Disk /dev/loop0: 2147 MB, 2147483648 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 261 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x567b812e

      Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/loop0p1               1         261     2096451   83  Linux

Command (m for help): The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 22: Invalid argument.
The kernel still uses the old table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot.
Syncing disks.

# refresh the view of the disk by disconnecting and reconnecting it
losetup -d /dev/loop0 && losetup /dev/loop0 linux-2.6.25.img

# find out which sector the partition begins at and how large it is
 fdisk -ul /dev/loop0

Disk /dev/loop0: 2147 MB, 2147483648 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 261 cylinders, total 4194304 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x567b812e

      Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/loop0p1              63     4192964     2096451   83  Linux

# Start is sector 63 so, in bytes, the partition starts at: 512 bytes-per-sector x 63 sectors = 32256 bytes

# create a device for the partition starting at offset 32,256 bytes, so it can be formatted
losetup -o 32256 /dev/loop1 linux-2.6.25.img 

# fdisk will have reserved some free space at the end of the 'drive' but mkfs.ext won't
# be aware of it. Therefore, specifically set the file-system size to match the partition size.
# In the fdisk report above it shows the number of 1024-byte blocks used by the partition: 2096451
# That is used, with some added calculation, to correct the file-system:

mkfs.ext3 -b 4096 /dev/loop1 $(fdisk -lu /dev/loop0 | awk '$1 ~ /^\/dev\/loop0p1.*/ {print ($4 * 1024/4096)-1;}')

e2fsck -f /dev/loop1

# At this point the file-system should be consistent with the partition table



/boot/grub/grub.conf :

default=0
timeout=5
#splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.35.11-83.fc14.i686.PAE)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35.11-83.fc14.i686.PAE ro root=/dev/xvda1 console=/dev/hvc0 rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_LVM rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM KEYTABLE=us nomodeset rhgb quiet
        initrd /boot/initramfs-2.6.35.11-83.fc14.i686.PAE.img


/etc/fstab:

/dev/xvda1              /                       ext3    defaults,noatime  1 1
/pagefile.sys           swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
tmpfs                   /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
devpts                  /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
sysfs                   /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0

!!!! Add /dev/hvc0 to /etc/securetty !!!!!
!!!! Replace tty[1-7] with hvc0 in /etc/sysconfig/init !!!!!