Kickstart Installation (Unattended Installation)

Kickstart is used to perform unattended installation with predefined set of parameters

There are multiple ways of starting a kickstart installation, for details check out pykickstart docs (opens new window)

Customization

Best way to start is to perform an installation in a virtual machine then take /root/anaconda-ks.cfg as the base and modify it, it contains selected options during the installation

All commands that can be used in kickstart are listed here (opens new window)

You can host the kickstart files using preinstalled python http server python -m http.server and then add inst.ks=http://<ip>:<port>/kickstart.cfg to grub during boot

Examples

KDE Desktop

Example using KDE Desktop with preinstalled CRB and EPEL repositories preinstalled

# use graphical installer
graphical

# add base repositories with mirrors
repo --name="alamalinux9-baseos" --mirrorlist="https://mirrors.almalinux.org/mirrorlist/9/baseos"
repo --name="alamalinux9-appstream" --mirrorlist="https://mirrors.almalinux.org/mirrorlist/9/appstream"

# add epel repo with mirrors
repo --name="epel9-everything" --mirrorlist="https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=epel-9&arch=x86_64"

# add CRB with mirrors
repo --name="CRB" --mirrorlist="https://mirrors.almalinux.org/mirrorlist/9/crb/"

# use internet install
url --url="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/BaseOS/x86_64/kickstart/"

# set hostname (link is the first device that is up)
network --device=link --bootproto=dhcp --hostname="localhost"

# set locale and keyboard layout
keyboard --xlayouts='us'
lang en_US.UTF-8

# packages or groups to install
%packages
# exclude select applications
-kamera
-akregator
-kate

# repos used in kickstart arent saved afterwards
epel-release

# install kde desktop environmental group
@^kde-desktop-environment

# install virtual machine guest additions group
@guest-agents
%end

# enable first boot agent
firstboot --enable

# set timezone and use UTC
timezone America/New_York --utc

# disable root account
rootpw --lock

# create user with multiple groups and password in plaintext
user --groups="wheel,input" --name user --password="temp"

# repo command adds a repository only to the installer so add CRB to installed system too
%post
#!/bin/sh
dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
%end