built.

New in version Fedora4.

--ignoremissing

Ignore any packages, groups or module streams specified in the packages section that are not found in any configured repository. The default behavior is to halt the installation and ask the user if the installation should be aborted or continued. This option allows fully automated installation even in the error case.

New in version Fedora4.

--ignoredeps

New in version Fedora4.

Deprecated since version Fedora4.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--resolvedeps

New in version Fedora4.

Deprecated since version Fedora4.

Removed in version Fedora9.

--default

Install the default environment. This corresponds to the package set that would be installed if no other selections were made on the package customization screen during an interactive install.

New in version Fedora7.

--nobase

Do not install the @base group (installed by default, otherwise).

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux6.

Deprecated since version Fedora18.

Removed in version Fedora22.

--multilib

Enable yum’s “all” multilib_policy as opposed to the default of “best”.

New in version Fedora18.

--nocore

Do not install the @core group (installed by default, otherwise).

Omitting the core group can produce a system that is not bootable or that cannot finish the install. Use with caution.

New in version Fedora21.

--timeout TIMEOUT

Set up yum’s or dnf’s timeout. It is a number of seconds to wait for a connection before timing out.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux7.

--retries RETRIES

Set up yum’s or dnf’s retries. It is a number of times any attempt to retrieve a file should retry before returning an error.

New in version RedHatEnterpriseLinux7.

--inst-langs INSTLANGS

Specify the list of languages that should be installed. This is different from the package group level selections, though. This option does not specify what package groups should be installed. Instead, it controls which translation files from individual packages should be installed by setting RPM macros.

New in version Fedora32.

--exclude-weakdeps

Do not install packages from weak dependencies. These are packages linked to the selected package set by Recommends and Supplements flags. By default weak dependencies will be installed.

New in version Fedora32.

--ignorebroken

Ignore any packages, groups or modules with conflicting files. This issue will disable the DNF strict option. The default behavior is to abort the installation with error message describing the conflicting files.

WARNING: Usage of this parameter is DISCOURAGED! The DNF strict option will NOT log any information about what packages were skipped. Using this option may result in an unusable system.

New in version Fedora32.

--instLangs INSTLANGS

Specify the list of languages that should be installed. This is different from the package group level selections, though. This option does not specify what package groups should be installed. Instead, it controls which translation files from individual packages should be installed by setting RPM macros.

New in version Fedora9.

Changed in version Fedora32.

Added --inst-langs alias

Deprecated since version Fedora40.

--excludeWeakdeps

Do not install packages from weak dependencies. These are packages linked to the selected package set by Recommends and Supplements flags. By default weak dependencies will be installed.

New in version Fedora24.

Changed in version Fedora32.

Added --exclude-weakdeps alias

Deprecated since version Fedora40.

Group-level options ¶

In addition, group lines in the %packages section can take the following options:

--nodefaults

Only install the group’s mandatory packages, not the default selections.

--optional

In addition to the mandatory and default packages, also install the optional packages. This means all packages in the group will be installed.

Chapter 10. Making the Kickstart File Available ¶

A kickstart file must be placed in one of the following locations:

On a boot diskette
On a boot CD-ROM
On a network

Normally a kickstart file is copied to the boot diskette, or made available on the network. The network-based approach is most commonly used, as most kickstart installations tend to be performed on networked computers.

Let us take a more in-depth look at where the kickstart file may be placed.

Creating a Kickstart Boot Diskette ¶

To perform a diskette-based kickstart installation, the kickstart file must be named ks.cfg and must be located in the boot diskette’s top-level directory. Refer to the section Making an Installation Boot Diskette in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide for instruction on creating a boot diskette. Because the boot diskettes are in MS-DOS format, it is easy to copy the kickstart file under Linux using the mcopy command:

mcopy ks.cfg a:

Alternatively, you can use Windows to copy the file. You can also mount the MS-DOS boot diskette in Linux with the file system type vfat and use the cp command to copy the file on the diskette.

Creating a Kickstart Boot CD-ROM ¶

To perform a CD-ROM-based kickstart installation, the kickstart file must be named ks.cfg and must be located in the boot CD-ROM’s top-level directory. Since a CD-ROM is read-only, the file must be added to the directory used to create the image that is written to the CD-ROM. Refer to the Making an Installation Boot CD-ROM section in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide for instruction on creating a boot CD-ROM; however, before making the file.iso image file, copy the ks.cfg kickstart file to the isolinux/ directory.

Making the Kickstart File Available on the Network ¶

Network installations using kickstart are quite common, because system administrators can easily automate the installation on many networked computers quickly and painlessly. In general, the approach most commonly used is for the administrator to have both a BOOTP/DHCP server and an NFS server on the local network. The BOOTP/DHCP server is used to give the client system its networking information, while the actual files used during the installation are served by the NFS server. Often, these two servers run on the same physical machine, but they are not required to.

To perform a network-based kickstart installation, you must have a BOOTP/DHCP server on your network, and it must include configuration information for the machine on which you are attempting to install Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The BOOTP/DHCP server will provide the client with its networking information as well as the location of the kickstart file.

