Problem installing Oracle Linux 7 and 8 on Virtual Box 7.0.19 -- Unsupported command : unsupported_hardware

Let's do some Linux & virtualization gymnastics by going through a real life problem.

Getting unsupported command: unsupported_hardware error during Oracle Linux 7 (and 8) installation on Virtual Box 7.0.10 (a very up-to-date release of Virtual Box release at the moment). 

The installation couldn't start actually.. It was terminated due to the unknown command error. (note that, this is not related with hardware.) That error message may be a bit misleading in the first glance.. Having unsupported_hardware there make it a bit counter-intuitive.. The real error is the unknown command error.. The installer just doesn't know the command which is "unsupported_hardware".

Source Specs: Windows 11 (or Windows 10) -- actually there is no causal connection between this error and the client OS.  The error seems purely related with Virtual Box. But! still noted the Windows version here.

The reason behind this error is using an deprecated command in the kickstart file..

unsupported_hardware is a deprecated command and that's why it was causing the error. (note that using these type of commands in the kickstart "may" cause an error and here it did!)

Brief info about kickstart:

Kickstart helps us to automate the installation with a simple text file.. 

It is an automated process that let us install the operating system by specifying all our requirements and configurations in a file.  (time zone, drive partitions, packages etc..) 

No user intervention is needed. 

It is mostly used when deploying Linux on a large number of systems at once.

Workaround 1)

In order to workaround the problem and continue the installation, open a different TTY when the issue appeared.. (using Ctrl + Alt + F3 : (tty3) or Ctrl + Alt + F4 : (tty4)). 

When opened the TTY, you 'll find yourselves in installation filesystem.. Modify the kickstart file (delete the unsupported_hardware line), save it and then run the anaconda from there, in that shell.. As simple is that.

Workaround 2)

A better workaround is to edit the vmlinuz command (by pressing TAB when the installation menu is displayed as seen in the screenshot below)..  Just delete the word quiet and the words related with the kickstart installation. Press Enter and you will be good.. The installation will start and it will be with GUI.

Note that, vmlinuz /Virtual Memory LINUx gZip = Compressed Linux kernel is the compressed image of the linux kernel. Uncompressed, loaded into memory, and executed during the process.

Workaround 3)

An even better workaround is to check the Skip Unattended Installation checkbox which is present in Virtual Box 7.0.1..  Skip unattended installation is enabled by default as far as I see, but we disable it..

Not all the Operating Systems are tested with this option.. (according to Oracle, following OEL versions are tested: Oracle Linux 6.1,Oracle Linux 7.0,Oracle Linux 7.7,Oracle Linux 8.0,Oracle Linux 8.2.. Note that we are trying with Oracle Linux 8.6....)

Workaround 4 - can be considered as the fix..

Regenerate Oracle Linux 8 iso with a modified ks.cfg / kick-start config file which doesn't contain that deprecated command. This is a stylish move, but a little complex -- especially if you are not that familiar with Linux..

Workaround 5 - "Just use Virtualbox 7.0.12" :) - this can also be considered as the fix.