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    Unable to boot pfSense from USB on MacBook Pro

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
    16 Posts 7 Posters 4.2k Views
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    • D
      doktornotor Banned
      last edited by

      Not sure what you are trying there, you should be using memstick images for USB and install it from there, if you need GPT/EFI them only 2.4 snapshots have a chance of working (and no nanobsd there, will need to be a full install.)

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        DJRumpy
        last edited by

        So the 2.3.2 NanoBSD for Mac is known not to work? I was hoping to avoid wiping the HD as I wanted to try it first (i.e. Live CD) using a USB thumb drive, rather than a full install.

        Essentially I'm looking for a NanoBSD I can run from thumb drive, or optionally CF.

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        • D
          doktornotor Banned
          last edited by

          Yeah, you'd probably had much better luck with CF.

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          • D
            DJRumpy
            last edited by

            No luck with CF either. I'm just going to take the plung and wipe the drive and install. I was hoping to evaluate the speed with QOS enabled. This is a late 2014 Mac mini with a dual core i5@2.6Ghz and 8gB ram.

            Hopefully the full installer will boot. The Nano doesn't appear to be bootable.

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            • D
              doktornotor Banned
              last edited by

              I have no idea about Mac. If it requires booting from EFI, nothing but 2.4 snapshots will work.

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              • D
                DJRumpy
                last edited by

                Ah, I didn't know these earlier images didn't support EFI. I'll download the 2.4 memstick and see how it goes.

                Thanks!

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                • D
                  DJRumpy
                  last edited by

                  FYI. The 2.4.0 beta worked. The CF wouldn't boot oddly enough but the USB did without iissue.

                  I have to ask. Why would they even have a Mac release if it doesn't support EFI in those images? The ISO for CD would work fine though. It just seems odd to even make an option that doesn't support EFI.

                  In any case, color me happy. It was easy to setup and detects the second thunderbolt to Ethernet without issue.

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                  • D
                    doktornotor Banned
                    last edited by

                    @DJRumpy:

                    I have to ask. Why would they even have a Mac release if it doesn't support EFI in those images? The ISO for CD would work fine though. It just seems odd to even make an option that doesn't support EFI.

                    Hmm? There's no specific "Mac release" anywhere.

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                    • D
                      DJRumpy
                      last edited by

                      Inartfully worded. I mean a release that fits a Mac per the specs but isn't compatible. Most modern OS's support EFI. It seems odd that MBR is supported but EFI is not. Very happy that the beta supports it.

                      Technically I could use the ISO for a CD image although I haven't burned an actual CD in years :)

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                      • jimpJ
                        jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                        last edited by

                        @DJRumpy:

                        Inartfully worded. I mean a release that fits a Mac per the specs but isn't compatible.

                        We can't control what hardware people try to install pfSense on. There are lots of things out there that might read as though they would work but may not due to any number of differences. As far as I'm aware we've never claimed it could or would work on Mac hardware.

                        The installer was long overdue for an overhaul, 2.4 is definitely the right thing to test out on there.

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                        • D
                          DJRumpy
                          last edited by

                          Understood. Just a bad assumption on my part that it would support EFI. That said, the install went without a hitch and I've been tweaking on it for a week now. The beta build is pretty solid as far as I can see. Some problems with shaping but I'm sure that's more due to my inexperience with pfsense than with the build itself.

                          So far it's performing well beyond my expectations.

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                          • K
                            kpa
                            last edited by

                            Bootcamp used to support BIOS/MBR only operating systems but as far as I know Apple took that away because of the messy hybrid MBR/GPT partition table system and they now require that the OS installed with bootcamp supports GPT/EFI installations.

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