Harden cloud-init disable and rebuild ISO properly in build-usb

Autoinstall user-data now disables cloud-init in multiple stages
(late-commands + runcmd + systemd masks) to prevent post-install
hangs. Also disables networkd-wait-online for air-gapped networks.
build-usb.sh switched from in-place ISO patching to full extract
and rebuild with xorriso mkisofs for reliable UEFI boot.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

autoinstall/user-data

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ autoinstall:
   identity:
     hostname: pxeserver
     username: pxe
-    password: "$6$rounds=656000$TpsuBw0N85085mpx$KtKsCwFlowg4NY41gUqx5ljef8cJ8uPFfgg43MyCPWByfXkhM5XushcdtkNps6lKeQFQZtli/QU.s52AUc7XC."
+    password: '$6$8AerqUockJh6ycgl$HJFBYjiFqXpzgcU9edto4CMrnaDpEX71Epin.kNTpj57GVjimIDHhcQs0AC4tmkEkKUaj.S/55wsBfMsV0KC71'
 
   # Enable SSH
   ssh:
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ autoinstall:
 
   # Installer-stage late commands
   late-commands:
-    # Install deb packages from CIDATA USB
+    # Install deb packages from CIDATA USB, then disable cloud-init
     - |
       curtin in-target --target=/target -- bash -c '
       mkdir -p /mnt/cidata
@@ -61,11 +61,25 @@ autoinstall:
         fi
         umount /mnt/cidata
       fi
+      # Disable cloud-init AFTER dpkg (dpkg may overwrite earlier disables)
+      mkdir -p /etc/cloud
+      touch /etc/cloud/cloud-init.disabled
+      ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system/cloud-init.service
+      ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system/cloud-init-local.service
+      ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system/cloud-config.service
+      ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system/cloud-final.service
+      ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system/cloud-init.target
+      # Disable networkd-wait-online (no gateway on air-gapped network, causes 2min hang)
+      ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system/systemd-networkd-wait-online.service
       '
 
-    # Create first-boot.sh
+    # Create first-boot.sh + disable cloud-init (in same block we know works)
     - |
       curtin in-target --target=/target -- bash -c '
+      mkdir -p /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d
+      echo "datasource_list: [None]" > /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-nocloud.cfg
+      touch /etc/cloud/cloud-init.disabled
+      ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system/systemd-networkd-wait-online.service
       cat <<"EOF" > /opt/first-boot.sh
       #!/bin/bash
       CIDATA_DEV=$(blkid -L CIDATA)
@@ -102,13 +116,12 @@ autoinstall:
       '
     - curtin in-target --target=/target -- chmod +x /etc/rc.local
 
-    # Disable cloud-init on the installed system (no longer needed after autoinstall)
-    - curtin in-target --target=/target -- touch /etc/cloud/cloud-init.disabled
-    - curtin in-target --target=/target -- dpkg --configure -a
-    - curtin in-target --target=/target -- apt-get remove -y cloud-init cloud-guest-utils
-
   user-data:
     disable_root: false
+    runcmd:
+      - touch /etc/cloud/cloud-init.disabled
+      - systemctl disable cloud-init.service cloud-init-local.service cloud-config.service cloud-final.service
+      - systemctl mask cloud-init.service cloud-init-local.service cloud-config.service cloud-final.service
 
   refresh-installer:
     update: no

build-usb.sh

@@ -103,25 +103,50 @@ for part in "${USB_DEV}"*; do
     umount "$part" 2>/dev/null || true
 done
 
-# --- Write ISO to USB ---
-echo "[2/6] Writing Ubuntu ISO to $USB_DEV (this may take several minutes)..."
+# --- Rebuild ISO with 'autoinstall' kernel parameter ---
+echo "[2/6] Rebuilding ISO with autoinstall kernel parameter..."
 
-# Patch ISO to add 'autoinstall' kernel parameter (skips confirmation prompt)
-PATCHED_ISO=$(mktemp /tmp/ubuntu-autoinstall-XXXXXX.iso)
-cp "$ISO_PATH" "$PATCHED_ISO"
-PATCHED_GRUB=$(mktemp /tmp/grub-XXXXXX.cfg)
-xorriso -osirrox on -indev "$ISO_PATH" -extract /boot/grub/grub.cfg "$PATCHED_GRUB" 2>/dev/null
-sed -i 's|linux\t/casper/vmlinuz  ---|linux\t/casper/vmlinuz autoinstall ---|' "$PATCHED_GRUB"
-sed -i 's/^set timeout=30/set timeout=5/' "$PATCHED_GRUB"
-xorriso -indev "$PATCHED_ISO" -outdev "$PATCHED_ISO" \
-    -map "$PATCHED_GRUB" /boot/grub/grub.cfg \
-    -boot_image any replay 2>/dev/null
-echo "    Patched GRUB: added 'autoinstall' kernel param, reduced timeout to 5s"
+ISO_WORK=$(mktemp -d)
+7z -y x "$ISO_PATH" -o"$ISO_WORK/iso" >/dev/null 2>&1
+mv "$ISO_WORK/iso/[BOOT]" "$ISO_WORK/BOOT"
+chmod -R u+w "$ISO_WORK/iso"
 
-ISO_SIZE=$(stat -c%s "$PATCHED_ISO")
+# Patch grub.cfg: add 'autoinstall' to kernel cmdline, reduce timeout
+sed -i 's|linux\t/casper/vmlinuz  ---|linux\t/casper/vmlinuz autoinstall ---|' "$ISO_WORK/iso/boot/grub/grub.cfg"
+sed -i 's/^set timeout=30/set timeout=5/' "$ISO_WORK/iso/boot/grub/grub.cfg"
+
+PATCHED_ISO="$ISO_WORK/patched.iso"
+cd "$ISO_WORK/iso"
+xorriso -as mkisofs -r \
+    -V 'Ubuntu-Server 24.04.3 LTS amd64' \
+    -o "$PATCHED_ISO" \
+    --grub2-mbr ../BOOT/1-Boot-NoEmul.img \
+    --protective-msdos-label \
+    -partition_cyl_align off \
+    -partition_offset 16 \
+    --mbr-force-bootable \
+    -append_partition 2 28732ac11ff8d211ba4b00a0c93ec93b ../BOOT/2-Boot-NoEmul.img \
+    -appended_part_as_gpt \
+    -iso_mbr_part_type a2a0d0ebe5b9334487c068b6b72699c7 \
+    -c '/boot.catalog' \
+    -b '/boot/grub/i386-pc/eltorito.img' \
+    -no-emul-boot \
+    -boot-load-size 4 \
+    -boot-info-table \
+    --grub2-boot-info \
+    -eltorito-alt-boot \
+    -e '--interval:appended_partition_2:::' \
+    -no-emul-boot \
+    -boot-load-size 10160 \
+    . 2>/dev/null
+cd "$SCRIPT_DIR"
+echo "    ISO rebuilt with 'autoinstall' kernel param and 5s GRUB timeout"
+
+echo "    Writing patched ISO to $USB_DEV..."
 dd if="$PATCHED_ISO" of="$USB_DEV" bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync
 sync
-rm -f "$PATCHED_ISO" "$PATCHED_GRUB"
+ISO_SIZE=$(stat -c%s "$PATCHED_ISO")
+rm -rf "$ISO_WORK"
 
 # --- Find the end of the ISO to create CIDATA partition ---
 echo "[3/6] Creating CIDATA partition after ISO data..."