[SOLVED] Solaris 11.4 installation error ?

[runner105]

I'm running into an issue while trying to install Solaris 11.4. I have created a USB installer drive by downloading the 11.4.0 GA USB Text Installer file. I have tried flashing the .usb file to the drive using both Rufus and Etcher. Both methods created bootable drives, but neither have led to a successful installation. I have tried to use the install disk on multiple PCs and I have tried multiple USB drives, but none were successful. Using the CBE version of Solaris did not resolve the issue either.

Now, for the issue itself... The installer drive boots and allows me to run through the entire setup process, choosing target drives, creating user accounts, etc. After starting the installation to the hard drive, the progress bar will reach 99% and read "generate-sc-profile completed". This screen will remain for about 10 minutes before eventually cutting back to a screen that reads "The installation did not complete normally".

The resulting log file claims that there is not enough space, which is an issue with the swap size. The swap partition on the USB drive is only around 800MB large and the target system has 8GB of RAM. Do I need to increase the swap size on the live USB? If so, how do I increase it? I also see a line in the log file that says I can add a "--no-backup-be" parameter to skip this step altogether. What do I add this parameter to and how do I do so?

About 2 years ago I installed Solaris to a very similar computer and it worked immediately. I downloaded the exact same file, but am not sure if I used the same methods to flash it to a USB device. Any help is much appreciated, and I apologize if any part of the issue is unclear.

NOTE I have been able to install Solaris to a VM using the same USB drive. The issue is only on real hardware, no matter what computer I try to use. The VM obviously used the .iso file to install, whereas making a USB installer requires the use of the .usb file. The issue has to be related to the process of creating the installer, but I am not sure exactly how.

 

[COLGeek]

Solaris...that brings back memories. Been a while.

What are the specs for the PC you are attempting to install Solaris onto?

 

[runner105]

It's got a 2009 Intel Core 2 Duo 64-bit, 8Gb of RAM, and a 500Gb hard disk. It should definitely have enough memory, which is why I'm confused that the swap is running out...

 

[COLGeek]

What is (are) the capacity of the various USB drives you tried?

I don't understand the swap concern on the PC as the OS is running from the USB drive during the install process, not the local HDD. That won't come into play until booting the OS from the HDD (after successfully installing the OS).

 

[BFG-9000]

32GB is the maximum USB drive size to boot from on a PC of that vintage.

Download the .iso version and burn it to disc. The installer definitely won't try to create swap on that.

Try a USB optical drive if you really need to install through USB.

 

[palladin9479]

Solaris can be picky when it comes to USB stuff. When it works it's great, when it doesn't you have no idea why it doesn't and it won't tell you either. Best method is with disk or through network boot, which assuming your at home your not doing.

 

[runner105]

I have used multiple 8Gb USB drives. All of them have had additional unallocated space at the end of the disk that is not being used by anything, so there is room for more swap if it were actually required. The reason that I am concerned about a swap space issue is that the installer is reporting error 12, which according to Oracle, is caused by running out of swap.

 

[COLGeek]

I have used multiple 8Gb USB drives. All of them have had additional unallocated space at the end of the disk that is not being used by anything, so there is room for more swap if it were actually required. The reason that I am concerned about a swap space issue is that the installer is reporting error 12, which according to Oracle, is caused by running out of swap.

Do you have the option to burn the ISO to DVD and install that way? As previously mentioned, that might work better for you.

 

[runner105]

I will check if I have a large enough DVD around and get back to you all if it works or not. Thanks for all the ideas so far!

 

[runner105]

After burning the .iso file to a DVD and attempting to install from there, I've run into the same issue: Errno 12, Not enough space. This is very confusing to me, since the same .iso file worked perfectly when installing to a virtual machine.

 

[runner105]

After lots of trial and error, I figured out what the issue was. The computers I was attempting the install on did not have enough memory. I thought that the main PC itself had enough, but had forgotten that I had swapped it out in the past. Which would explain the errno 12, "out of space". After putting more memory in, the install completed. It was a dumb fix, but it's working now!