[Bug] - user-data in seed.iso does not work (both IDE/SATA) on VirtualBox VM using OVA VMDK

[msakamoto-sf]

Describe the bug

I tried to work Amazon Linux 2023 OVA on VirtualBox 7.1.4 (host: Win11 24H2 64bit), created seed.iso image file which contains meta-data (localhost: xxx) and user-data (see below).

• meta-data : cloud-init picked up successfully. After 1st boot, hostname are shown in console what I set in meta-data.
• user-data: not work. I couldn't login from console for ec2-user and password what I set in user-data chpasswd.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. download https://cdn.amazonlinux.com/al2023/os-images/2023.6.20241212.0/vmware/al2023-vmware_esx-2023.6.20241212.0-kernel-6.1-x86_64.xfs.gpt.ova
2. tar xf al2023-vmware_esx-2023.6.20241212.0-kernel-6.1-x86_64.xfs.gpt.ova -> al2023-vmware_esx-2023.6.20241121.0-kernel-6.1-x86_64.xfs.gpt-disk1.vmdk extracted.
3. on another linux machine, create seedconfig dir, add meta-data which contains local-hostname: my-al202301.localdomain, add user-data which contains these lines:

   users:
   - default
   - name: ec2-user
   
   chpasswd:
     expire: false
     list: |
       ec2-user:amazon
   

4. $ mkisofs -output seed.iso -volid cidata -joliet -rock user-data meta-data
5. copy seed.iso to VirtualBox host
6. create VirtualBox VM
   • Type: Linux
   • Subtype: Fedora
   • Version: Fedora (64-bit)
   • Memory: 4096MB
   • Processors: 2
   • IDE: seed.iso (CD-ROM)
   • SATA: al2023-vmware_esx-2023.6.20241121.0-kernel-6.1-x86_64.xfs.gpt-disk1.vmdk
7. start VM
8. after boot, login console shown.
9. hostname is what I set in meta-data file, my-al202301 -> OK.
10. but ec2-user:amazon login failed.

I changed IDE to SATA for seed.iso storage type, but result was same.

Expected behavior
ec2-user:amazon login should be success .

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows11Pro
• Version 24H2, 64bit
• VirtualBox: 7.1.4, 64bit

Reference

• NoCloud (seed.iso) cloud-init configuration for Amazon Linux 2023 on KVM and VMware - Amazon Linux 2023
  • https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/seed-iso.html
• https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/22.2/topics/modules.html#users-and-groups
• [Feature Request] - Run Amazon Linux 2023 as a virtual machine on premises #102
• [Feature Request] - VMware OVA/OVF #289
• https://photogabble.co.uk/tutorials/running-amazon-linux-2023-within-virtualbox/

[elsaco]

@msakamoto-sf the first line of your user-data must start with #cloud-config:

#cloud-config
users:
- default
- name: ec2-user

chpasswd:
  expire: false
  list: |
    ec2-user:amazon

Output of your user-data validation:

[ec2-user]$ cloud-init schema -c user-data.yaml --annotate
users:          # E1
- default
- name: ec2-user

chpasswd:
  expire: false
  list: |
    ec2-user:amazon

# Errors: -------------
# E1: File user-data.yaml needs to begin with "#cloud-config"

[stewartsmith]

Note that as per https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/outside-ec2-supported-configurations.html we do not support VirtualBox at this time. Thus, I'm going to move this issue to a Discussion rather than issue.