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I ran an Ubuntu Server install with the OEM option turned on.

When it boots it goes to the login for the account created during install. Nothing showed on screen during the first boot on either a physical system or inside a VM.

There is nothing allowing it to be setup by the end user. If I try oem-config it says it's not installed, installing it tries to install the whole Ubuntu Desktop.

Is OEM install of Ubuntu SERVER possible or was the feature left in the boot menu by accident?

toldtoaskduplicatequestions
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  • Please provide some more details, context and background info so that one can understand the issue and can help you. – Ashu Feb 19 '16 at 02:34
  • Is OEM install of Ubuntu SERVER possible or was the feature left in the boot menu by accident?

    How does one use the OEM install option under F4 using the Ubuntu Server ISO that does not include the OEM Graphical GUI that is on the Desktop ISO. oem-config is a desktop solution. It is not included with server ISO and to install it requires installing 400+MB of Desktop packages. What is the method of doing an oem-config on the Server distribution if at all possible?

     – toldtoaskduplicatequestions Feb 19 '16 at 02:36
  • Well this is something you should ask the manufacturer or the support or may be google it. Not seems to be a common issue – Ashu Feb 19 '16 at 02:37
  • I am asking as the person wishing to install it onto a piece of hardware before passing it over to another person. Why would I ask google or the hardware manufacturer when I was directed here by an Ubuntu representative to ask the question. I already googled it and the same question is sitting unanswered for a month. http://askubuntu.com/questions/717842/oem-install-of-ubuntu-server-14-04-3?rq=1 – toldtoaskduplicatequestions Feb 19 '16 at 02:39
  • I have no problem creating an "admin" account during the install setting everything up and deleting the password so that it forces the person to set their own password at next login, but if there is a better, best practices way of doing it I'd like to know – toldtoaskduplicatequestions Feb 19 '16 at 02:46

2 Answers2

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I was just working with OEM installs with server over the last couple of days, and you're right. It seems that OEM install just plain does not work on server 14.04.

I perform the same OEM install using 15.10 and everything works as expected. Running "oem-config-prepare" sets it up to run through the install steps again after reboot.

dleemaas
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    Thank you. I was going nuts here. About to give it a shot with 15.10 to get a run of how it all works, hoping it works in 16.04...then time to write some some detailed instructions for them to get by with 14.04 for now, can't give this person 15.10 as they want LTS. – toldtoaskduplicatequestions Feb 19 '16 at 03:41
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Finally got this working on server 14.04.04!

(probably all 14.04 versions)

In the installer, highlight "Install Ubuntu Server", then hit F6 for "Other Options", then hit Esc to back out of that menu. This will display the command line syntax for each install option. With the main install option selected, you'll see the following on the "Boot Options" line:

file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu-server.seed vga=788 initrd=/install/initrd.gz quiet --

You need to add the option oem-config/enable=true somewhere before the -- to get it to actually boot into OEM install mode, like this:

file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu-server.seed oem-config/enable=true vga=788 initrd=/install/initrd.gz quiet --

Once I added that, it booted with the OEM mode (for manufacturers only) text at the top of the install process screen, it configured only the OEM user, and allowed me to use oem-config-prepare when I was done customizing.

dleemaas
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