Yes, realize it should be able to boot from USB too.  Unclear why OP wants to go through the additional efforts though.  Unless there is something limiting their ability to point VM at ISO. Update: Oh wait, think I get it now.  The light just turned on. They are just trying it on the VM, but the final target is a physical machine.  duh.

You're missing files that are a key core part of the system. Seems likely your CF is flaky.

I can confirm this happens without any packages in the restore config file. I also noticed another bug, when Restoring a config file with interface mis-match, it asks you to set the interfaces when you restore the config. This is normal, the system will reboot and it asks again, Do you want to setup Vlans? ect. This is a huge issue doing anything remotely as now you basically lost access until you get back to the console.

Andrew, You were quite right. Perseverance paid off and having upgraded to the newest revision, the GUI is actually better too! Appreciate your advice. Can I ask further advice regarding the best method to allow my client PCs to reach Microsoft links to get their updates and my AV of course! I sis see some references to the use of regular expressions in the White list of the Squid Proxy and have no trouble using REs once I know Im in the right area!. Once again, appreciate the pointer. S

At that point the kernel is still initializing hardware, so if there is an issue it's between that hardware and FreeBSD. Searching around for a bit, this pops up: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=189264 I'd move on to a different board, perhaps one that isn't almost 10 years old. :-)

Chris you are one of the founding members, please don't leave your kid aka pfSense alone.Best wishes for you!!!

I have managed to get the update from 2.3.1 to 2.3.1p5 working, but like you say, it takes a long time to complete. And i have used the 2Gb image, i think is gonna take a while longer for the 4Gb image. I have also the feeling that 2.3.1p5 is still verry unstable, i have opened another topic about problems with timeout errors at boot, and corrupting after reboot or shutdown. Grtz DeLorean

New traffic graphs are coming in 2.4 most likely. preview: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=113513.msg636707#msg636707

You can back up your config, install a full install, and restore your config. You just can't upgrade in place.

Just a note about DHCP - when you enable DHCP on an interface, pfSense puts an (unseen) rule on the interface to allow incoming DHCP requests. So that is why DHCP works even when you have no user-added pass rule.

Ah ok, that worked, thanks.

PM sent!  Thanks!!

What version of pfSense are you using? And can you try that pkg install from the command line to see if any additional info is printed? ssh in or use the console, enter option 8 for a shell, then run: pkg install pfSense-pkg-openvpn-client-export

Amazing!!! it work I can now access the GUI Thank you :)

Ah, I see, thanks. I must've been on a slightly earlier build.

You're the BEST, ptt! I couldn't execute the command directly on the pfSense Shell, so I put the encrypted file onto a CentOS 6 install I have here and decrypted it. I then moved the decrypted file to the USB thumb drive, put it back into the pfSense box, rebooted it and it restored the config automatically. Thanks SO much for the help!