In VMware, ensure the virtual hard disk is attached to an IDE controller.
Instead of forcing an .iso file to behave like an optical drive, use the raw installation image file explicitly configured for USB storage deployment.
Advanced users can unpack the ISO, modify the init script that checks for /dev/cdrom , and repack it. fatal error no cd rom found mikrotik full
Many users try to use the raw disk image or NPK files incorrectly. To install from scratch, you must use the ISO image.
When you boot from a formatted with the ISO (using tools like Rufus or Etcher), the system successfully loads the kernel from USB. However, once the kernel is in memory, the installation script asks: "Where are the installation packages?" It expects the answer to be a physical CD-ROM. Since your USB drive is mounted as /dev/sda (a hard disk) rather than /dev/sr0 , the script panics and throws the fatal error. In VMware, ensure the virtual hard disk is
If you have a Compact Flash (CF) card or a small IDE/SATA hard drive, you can use a test machine to write the image directly.
This occurs because the MikroTik installer (based on a minimal Linux environment) sometimes misidentifies the boot device or fails to properly mount the installation source. Instead of a generic “installation source not found” message, the legacy code reports the absence of a CD-ROM. Many users try to use the raw disk
If you burned the ISO to a USB flash drive using the wrong partition scheme (e.g., UEFI instead of MBR), the installer will fail to mount its own root files.
Use Rufus to write the .img file to the USB drive (select "DD Image" mode if prompted). 3. Change SATA Mode