How to export conf.xml to USB on a broken pfSense machine?

NopIt · Oct 20, 2017, 7:49 PM

Since my pfSense machine seems to be completely broken after the last update, I would like to extract the config.xml file.
The problem is, that the machine's networking is completely dead. I can't connect to the web gui, I can't ssh into it, I can't ping it and I can't ping anything from the machine either.

I can still use the terminal though and /cf/conf/config.xml does still exist. Now my question is, how can I mount a USB stick and copy the configuration file over to it. And is there anything special I need to do with the USB stick, like formatting?

dotdash · Oct 20, 2017, 8:19 PM

You can stick in a fat32 formatted usb stick. You should see messages about the device on the console- usually it's da0.
Mount the stick, then copy the config over. Then you can restore the config later.
mount_msdosfs /dev/da0s1 /mnt
cp /cf/conf/config.xml /mnt/

NopIt · Nov 10, 2017, 9:14 PM

It worked, thank you. Sorry for the late reply.

Flagpole · Nov 15, 2020, 10:03 PM

I think this worked for me also. Is there a way to check? When I place the usb drive in a Windows box I can not see the file. Also how will I restore it after rebuilding the broken PfSense box?
Thanks
Joe