After installing a Xen DomU, the VM will not start; kernel image not found error

NOTE: In this example our guest is named SLES10. For this TID, replace SLES10 with the name of the virtual machine ("xm list" will show the names of all the virtual machines installed).

1. Navigate to a temporary directory.
2. Extract the python file:
   

   xm list -l SLES10> sles10.py
3. Create a backup copy of the sles10.py; it may be needed later on.
4. Open sles10.py for editing.
5. Locate the bootloader_args parameter. It will most likely look like this:
   

   ( bootloader_args )
6. Replace it with
   

   ( bootloader_args'--entry=xvda1:/boot/vmlinuz-xen,/boot/initrd-xen')
7. Locate the bootloader parameter. It will most likely look like this:
   

   ( bootloader )
8. Replace it with
   

   ( bootloader /usr/lib/xen/boot/domUloader.py )
9. Reload the new configuration file by typing
   

   xm new -F sles10.py
10. Start the Xen guest
    
    xm start SLES10

1. Go to /etc/xen/vm
2. Locate the file with the guest's name (not the .xml file)
3. Open the file for editing
4. Change bootloader="" to

   bootloader="/usr/lib/xen/boot/domUloader.py"
5. Change bootloaderargs="" to

   bootargs="--entry=xvda1:/boot/vmlinuz-xen,/boot/initrd-xen"
6. Save the file
7. Import the new file
   xm new -f sles10
8. Start the Xen Guest

   xm start sles10

• This is a trial and error process. Because the configuration files were not made correctly, some errors may be seen. Review the configuration file and repeat steps 4 through 10 (method 1) or steps 4-8 (method 2) as needed. The most common item that will need review is the location of the kernel image. In ths example we used the first virtual disk (xvda) on the first partition (xvda1)
• If after typing "xm start...", the command hangs, pass it "control-C". Restart Xend ("rcxend restart"). Note that restarting Xend will not affect running Xen guests.
• If the Xen guest is in any sort of clustering or if the physical host is in a cluster, shutdown the cluster or turn off clustering for the node at hand. If not, strange things can happen with clustering as a result.

• ERROR: "Error: Boot loader didn't return any data!": This means that the bootloader was pointing at the wrong virtual disk and/or partition. Change the xvda1 to xvda2, etc, or to the virtual device where /boot was installed. "xvda" refers to the first disk, either physical or file that is presented to the guest as the first disk.
• ERROR: "Error: Kernel image does not exist....": Step 7 or 8 was done incorrectly. Review and test.