CentOS

After downloading the installer for centos 8, I get the following error: section %packages does not end with %end. I’m running this on a VMware workstation VM. Any ideas?

Yes. Don't use the VMWare "Wizard" thing to create your VM. It tries to pass an old format kickstart file to the installer to customise the install and it's broken. Just do an install without any assistance - i.e create the VM with cpus and RAM and disk then attach the iso file to it as a DVD and then boot it up.

Create the VM as usual but don't check the box that says "Start VM after creation". Then go in to the VM -> settings menu and you will see a CD/DVD device mapped to a file called autoinst.iso. Just remove that and then power up your machine and it will install fine.

Thank you, that worked.