SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Gen2 VM — Support & Quick Start

Known issue on the current image (as of 2026-10-12)

Packages cannot be installed or updated out of the box: the image carries the build VM's SUSE registration — its system credentials in /etc/zypp/credentials.d/, the same on every VM — which SUSE's update servers now reject. At first boot guestregister.service sees a registration and does nothing, so the VM never registers itself. (image build tested: 2026.1007.1730, both plans (the version the Marketplace publishes today; SLES for SAP 15 SP7 checked on a deployed VM on 2026-10-11, SLES for SAP 16 built from the same template))

What you will see: `sudo zypper ref` fails with "Credentials are invalid" and the hint "Re-register the system with registercloudguest --force-new", or skips every SUSE service; `ls -l /etc/zypp/credentials.d` shows files dated from the image build, not from your VM's first boot.

Workaround:

1. Remove the build VM's registration and let this VM register itself — the state the fixed image boots in: `sudo registercloudguest --clean`, then `sudo reboot`. At boot guestregister.service registers the VM with its own credentials; afterwards `sudo zypper ref` should finish without errors and the files in /etc/zypp/credentials.d are dated from that boot. (This is the mechanism of the fix — `--clean` before capture, guestregister at first boot, proven on the fixed builds; we have not run it as a repair on a VM from today's image.)
2. zypper's own error message proposes the one-step equivalent, `sudo registercloudguest --force-new` (also not run by us on today's image).
3. On the SLES 16 plan prefer the `--clean` + reboot path: our build notes record that `registercloudguest --force-new` replaced a working SLES 16 product credential and broke access to the product repositories.

sudo registercloudguest --clean
sudo reboot
# after the reboot:
sudo zypper ref

Fix status: Fixed in image-factory PR #514 (merged 2026-10-12): the build now runs `registercloudguest --clean` after its last package operation and fails unless no credentials, no SUSE cloud services and no update-server pin remain and guestregister.service is enabled. Proven on builds 2026.1012.1303 (SLES for SAP 15 SP7, run 38253087835) and 2026.1012.0000 (SLES for SAP 16, run 38186361162): on VMs booted from the fixed images the credentials are created at first boot and `zypper ref` succeeds. Those images are not on the Marketplace yet; until they are, the image you deploy today behaves as described above. Track the fix.

Source: our 2026-10-12 image sweep of the newest published build. This notice is removed when a build that passes the same test is live on the Marketplace.