Unable to start pfSense login screen

A Former User

For my virtual box I set the first adapter as NAT, and a second as Host. Relised that the default gate on the Host virtual adapter is 192.168.56.1 (in my case since its the default VirtualBox setup) if you set the LAN interface ip in the pfSense console to anthing other than ending with a one; it'll work when you have it like this. You could also go into virtualbox network adapter settings to edit the default.
At times I do have to do a mix of options 11/16 or even both. I don't remember if I fix this as it only happens on my Mac and not on the same VM copy I have on my Windows Machine.

VirtualBoxNIC.JPG_thumb

VirtualBoxPreference.JPG_thumb

pfSenseConsole.JPG_thumb

satimis

@crisdavid:

For my virtual box I set the first adapter as NAT, and a second as Host.

Did you refer to pfSense network?

I can't set "Host-only Adapter"
Invalid settings detected

A Former User

Go into the virtualbox preferences, network tab, and create a host network adapter (green adapter looking icon on the right corner of the window with a plus sign on it). Go back to your virtual machine settings, add the second adapter (as a host adapter), then insure that it doesn't give the invalid settings. It should automatically choose the newly created adapter(vboxnet0). Lastly if you leave the defaults that you need to set the lan interface as 192.168.56.2, you can also say no to setting up DHCP. GUI should come right up.

VirtualBoxHostAdapter.png_thumb

satimis

@crisdavid:

Go into the virtualbox preferences, network tab, and create a host network adapter (green adapter looking icon on the right corner of the window with a plus sign on it). Go back to your virtual machine settings, add the second adapter (as a host adapter), then insure that it doesn't give the invalid settings. It should automatically choose the newly created adapter(vboxnet0). Lastly if you leave the defaults that you need to set the lan interface as 192.168.56.2, you can also say no to setting up DHCP. GUI should come right up.

Hi crisdavid,

Thanks for your advice which works here.

Performed following steps:-

-> Preference -> Network -> Host-only Networks
Adds new-host-network
vboxnet0

and

Set "Adapter 2" of pfSense and all VMs as follows;
Attached to:[Host-only Adapter]
Name:[vboxnet0]

Now on VM's browser;
http://192.168.1.1

popup pfSense login page
User - admin
Pass - pfsense

starts "Status: Dashboard"

But it doesn't work Host. I can't figure out a solution.

Regards
satimis

A Former User

Can you provide a screenshot? Haven't hit this bump you have, even when virtualising it within a Ubuntu VM

satimis

@crisdavid:

Can you provide a screenshot? Haven't hit this bump you have, even when virtualising it within a Ubuntu VM

Please refers to attached photos

satimis

Screenshot_host_browser.png_thumb

Screenshot_dashboard.png_thumb

Screenshot_pfsense.png_thumb

A Former User

Is your first adapter still a bridge adapter? or is it NAT adapter?

If you go to the update tab from the GUI and go into the update page. Try to just save the page again (attachments below); I understand this is 2.3 but I can't remember if this was still there on 2.2.6
I encountered this when on the beta of 2.3 (before the release) might help you the same.

P.S. I'm virtualizing a ubuntu machine and running another virtual box instance of pfsense to help with your problem since I don't have a spare PC. I'm just currently in class and just spun up my pfSense Testing VM on my mac to provide the visuals :P

pfSenseUpdatePage.png_thumb

pfSenseUpdateTab.png_thumb

satimis

@crisdavid:

Is your first adapter still a bridge adapter? or is it NAT adapter?

If you go to the update tab from the GUI and go into the update page. Try to just save the page again (attachments below); I understand this is 2.3 but I can't remember if this was still there on 2.2.6
I encountered this when on the beta of 2.3 (before the release) might help you the same.

P.S. I'm virtualizing a ubuntu machine and running another virtual box instance of pfsense to help with your problem since I don't have a spare PC. I'm just currently in class and just spun up my pfSense Testing VM on my mac to provide the visuals :P

Thanks for your advice.

My Status Dashboard looks different to yours. I couldn't find Update and Update Settings under System

My pfSense was installed on;
pfSense-LiveCD-2.2.6-RELEASE-amd64-20151221-1450.iso

My first adapter is still a bridge adapter
Name: eth0

satimis

A Former User

You can try to use a NAT adapter instead.
I also noticed you're on UTC time (Not sure if that makes a big deal) but could help to set pfSense to use local time. Unfortunately i'm trying to figure out where and how I was able to switch the time to use that :/.

satimis

@crisdavid:

You can try to use a NAT adapter instead.
I also noticed you're on UTC time (Not sure if that makes a big deal) but could help to set pfSense to use local time. Unfortunately i'm trying to figure out where and how I was able to switch the time to use that :/.

Set both pfSense and VMs
1st adapter - NAT
2nd adapter - Host-only Adapter
Name: vboxnet0

It is the same, nothing changed.

Host still can't ping pfSense 192.168.1.1 but pfSense can ping Host 192.168.8.3

Actually pfSense is working. I'm now searching document to configure it as a physical router assigning IP to VMs to allow them to be browsed on Internet

MettleMonkey

Old thread, but I just figured out the answer for myself

I could install and setup pfSense just fine, it got a DHCP IP on the WAN and 192.168.1.1 on the LAN, but I couldn't ping the box, or hit https://192.168.1.1 in a browser!

The key is to configure VirtualBox's host-only networks; not just the network adaptors for the VM, but VBox's configuration for the networks themselves

Go to: VirtualBox -> Preferences -> Network -> Host-only networks

For me vboxnet0 (the one you get by default is configured as)

192.168.0.1
255.255.255.0
DHCP Enabled

I'm pretty sure this means that if you setup the LAN interface on the VM to be a "Host-only Adapter", your host machine gets assigned an IP address of 192.168.0.1 on the virtual network that VBox sets up for you. This means you're on a separate subnet than the LAN interface of pfSense

TL;DR The Fix:

Configure host-only network "vboxnet1" (or any of the other host-only networks if you're already using vboxnet1 for other VMs) with the following:

192.168.1.77 (or whatever IP you want your host to appear as on the network)
255.255.255.0
DHCP Disabled

The make sure that the LAN adapter on your pfSense VM is a "Host-only Adapter" and that it's using "vboxnet1" (or whatever network you configured above)

Reboot/re-install and http://192.168.1.1 should work now

VBox   : 5.1.16
pfSense: 2.3.3
MacOS X: 10.12.2