Fedora Linux 41 VM updates (with kernel build) now fail since ~ 2024-12-18 (M4 Max)

[Freddy2]

Hi All,
I just upgraded Fedora 40 to F41 and now the VM is broken.
Is F 41 not supported yet?

Thanks

 

[MichaelS141]

Parallels just released a new version 20.1.3 (55743) that addresses Kali linux (and other distribs?) not working on M4 hosts when configured for 2 CPUs. However this version (and the prior version) now fail when updating (kernel build) Fedora Linux 41. The issue appeared with the Fedora updates of around 18 December. Prior to this I experienced no issues running and updating Fedora with the VM using 2 CPUs.

See the attached screenshots. I tried updating my existing Fedora 39 Live ISO which has been running fine for some time. I also installed the supplied Parallels Fedora 40 VM (which installs OK) then tried to update it, with the same result of "Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)"

I'm running Parallels on Sequoia 15.2 on an M4 Max.

 

[RayR2]

Had the same issue but this is actually a Fedora issue. The Fedora upgrade process did generate the initramfs file for the new kernel. These are the steps I took to fix it.
1. Booted Fedora into an older kernel.
2. Ran the following command:

sudo dracut /boot/initramfs-6.12.4-200.fc41.aarch64.img 6.12.4-200.fc41.aarch64​

3. Reboot

This assuming you are on a Mac is an M series processor.

 

[MichaelS141]

Thank you kindly for this info - I am on a learning curve with Fedora (so expect mistakes by me). I was partially successful; the following is what I did, and what happened (also for the benefit of others)...

(1) There is supposed to be a magic key that brings up the GRUB2 selection of the 3 kernels during Fedora boot. If there is such a key under Parallels hypervision, I was unable to find it. Instead I found a site by "AliciaBytes" which details how to display the GRUB2 kernel selection during boot (it's disabled by default). So before updating Fedora I ran:

sudo grub2-editenv - unset menu_auto_hide
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /etc/grub2-efi.cfg

(2) After updating Fedora I booted into the next-older kernel and as per your info ran dracut, except that the Fedora update had produced a slightly newer kernel/initramfs (/boot/initramfs-6.12.5-200.fc41.aarch64.img). After this I was able to boot the new Fedora, but...

(3) For some reason the update triggered a reinstallation of Parallels Tools, which failed. The log file for Tools was vast but indicated that a number of modules were not present in the new system. I tried copying the Tools virtual CDROM to a folder on my desktop and running it (sudo) from the shell - same errors.

I'm going to try installing the Parallels-provided Fedora 40, set up kernel choice as above, then update and run dracut as above, to see if there is any difference.

 

[MichaelS141]

Update: The Parallels-supplied Fedora 40 VM doesn't support GRUB2 (or at least, the config changes I mentioned in my prior post have no effect on the VM boot process) - there seems to be no way to select a kernel.

 

[Keshav Dosieah]

Hello,

We have reached out to you by email so that we can get further information to proceed with testing and investigation on our side.

Kind Regards

 

[abcdefa]

Upgrading the kernel in my Fedora 41 VM also results in the same error. For now, the following works to update everything but the kernel:

sudo dnf upgrade -y --exclude="kernel-*"

 

[AntonioB8]

Hello, i have remove parallels-tools, upgrade fedora 40 with new kernel, reboot and work, initramfs is created.

 

[AntonioB8]

Now I can't install parallels-tools. This is the error:

 

[MichaelS141]

Upgrading the kernel in my Fedora 41 VM also results in the same error. For now, the following works to update everything but the kernel:

sudo dnf upgrade -y --exclude="kernel-*"

Thank you, that is much appreciated.

 

[JeffreyO4]

Did a plain install on an M4 Max using the provided auto install for Fedora. As soon as it updates it also fails to boot with the same issue.

 

[JeffreyO4]

Did a plain install on an M4 Max using the provided auto install for Fedora. As soon as it updates it also fails to boot with the same issue.

To clarify I mean standard package updates, not updating to Fedora 41 from 40.

Workaround of not using Parallel Tools was successful. Exact steps: File -> New -> Download Fedora. Close/cancel the install of Parallel Tools. Update as normal.

 

[JeffreyO4]

Also of note attempting to install Parallel Tools after updating Fedora 40 failed. So it seems Parallel Tools doesn't support whatever latest update is in 40 and 41.