If a kickstart file is specified by the BOOTP/DHCP server, the client system will attempt an NFS mount of the file’s path, and will copy the specified file to the client, using it as the kickstart file. The exact settings required vary depending on the BOOTP/DHCP server you use.

Here is an example of a line from the dhcpd.conf file for the DHCP server:

filename "/usr/new-machine/kickstart/";
server-name "blarg.redhat.com";

Note that you should replace the value after filename with the name of the kickstart file (or the directory in which the kickstart file resides) and the value after server-name with the NFS server name.

If the filename returned by the BOOTP/DHCP server ends with a slash (“/”), then it is interpreted as a path only. In this case, the client system mounts that path using NFS, and searches for a particular file. The filename the client searches for is:

::: <ip-addr>-kickstart

The section of the filename should be replaced with the client’s IP address in dotted decimal notation. For example, the filename for a computer with an IP address of 10.10.0.1 would be 10.10.0.1-kickstart.

Note that if you do not specify a server name, then the client system will attempt to use the server that answered the BOOTP/DHCP request as its NFS server. If you do not specify a path or filename, the client system will try to mount /kickstart from the BOOTP/DHCP server and will try to find the kickstart file using the same -kickstart filename as described above.

HTTP Headers¶

When Anaconda requests the kickstart over the network it includes several custom HTTP headers:

X-Anaconda-Architecture: x86_64 indicates the architecture of the system being installed to.

X-Anaconda-System-Release: Fedora indicates the product name being installed.

There are also 2 optional headers, controlled by the kernel command line options inst.ks.sendmac and inst.ks.sendsn

Prior to Fedora 17 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, these options were named kssendmac and kssendsn.

Chapter 11. Making the Installation Tree Available ¶

The kickstart installation needs to access an installation tree. An installation tree is a copy of the binary Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROMs with the same directory structure.

If you are performing a CD-based installation, insert the Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM #1 into the computer before starting the kickstart installation.

If you are performing a hard-drive installation, make sure the ISO images of the binary Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROMs are on a hard drive in the computer.

If you are performing a network-based (NFS, FTP, or HTTP) installation, you must make the installation tree available over the network. Refer to the Preparing for a Network Installation section of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide for details.

Chapter 12. Starting a Kickstart Installation ¶

To begin a kickstart installation, you must boot the system from a Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot diskette, Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot CD-ROM, or the Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM #1 and enter a special boot command at the boot prompt. In order to get to the boot prompt you must hit escape at the CD or DVD boot menu. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about I took a screenshot. The installation program looks for a kickstart file if the ks command line argument is passed to the kernel.

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/File:Fedora_boot_screen.png

Prior to Fedora 17 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, all the various forms of the inst.ks= parameter were simply named ks=.

Boot Diskette ¶

If the kickstart file is located on a boot diskette as described in the Section called Creating a Kickstart Boot Diskette in Chapter 6, boot the system with the diskette in the drive, and enter the following command at the boot: prompt:

linux inst.ks=floppy

CD-ROM #1 and Diskette ¶

The linux inst.ks=floppy command also works if the ks.cfg file is located on a vfat or ext2 file system on a diskette and you boot from the Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM #1.

An alternate boot command is to boot off the Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM #1 and have the kickstart file on a vfat or ext2 file system on a diskette. To do so, enter the following command at the boot: prompt:

linux inst.ks=hd:fd0:/ks.cfg

With Driver Disk ¶

If you need to use a driver disk with kickstart, specify the dd option as well. For example, to boot off a boot diskette and use a driver disk, enter the following command at the boot: prompt:

linux inst.ks=floppy dd

Boot CD-ROM ¶

If the kickstart file is on a boot CD-ROM as described in the Section called Creating a Kickstart Boot CD-ROM in Chapter 6, insert the CD-ROM into the system, boot the system, and enter the following command at the boot: prompt (where ks.cfg is the name of the kickstart file):

linux inst.ks=cdrom:<device>:/ks.cfg

Other kickstart options ¶

inst.ks=nfs:<server>:/<path>

The installation program will look for the kickstart file on the NFS server , as file . The installation program will use DHCP to configure the Ethernet card. For example, if your NFS server is server.example.com and the kickstart file is in the NFS share /mydir/ks.cfg, the correct boot command would be inst.ks=nfs:server.example.com:/mydir/ks.cfg.

inst.ks=http://<server>/<path>

The installation program will look for the kickstart file on the HTTP server , as file . The installation program will use DHCP to configure the Ethernet card. For example, if your HTTP server is server.example.com and the kickstart file is in the HTTP directory /mydir/ks.cfg, the correct boot command would be inst.ks=http://server.example.com/mydir/ks.cfg.

inst.ks=floppy

The installation program looks for the file ks.cfg on a vfat or ext2 file system on the diskette in /dev/fd0.

inst.ks=floppy:/<path>

The installation program will look for the kickstart file on the diskette in /dev/fd0, as file .

