Installing OMV w/o keyboard and monitor using VirtualBox

  • So I finally got around and ordered parts for my new server. When the parts arrived I realized that I didn't have any keyboard or monitor around, which was needed for installing OMV.


    Said and done I went looking for a way to headless install OMV.
    Headless installation proved to be quite cumbersome for a bash newbie so I switched tactics and opted to use Virtual Box to install my drive before moving it to the server.


    Here's a short guide on how to do just that (mind you that I did this in OSX, so the specific instructions might differ to your OS).
    You need DHCP on your router for this to work (I think).


    1. Download the latest ISO of OMV
    2. Download VirtualBox and install it.
    3. In VirtualBox, create a new VM and name it to whatever you want and pick a type
    (I went for Linux –> Debian (64-bit), but not sure that it matters since we're gonna boot from the ISO anyway).
    4. Memory size, just press continue.
    5. Hard drive, change it to "Do not add a virtual hard drive" and don't mind the prompt.
    6. If the drive intended for installment of OMV isn't attached, attach it now.
    7. Open a terminal window and run diskutil list
    8. Figure out which disk that is your drive intended for installation (should be the one with the highest number as it got added last) and remember what it is (/dev/disk2/ for reference)
    9. Go in to Disk Utility and unmount the partition of the drive, do not unmount the actual drive.
    10. In the terminal run VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename /Users/YOURUSERNAME/drive.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/disk2
    Obviously change YOURUSERNAME to your username and /dev/disk2 whatever you figured out in step 8.
    11. If everything went alright, you now have a file called drive.vmdk in your user folder. This is a file that provides a symlink to your drive
    12. In VirtualBox, right-click your OMV VM and go into settings.
    13. Go to Storage
    14. Select "Empty" below the IDE controller. Under the attribute settings that pops up, press the CD and select "Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file…"
    browse to the OMV ISO and select it. Check the Live CD/DVD box and go to the next step.
    14. Select the SATA controller and click the small hard drive icon with a plus on it and opt for "Choose existing disk" and select the drive.vmdk that you previously created.
    Note, there could be problem here, as OS X seems to mount the partitions on and off, so make sure it's unmounted again by checking Disk Utility and maybe unmounting the partition again.
    15. Now you're set, press OK.
    16. Start the VM and go through with the regular install.
    17. When prompted to reboot after installation, shut down the VM and go into it's settings again and disable CD/DVD from the boot order under System.
    18. Start the VM again and let it boot into OMV
    19. As the VM probably inherited some network settings from the VM environment, you need to get rid of those to successfully get an IP in your local LAN.
    20. Run rm -rf /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules and then shutdown the system by running sudo shutdown -h now


    Disconnect the drive and attach it to your server and boot up.
    You should now have the server up and running, broadcasting an IP (I can see all connected device in my router) – Find the right IP and connect to it in your favourite browser and you're up and running.

  • I went into trouble (errror during OS installation) using this guide for omv 4, while it works for omv 3.
    Could you try it ?


    edit: it worked with another (biggest) usb drive (8 to 16 Gb)

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