Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Attempting to update to 23.01 DEVEL corrupts my pfSense installation

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Plus 23.01 Development Snapshots (Retired)
    156 Posts 24 Posters 42.6k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • G
      gabacho4 Rebel Alliance @cloudroot
      last edited by

      @cloudroot yeah that’s the same issue. Guess it still hasn’t been fixed.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by stephenw10

        Indeed, I'm still hitting it this morning. Bug link incoming....

        https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/13724

        pitchforkP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • V
          Viper_Rus
          last edited by

          Is there already a solution to the problem of restoring normal functioning after such an unsuccessful update?

          G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • G
            gabacho4 Rebel Alliance @Viper_Rus
            last edited by

            @viper_rus reinstall 22.05 unfortunately. Maybe there is some sort of recovery install one can do that I haven’t taken time to learn. If not, hope you have a backup of your config. you may be able to recover the xml when you reinstall but I’d read the documentation for how to do that.

            V 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • V
              Viper_Rus @gabacho4
              last edited by

              @gabacho4
              Understood. Thanks for the answer. I hope the developers will write later how this can be fixed by completely saving the settings, because. the backup before the update attempt is quite old

              G T 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • G
                gabacho4 Rebel Alliance @Viper_Rus
                last edited by

                @viper_rus probably best not to run snapshots (basically an alpha product) on a production device or without making sure you have a very current backup or 50.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • G
                  gabacho4 Rebel Alliance @Viper_Rus
                  last edited by

                  @viper_rus I’d try the recover config option as explained here:

                  https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/backup/restore-during-install.html

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • T
                    tedquade @Viper_Rus
                    last edited by

                    @viper_rus From the dashboard go to:

                    Diagnostics > Backup & Restore

                    Under "Backup Configuration" select "Download configuration as XML"

                    You now have a backup of the current configuration.

                    Ted Quade

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      You can force it to complete the upgrade by commenting lines 720 & 721 in /usr/local/libexec/pfSense-upgrade
                      And then manually replacing the symlink to the static repos location:

                      [22.05-RELEASE][root@plusdev-3.stevew.lan]/usr/local/libexec: rm /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf 
                      [22.05-RELEASE][root@plusdev-3.stevew.lan]/usr/local/libexec: ln /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-devel.conf /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf
                      

                      But it's hard to recommend you do that.

                      Steve

                      G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • C
                        cloudroot
                        last edited by cloudroot

                        22.09 -> 23.01.a.20221206.0600 fails as well.
                        Going to try StephenW's suggestion, for giggles and curiosity. (ZFS snapshots are soooo handy here)

                        Edit/Update:
                        Trying the workaround.. Same error message even after reboot

                        Another instance of pfSense-upgrade is running.  Try again later
                        

                        Maybe because I'm trying from 22.09, and not 22.05 as in example?

                        G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • G
                          gabacho4 Rebel Alliance @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 thanks for providing the dirty fix. I would argue that you already have a daring group of people wiling to test the snapshots and deal with issues that may pose. Don’t think anyone will complain about the fix you’ve proposed. Really appreciate your willingly to give us something so that we can move forward.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • G
                            gabacho4 Rebel Alliance @cloudroot
                            last edited by

                            @cloudroot I’d forgotten about the snapshots!!!! That’s a great idea!

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Yes rolling back using BE is always an option. It works well between 22.05 and 23.01.

                              It doesn't work between 22.05 and 22.01, should you find yourself trying that!

                              Steve

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • V
                                Viper_Rus
                                last edited by

                                Thanks to all. Fixed it like this: Saved the settings without packages. Deployed the old 22.05 image that I received immediately after the update from 2.6. Restored settings. Downloaded and configured the missing packages. If I tried to recover with package settings, I got a broken system. Now everything is ok.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • C
                                  cloudroot
                                  last edited by cloudroot

                                  22.09 -> 23.01.a.20221207.0600: Failed with

                                  Another instance of pfSense-upgrade is running.  Try again later
                                  

                                  But it did take longer for this to appear than the previous error (pfSense.conf).

                                  Edit:
                                  Let me know if the upgrade path from 22.09 is considered irrelevant. And I'll stop reporting on it.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    It is, it's an obsolete path. Because the 22.09 public snapshots were built on FreeBSD 12 the upgrade to 23.01 requires an ABI change. But since both were considered the same branch a the time the upgrade system doesn't see that. So coming from 22.09 will always require some manual intervention.

                                    Steve

                                    C 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • C
                                      cloudroot @stephenw10
                                      last edited by

                                      @stephenw10 Ok, thanks for clarifying this. I'll halt my progress reports regarding upgrading from 22.09 then. And I'll patiently wait for 23.01 stable to be released.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                      • C
                                        cloudroot @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10
                                        FWIW: Tried an upgrade from 22.05-stable that I have as a BE-backup. To 23.01.a.20221209.1528

                                        But still received

                                        Another instance of pfSense-upgrade is running.  Try again later
                                        
                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          That's more likely another instance really is running but an upgrade issue still exists. It has proven more complex to fix correctly than originally though but should be done shortly.

                                          Steve

                                          G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • G
                                            gabacho4 Rebel Alliance @stephenw10
                                            last edited by

                                            @stephenw10 According to the Redmine task, the issue has been fixed by Luiz Sousa. I'm testing to provide feedback. Now when I try to update, my pfsense box at least doesn't break. However, when I try to update via console after setting the 23.01 repo, I get a "failed to upgrade the repository settings!!!" message. When I try via the GUI, it spins for an eternity and then I just get a white screen. I have no idea what went broke on the backend but man, this is a fun one.

                                            T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.