inst.ks=hd:<device>:/<file>

The installation program will mount the file system on (which must be vfat or ext2), and look for the kickstart configuration file as in that file system (for example, inst.ks=hd:sda3:/mydir/ks.cfg).

inst.ks=bd:<biosdev>:/<path>

The installation program will mount the file system on the specified partition on the specified BIOS device (for example, inst.ks=bd:80p3:/mydir/ks.cfg). Note this does not work for BIOS RAID sets.

inst.ks=file:/<file>

The installation program will try to read the file from the file system; no mounts will be done. This is normally used if the kickstart file is already on the initrd image.

inst.ks=cdrom:/<path> or in newer versions inst.ks=cdrom:<cdrom device>:/<path>

The installation program will look for the kickstart file on CD-ROM, as file .

inst.ks

If ks is used alone, the installation program will configure the Ethernet card to use DHCP. The kickstart file is read from the “bootServer” from the DHCP response as if it is an NFS server sharing the kickstart file. By default, the bootServer is the same as the DHCP server. The name of the kickstart file is one of the following:

If DHCP is specified and the bootfile begins with a /, the bootfile provided by DHCP is looked for on the NFS server.

If DHCP is specified and the bootfile begins with something other then a /, the bootfile provided by DHCP is looked for in the /kickstart directory on the NFS server.

If DHCP did not specify a bootfile, then the installation program tries to read the file /kickstart/1.2.3.4-kickstart, where 1.2.3.4 is the numeric IP address of the machine being installed.

inst.ks.device=<device>

The installation program will use this network device to connect to the network. For example, to start a kickstart installation with the kickstart file on an NFS server that is connected to the system through the eth1 device, use the command inst.ks=nfs:<server>:/<path> ksdevice=eth1 at the boot: prompt. For more information, see anaconda boot options.

Prior to Fedora 17 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, this option was named ksdevice=.

Example Kickstart Script ¶

Since I got tons of errors I thought I would share an example of a kickstart script that works. This also has an example of an lvm setup. I couldn’t find a good example of an lvm anywhere else. I also added comments where I thought would help. Please modify if you think you have some other good examples.

# Kickstart file automatically generated by anaconda.

#version=DEVEL
#url --url http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/releases/7/Fedora/i386/os
#inst.ks=http://127.0.0.1/ks.cfg
#inst.ks=http://localhost/ks.cfg
url --url http://ftp.usf.edu/pub/fedora/linux/releases/14/Fedora/i386/os
install
cdrom
lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us
network --onboot yes --device eth0 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6
timezone --utc America/New_York
rootpw  --iscrypted $6$s9i1bQbmW4oSWMJc$0oHfSz0b/d90EvHx7cy70RJGIHrP1awzAgL9A3x2tbkyh72P3kN41vssaI3/SJf4Y4qSo6zxc2gZ3srzc4ACX1
selinux --permissive
authconfig --enableshadow --passalgo=sha512 --enablefingerprint
firewall --service=ssh
# The following is the partition information you requested
# Note that any partitions you deleted are not expressed
# here so unless you clear all partitions first, this is
# not guaranteed to work

#I am deleting the old partitions with this
clearpart --all --drives=sda

#I am creating partitions here
#I will create the lvm stuff farther down
part /boot --fstype=ext4 --size=500 --ondisk=sda --asprimary
part pv.5xwrsR-ldgG-FEmM-2Zu5-Jn3O-sx9T-unQUOe --grow --size=500 --ondisk=sda --asprimary

#Very important to have the two part lines before the lvm stuff
volgroup VG --pesize=32768 pv.5xwrsR-ldgG-FEmM-2Zu5-Jn3O-sx9T-unQUOe
logvol / --fstype=ext4 --name=lv_root --vgname=VG --size=40960
logvol /home --fstype=ext4 --name=lv_home --vgname=VG --size=25600
logvol swap --fstype swap --name=lv_swap --vgname=VG --size=4096

bootloader --location=mbr --driveorder=sda --append="rhgb quiet"

%packages
@admin-tools
#@editors
#@fonts
@gnome-desktop
#@games
#@graphical-internet
#@graphics
@hardware-support
@input-methods
#@java
#@office
#@online-docs
@printing
@sound-and-video
@text-internet
@base-x
xfsprogs
mtools
#gpgme
#openoffice.org-opensymbol-fonts
#gvfs-obexftp
hdparm
#gok
#iok
#vorbis-tools
jack-audio-connection-kit
#ncftp
gdm
%end

# Reboot after installation
reboot

More Kickstart usage examples ¶

Various Kickstart usage examples based on real use cases:

Reinstalling Fedora with Kickstart on BTRFS

Kickstarting a Fedora Live installation

JAKS (Just Another Kickstart Script) - Generic kickstart script for all anaconda based installations. Includes jaks2iso to assist with generating bootable ISO for UEFI/8086 boot rom good for DVD and/or USB installations. Also includes %post installation hooks through use of jaks-post-config toolkit.