Packer can't boot from Linux ISO

[hhemied]

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Overview of the Issue

I'm trying to build a vagrant box based on Fedora server 41.
Unfortunately, every time, Packer can't boot from ISO with no given errors.

Reproduction Steps

Steps to reproduce this issue

Packer version

Packer v1.11.2

Simplified Packer Template

packer {
  required_plugins {
    virtualbox = {
      version = "~> 1"
      source  = "github.com/hashicorp/virtualbox"
    }
  }
}

source "virtualbox-iso" "fed401" {
  guest_os_type          = "Fedora_arm64"
  headless               = false
  iso_url                = "file:///Users/hazemhemied/Downloads/Fedora-Server-dvd-aarch64-41-1.4.iso"
  iso_checksum           = "99e7801b943e81f78a7b104fe348196b0ac1bc748ce647378f22a2c875c923ec"
  ssh_username           = "vagrant"
  ssh_password           = "vagrant"
  ssh_handshake_attempts = 20
  ssh_timeout            = "30m"
  firmware               = "efi"
  http_directory         = "http"
  memory                 = 2048
  cpus                   = 2
  boot_wait              = "5s"
  #  gfx_controller = "vmsvga"
  boot_command = [
    "<up><enter><tab><bs><bs><bs><bs><bs>text ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/ks.cfg<enter><wait>"
  ]
  vboxmanage = [
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--vram", "16"], # Set video RAM to 16MB
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--boot1", "disk", "--boot2", "dvd"],
    # ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--accelerate3d", "off"], # Disable 3D acceleration
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--graphicscontroller", "vmsvga"] # Set compatible graphics controller
  ]
  shutdown_command = "echo 'packer' | sudo -S shutdown -P now"

}

build {
  sources = ["sources.virtualbox-iso.fed401"]
  post-processor "vagrant" {
    keep_input_artifact = false
    output              = "fedora_server_40.1.box"
  }
}

Operating system and Environment details

Apple M3.
Virtualbox: Version 7.1.4 r165100 (Qt6.5.3)

Log Fragments and crash.log files

gist

[lbajolet-hashicorp]

Hey @hhemied,

I would need to investigate a bit before classifying this as a bug, what you're seeing here is the splash screen for the EDK project, which you boot on with efi = true, you may need to use the EFI shell to tell EDK what to do for booting up initially.
If you need inspiration, you can take a look at the debian EFI example for the qemu plugin: https://github.com/hashicorp/packer-plugin-qemu/blob/main/example/efi_build/efi-debian.pkr.hcl
Typically the first line of the boot_steps is likely what you're missing here, I don't know exactly why it cannot boot automagically from it, but by invoking the efi stub for booting from ISO should help you there.

I'll mark the issue as needs-investigation instead of bug for now, we can iterate on it as you progress.

Thanks!

[hhemied]

Thanks @lbajolet-hashicorp for your reply.
I did investigate the issue and dig it down until I found the issue was in the disk and iso interface, it needed to be virtio, anything other than that was failing.

The source is as follow

source "virtualbox-iso" "fed4114" {
  boot_keygroup_interval = "500ms"
  guest_os_type          = "Fedora_arm64"
  headless               = false
  iso_url                = "file:///Users/hazemhemied/Downloads/Fedora-Server-dvd-aarch64-41-1.4.iso"
  iso_checksum           = "99e7801b943e81f78a7b104fe348196b0ac1bc748ce647378f22a2c875c923ec"
  ssh_username           = "vagrant"
  ssh_password           = "vagrant"
  ssh_handshake_attempts = 20
  ssh_timeout            = "30m"
  http_directory         = "http"
  hard_drive_interface   = "virtio"
  disk_size              = "15000"
  iso_interface          = "virtio"
  memory                 = 2048
  cpus                   = 2
  boot_wait              = "10s"
  boot_command           = ["<wait><up>e<wait10><down><down><end> inst.text inst.ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{ .HTTPPort }}/ks.cfg<F10><wait10>"]

  vboxmanage = [
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--vram", "128"], # Set video RAM to 16MB
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--firmware", "BIOS"],
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--usb-xhci", "on"],
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--mouse", "usbtablet", "--keyboard", "usb"],
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--ioapic", "off"],
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--boot1", "disk", "--boot2", "dvd", "--boot3", "floppy", "--boot4", "none"],
    ["modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--graphicscontroller", "vmsvga"] # Set compatible graphics controller
  ]
  shutdown_command = "sudo shutdown -h now"
}

Side note, I didn't manage to successfully fully build the VM Box due to bugs in virtualbox export which are not fixed yet.

[hhemied]

This was fixed by the last comment, but VirtualBox on Apple silicon is not mature yet for that.

[github-actions]

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