Can't install pfSense from USB stick

Hey guys,
I'm finally done with my custom router build and really happy about it. I've a J3355B-ITX board with 8GB ram, 128GB SSD and an Intel i350 nic. Unfortunately, I've some serious problems installing pfSense from USB stick, because my router doesn't find / recognize the stick plugged in into the mainboard.
Every time, I hit F11 for the boot menu, he tells me "no boot device found". I tried installing the memstick version with Rufus, Win32DiscImager, USB Image Tool, but nothing worked. I tried all USB slots, I switch from Legacy USB enabled to Only UEFI setup only. I bought a new USB stick as well, used another computer two write the image to the stick, but every time I plug it in, he can't find the stick.
Just for fun, I downloaded the Slacko 6.3.2 Uefi iso, did the same with Rufus and, lo and behold, Rufus created a file system, copied the files and the router/pc found the stick and I could have booted from it. So the USB stick works. But I can't manage to make the pfSense stick working.

Do you know what else I can do?

Derelict

If it is a USB 3 stick try USB 2.

Do other bootable images boot?

Sounds like it doesn't have anything to do with pfSense. Your mainboard manufacturer/forum might be able to help more.

@Derelict:

If it is a USB 3 stick try USB 2.

Do other bootable images boot?

Sounds like it doesn't have anything to do with pfSense. Your mainboard manufacturer/forum might be able to help more.

It's a USB 2 device and I first plugged it into the USB 2 port of the mainboard. Didn't work.

I also tried the Linux image Slacko and wrote it onto the stick using Rufus. The router recognized that distribution without problems, I could have booted from the USB stick. So it must be something with pfSense. I tried the normal CD image, but Rufus told me, it's not bootable. The only option I have is the memstick version.

Derelict

If it's a memstick you use the memstick version.

https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Installation_Troubleshooting

Hey, I just figured something out! I took the SSD out of the router and put it into my laptop and then, I booted from the stick. And it worked! So, the stick and the written pfSense on it are fine.. it's the mainboard that causes the trouble.
Do you know what I can do with it? I placed the stick in every USB slot and none of them worked. I mean, I don't understand that. Other Linux distro's like Slacko boot from the stick after being written by Rufus..

remlei

Im not sure if pfsense is UEFI compatible but you might try setting your UEFI to legacy mode.

Derelict

Need to figure out the boot order. Prefer USB over SSD.

kpa

If it still doesn't work it's probably a BIOS/UEFI Firmware bug and you'll need to check if there's an update available from the manufacturer.

Scruffy

As others have already said, this is almost certainly a UEFI configuration issue. You will need to find the particular settings your motherboard needs to allow it to boot from your USB drive.

I took a quick look at the manual for your motherboard, and on the last 4-5 pages it goes over settings that are relevant to your issue. I'd try enabling the CSM setting first, and see if that works, but you may need to try other combinations as well, like Secure Boot settings, Fast Boot, and so on.

It's also a possibility that you may need to introduce a delay to get your motherboard to boot from an especially slow to initialize USB flash drive.

I've also had some success getting fussy computers to boot from various devices by using a boot loader helper called PLOP.

Thank you Scruffy for digging into it.. and thanks all of you for replying in the meantime. I finally successfully installed pfSense! I'm so happy :)
The problem was UEFI, the solution was indeed enabling the CSM setting. That was all, nothing more! If I had known that earlier, I wouldn't have fussed about it :D.
But it works, a new world of routing is opening up for me now :)

kuzmar

Same is happening for me. Just bought new HPE MicroServer Gen10 and the installation is getting stuck.

I changed my bios setting to legacy mode (not UEFI), so I was able to boot from my USB stick. The installation started, but it got stuck somewhere in the middle.
At the top of my screen I was able to read: set legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf but the installation went on for couple lines and then everything got stuck.

LukeS86

Not sure how many people are still trying to do this but there is now a work around.

You need to escape the bootloader from the pfsense option menu before it tries to boot.

type:
set hw.pci.realloc_bars=1
boot

This will allow the console to work and you can install PFsense.

Once installed you will need to edit the /boot/loader.conf file to contain hw.pci.realloc_bars=1 so that it doesn't stick again after a reboot.

The issue is discussed heavily here: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=221350

kpa

@LukeS86:

Not sure how many people are still trying to do this but there is now a work around.

You need to escape the bootloader from the pfsense option menu before it tries to boot.

type:
set hw.pci.realloc_bars=1
boot

This will allow the console to work and you can install PFsense.

Once installed you will need to edit the /boot/loader.conf file to contain hw.pci.realloc_bars=1 so that it doesn't stick again after a reboot.

The issue is discussed heavily here: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=221350

On pfSense the file you want to edit is /boot/loader.conf.local and you probably need to create it yourself because it doesn't exist by default on pfSense. The /boot/loader.conf file is a reserved file and gets overwritten every time a new base system update is performed.

Note that this is different compared to a stock FreeBSD where /boot/loader.conf is free for all to edit.

LukeS86

@kpa:

On pfSense the file you want to edit is /boot/loader.conf.local and you probably need to create it yourself because it doesn't exist by default on pfSense. The /boot/loader.conf file is a reserved file and gets overwritten every time a new base system update is performed.

Note that this is different compared to a stock FreeBSD where /boot/loader.conf is free for all to edit.

Thanks for that clarification, I'll make sure to edit that on mine instead. Saved me some headaches later there :)