Debian preseed.cfg/automatic install setup not detecting hard disks

Question

I'm trying to build a Debian automatic install set up using a preseed.cfg file loaded into a client by PXE. The host and client are both Virtual Box VM's.

Everything goes smoothly on the client machine until partitioning starts. I found out the hard disk is not detected on the client (ls /dev/: no sdx's or hdx's). Debian installation on the client using a DVD succeeds. Using a DVD, right before partitioning, the hard disk on the client is already detected. I unpacked the initrd.gz I was using and found out that it doesn't have any ata drivers-there's no .../kernel/drivers/ata directory. This image came from a plain /usr/lib/debian-installer/images/i386/text/initrd.gz installation. I tried the following:

1. Used an initrd.gz from a plain vanilla Debian install DVD: the hard disk is detected but asks for a CD. I tried to add cdrom-detect/load_media=false to the kernel command line but a CD is required for this to go on.

2. Copied an ata subdirectory to the original initrd.gz: resulted in kernel panic, VFS block not recognised error.

I don't want to hack this any further. I'd like to find out if a proper solution is available. How do I get the disks to be detected? What initrd.gz should I use? Or is the cause of the problem somewhere else?

Answer 1

The problem is the lack of drivers on the preseed kernel. The correct way to by-pass this is to attach an external drive containing the drivers (debian-nonfree-firmware). Then, during the installation, direct the Debian installation to load the drivers from the external drive (can be a USB drive as well).