Try this first:

If the box is up, then do a controlled shutdown using the option under the DIAGNOSTICS menu, or even better, using the CLI console menu option instead. You can access the console menu via an SSH session or by connecting with the USB serial console cable. Wait for the box to completely finish the shutdown sequence. This is easier seen if you are monitoring the firewall console. The box will not "power off" on its own, but will let you know when OS shutdown is completed. Once you have verified the box is ready for power off, remove the power source to totally shutdown the box. Wait about 30 seconds, and then apply the power again and let it boot.

The crypto chip inside some of the Netgate appliances can get "stuck" in condition that can cause the error you are seeing when trying to upgrade. A reboot does not clear the condition. Only a complete removal of power will reset the crypto chip.

If the above fails to clear the issue, then you can open a request with Netgate Support for a download link to a fresh copy of the 22.05 install image here: https://www.netgate.com/tac-support-request. You can install the update and import your existing configuration during the installation process.

@rcoleman-netgate
I found the solutions... I did multiple things but now it's working.

I deleted a gateway (because it's a raspberry pie with openmptcprouter on it [multi path tcp]) and it can cause issue that is difficult for me to troubleshoots now
I deleted dns from this raspberry pi too because there were delay to answer to dns lookup.
Without it, dns lookup was faster than before so i retry this :
pfsense-upgrade -4
and it works :) All repositories up to date and 7 packages processed.... and i have package list to install available (what i wanted to have to install FRR routing)
Thanks for your help !

@stephenw10 If I leave the USB boot priority below the sdd, and I install by one-time using the boot menu to get to the pfsense installer then immediately after choosing that partition it reboots and goes to my older sdd boot.

If I set the USB to be the first partition then it boot loops a handful of times and then gets to some wonky bootloader screen. I will have to try again.

@gertjan said in -SOLVED-Can't check updates, can't install packages.:

Ok to test the " Latest development snapshot" but to get back to 2.6.0 (FreeBSD 12.3) you need to re install

Also if the config is from a system running a newer release than what it's being installed to it will likely throw errors or not work at all

@jdeloach said in pfsense 2.4.5:

You might contact Netgate customer service and request a copy and give reason why you need such an old version.

They might but we aren't likely to send it - it is not something we have easy access to and it has a high number of bugs that were fixed in 2.5-RELEASE and further.

OP is better suited trying to fix their issues with 2.6 than run unsupported, unpatched software.

@michaellacroix said in i cant activated plus:

Does anyone know if you can re-use a pfsense activation token on the same hardware after its been restored?

Tokens are one-time.

If you haven't changed your NICs (added, removed, or swapped) your NDI should not be changing and you should be able to migrate to Plus without issue. Just skip the token part.

https://frafiles.netgate.com/mirror/downloads/

-Rico

@jimp Thanks! Is it safe to delete these, or just let them linger until they are cleaned out with the next kernel update?

@jimp Ended doing that, by re-installing from the original USB Stick that came with the minnowboard based boxes.
Then creating an easyrule that granted full access from the WAN, and from there I could take over.

Upgraded in two stages to 2.6.0 (first latest 2.4.x version), then switching to the 2.5 branch (which includes seemingly 2.6.0) and updating to that.

However, upon restoring the config.xml, the system got stuck installing packages.
So in the end, I had to delete the package lock, and reinstall all packages manually anyway.

There’s a constant issue with a couple of packages, in that they e.g. wont properly update, they have to be deleted and installed, each time there’s a new version. (squid I think is one of them)

At least things are up again, now. Thanks!

@gertjan,

Well after performing the restore and just waiting a little while it began to initiate its prior functionality.

Very strange, but okay, it seemed to have worked. Maybe absent any other changes the same thing would have becoming occurring? Who knows.

Stuart

You highlight Pool Type/Disks then press Enter to bring up the type selection, then Enter again on stripe to bring up the disk selection.

In the list of disks you press space to select entries.

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/install-zfs.html

Alternately if you select install and press Enter it will prompt for disks there, too.

You can roll-back to an earlier BE snapshots if you re using ZFS. I have tested that between 23.01 and 22.05.

Steve

I guess I'll just wait for the next upgrade or just stay in the working version since the feature I need on the captive portal was fixed on 2.5.2 version. I guess no need to fix something that is working.

For those who are still watching...the HOW of the issue is unclear but regardless, i'm just resetting the box to move on with life...

thanks @stephenw10 for the help

thread closed

@vpnguy Look into ACB: https://www.netgate.com/blog/automatic-configuration-backup and https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/backup/autoconfigbackup.html for more information on the service. It will probably save your tuchus once or twice.

@gwabber

2ec7a9f9-075b-4c59-81fb-a534c8d8fc8e-image.png

If that file didn't exist, I would hit the big red button called "system not to be trusted" as these files :

0b570ff5-2b1c-44a6-8704-da3a35d36e2f-image.png

are created upon system (pfSense) install.

The real question is now : **what else has not been created and or not put in place ** ?

And yes, the sshd deamon will silently fail if the basic config isn't present.
I was about to propose : make the sshd system start way more verbose by editing /etc/ssh/sshd_config by adding a line with "Verbose" (something like that).

Anyway : Succes verder.

Thanks both for the answers :)

I think I'll stick with UFS on my VM. In probably 3-4 years of pfSense usage I haven't had a single corruption of my pfSense VM, but it's on a solid hypervisor and with a good UPS and software to safely shut down VMs in case of power drainage. I replicate the VM weekly so if it was to corrupt I can spin up the other VM on another ESXi host quick smart, and the restores from backups is fairly straightforward if I need to do that.

For my standalone hardware "table top" boxes and hardware rack mount bare mental installs I quickly learned that ZFS is the right way to go after various power "incidents" at remote site. No question about it - I will only use ZFS on my hardware installs.

BTW RAM is not an issue as my VMware Hosts have plenty of it - can throw 8GB or 16GB at the VM if I need to. I think Netgate should put in some clearer documentation around when to use ZFS and when not to for virtualised firewall environments.

@kaloe28 Roger. If you want to use ZFS, however, you will need to reimage the system.