Error starting graphical display with ISO-installed Malcolm on Gen 1 Hyper-V

[rushikeshk155]

Dear all ,
I am stuck while booting up the Malcolm OS 25.0.7.
Background : I have downloaded all ISO files from https://github.com/idaholab/Malcolm/releases/latest. I have joined all files as guided.
I am installing the OS on VM Env on Hyper V.

I have selected all default options asked during installation. The OS is booting first time.
Error : Failed to start lightdm.service - Light Display manager

Then booting started and loaded many images like file-monitor, redis , pcap-monitor, suricata , etc.
It's stuck on the option : [472.228748] rc.local[2255]: Running aide --init...

Could you guide me on the issue ? Why the booting has stopped here ?
Really apricate your support in this regard.

Thanks in advance.

[mmguero]

Interesting that the GUI failed to start, I've never seen that before. I'm not much of a Windows expert, do you know, does Hyper-V use BIOS or EFI for boot? Do you know what it provides as far as a virtualized video controller?

When joining the pieces for the ISO, you got the "Ok" message from release_cleaver.ps1?

This is what the latest ISO looks like for me during boot once installed:

Kazam_screencast_00000.mp4

I'll see if I can track a windows machine down that I can try it with Hyper V, but I have used it in VMware on Windows as well and haven't encountered this problem.

[rushikeshk155]

Hello @mmguero ,
Thanks for the quick response.

Hyper-V can use either BIOS or UEFI for boot, depending on the virtual machine's generation. Generation 1 VMs use BIOS firmware, while Generation 2 VMs use UEFI firmware.

1. I am using Gen-1 to create my Hyper-VM . I have tried using Gen-2 but it was not loading at all.

2. I got the "Ok" message from release_cleaver.ps1 after joining all ISO images

Thanks,

[mmguero]

I got a windows machine and set up Hyper-V on it. I saw the same problem as you trying to do a Gen 2, but I went into the VM settings and disabled "Secure Boot" for the VM and was able to do the install fine:

Recording.2025-08-04.095429.mp4

I'll try Gen 1, but do you want to give Gen 2 a try and disable secure boot for that VM and see if it works better for you?

[mmguero]

Interesting, I do get the same lightdm error you do when I try Gen 1.

I'm not sure why that is, but after doing some googling around the issue but I'm pretty confident that if you set it up as Gen 2 and then disable secure boot for that VM you'll be able to get up and running.

[rushikeshk155]

Hello @mmguero ,
Thanks for the update.

It's working in Gen 2 config. I feel the better performance of Malcolm on Hyper V with lesser resources . I mean 8GB RAM and 4 cores.
I am facing an issue while creating the promiscuous mode of the Network for the Hyper V. I am not sure how I can configure NIC for NAT_Network and allow promiscuous mode as you did in the Virtual Box.

So, I am installing the VMs (Malcolm , Hedgehog) on VirtualBox.

Thanks for the support.

Regards,
Rushikesh

[mmguero]

Best of luck! I do advise you though, Malcolm is not going to run very well on anything with less than 16GB of RAM. OpenSearch is memory-hungry.