VMware is a virtualization software that allows a guest operating system to be run ontop of a host operating system. Thus one computer can be running several different operating systems all at the same time while sharing resources like RAM, disk space and CPU load.

Tags | |

kernel panic not syncing attempted to kill init vmware centos 6.2

I recently came across an issue where I had a vmware ESXI server that had a fresh CentOS 6.2 install that had been rebooted and gave the cryptic error:

kernel panic not syncing attempted to kill init!

Most sites that you are googling will talk about either changing the permissions on file, changing the Disk controller to LSI or that you need to edit your vmx file?!

In my case, pressing "Esc" during the boot process showed what was really hanging up the system loading. SeLinux was angry and needed to be disabled.

To do this, just boot off the same CD that you used to install the OS, choose Rescue and answer the first few questions normally, then when it drops you into a shell use:

vi /mnt/sysimage/etc/selinux/config

Set Selinux to 0


Comments

From Richard
2012-05-05 00:39:24

Thank YOU, I had disabled part of selinux to get samba working, then when I tried rebooting I was getting this cryptic error message. Once I fully disabled selinux, I was able to boot again!

Feel free to leave a comment or question

Name: (Optional but appreciated):

Comment:

Use [code] [/code] for code block style



Security Code: