virsh console hangs at the escape character "^]"

Question

I am trying to kickstart a newly built VM. I am stuck with the following. Want to start with a console so that I can include username and other info for this VM:

   @vmhost02 ~]$ sudo virsh start --console testengine
   Domain testengine started
   Connected to domain testengine
   Escape character is ^]

It hangs up in there and doesn't listen to any keys except "^]"

Let me know if you need more information for any ideas...

Thanks very much.

Problem Solved... Missing symlink in the pxelinux.cfg area for the 'testengine.host.org' — iamauser, Aug 07 '12 at 16:23
Why dont you describe how to solve that error so you can help anyone else? — panoet, Oct 26 '19 at 09:34

score 8 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 04 '16 at 14:17

8

1)

You can try to edit /etc/default/grub in the guest, and make sure you have:

GRUB_TERMINAL=serial
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --unit=0 --speed=115200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1"

Then execute:

# update-grub
# reboot

2)

If that does not work, try to replace quiet with console=ttyS0 in GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="... console=ttyS0"

Then again:

# update-grub
# reboot

3)

You may still need to try:

# systemctl enable serial-getty@ttyS0.service
# systemctl start serial-getty@ttyS0.service
# reboot

answered Nov 04 '16 at 14:17

Peque

13,638
11
69
105

3

In centos 7 `update-grub` is `grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg` – nelaaro Oct 31 '17 at 13:48
How can I edit files in the guest when I have no console to it? It hangs in the installer – Prof. Falken Apr 16 '23 at 09:48

Valentin Bajrami · Answer 2 · 2014-07-24T21:07:28.547

6

You would need to define a tty to be used as a virtual console. In case you have access to your vm either using vnc or ssh create the following file

vi /etc/init/ttyS0.conf

The content should be something like

start on stopped rc RUNLEVEL=[2345]
stop on runlevel [!2345]

respawn
exec /sbin/getty -L 38400 ttyS0 vt102  # This is your term type vt102

Save these settings and subsequently from your host machine

 virsh destroy [vm-name]; service libvirtd stop; service libvirtd start; virsh start [vm-name]

I'm doing here a stop/start of libvirt, because it sometimes tend to not send a SIGTERM to libvirt.

Finally try

 virsh console [vm-name]

edited Jul 24 '14 at 21:07

answered Aug 07 '12 at 12:15

Valentin Bajrami

229
2
14

4

I don't have SSH access to the vm, neither vnc. – iamauser Aug 07 '12 at 13:05
/sbin/agetty is both on Debian and CentOS based distros. – insider Jul 25 '13 at 13:56
@val0x00ff Hi - service stop libvirtd -> should this be service libvirtd stop; service libvirtd start ? – Jeremy Hajek Jul 24 '14 at 20:53
@JeremyHajek You are absolutely correct! I edited the answer. In the future feel free to edit the answer and correct mistakes if necessary. Thanks for pointing it out. – Valentin Bajrami Jul 24 '14 at 21:09

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 04 '15 at 08:26

1

May be simpler than the solution of val0x00ff, you shall add the console=ttyS0 at the end of the kernel lines in the /boot/grub2/grub.cfg file of the VM (this is not done by default it seems):

   (vm)$> grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="console=ttyS0"
   (vm)$> reboot

Then virsh console shall work as expected.

answered Aug 04 '15 at 08:26

Sebastien Varrette

3,876
1
24
21

This did the job for me, albeit I edited `/boot/grub2/grub.cfg` by hand to append the kernel parameter (editing `grub.cfg` is a non-permanent solution, I know, the file is generated). – Ned64 Jul 02 '16 at 09:14

virsh console hangs at the escape character "^]"

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