CentOS 6.5 in virtual box : can't install any package

Question

I have just installed CentOS 6.5 on my virtualbox. I wanted to install the GUI, using this command :

yum groupinstall -y 'X Window System'

but it gave me the following error message : "couldn't retrieve mirror list, could not resolve host mirrorlist.centos.org".

I tried ifconfing to check if the machine has obtained an IP but the output should the loopback address only.

Is this a problem with the Centos or my virtualbox settings? Can anyone help me to fix it?

EDIT: I used the minimal image to create the virtual machine

Answer 1

If you just see Loopback interface with ifconfig command

Then issue

ifconfig -a

This will list all of your adapters on VM OS.

Lets assume that you have eth0 as your primary adapter, then simply write following command:

ifup eth0

After interface goes up, you'll be able to see it listed in ifconfig output and you should be able to ping outside world.

Answer 2

1. Shutdown the CentOS VM.
2. In virtualbox menu select the CentOS and click on setting.
3. Select Network -> Enable one n/w adapter.
4. Choose NAT and press OK.
5. Now start the CentOS VM.
6. Check inside the VM, if you are able to connect to internet.
7. If in your host OS is connected to internet, then definitely able to get a NAT IP and your yum will work

Answer 3

I had a similar problem (no yum and couldn't even ping the mirrorlist) and I had to go through the following steps to at least get to ping the mirrorlist:

1. Set the network for one adapter to 'Attached to:' NAT as kumarprd said

2. Change the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 (for example using vi):

   BOOTPROTO=dhcp
   ONBOOT=yes
   NM_CONTROLLED=no
   

3. Restart the network with: service network restart

4. If you still have problems: Check if your machine isn't behind some and try to set the necessary settings in File->Preferences->Proxy. Alternatively, bypass the proxy if you can do so.

Reason for step 4: After doing steps 1 to 3 I could ping servers. However, I was still having problems using yum (I can ping mirrorlist.centos.org, but yum still gives that error). This was due to my local machine being on a network that used a proxy with authentication using my windows logon. I fixed this by going off the local network onto the guest wifi which doesn't happen to go over that proxy.