Can't install pfsense on a x64 pc

stephenw10

If it's not possible to install the 2.4.4p1 ISO in a VM then we want to know about it. It's the first I've heard of it if that's true though.

Steve

pwood999

Screenshot above shows IMG download not ISO. Which version is being used ?

VM usually requires the ISO

asciimo

@stephenw10 I'm unable to run the ISO (pfSense-CE-2.4.4-RELEASE-p1-amd64.iso) in a VMWare ESXi 6.0 virtual machine. I get to the "select your terminal" option, and then it freezes. This is preceded by lots of errors such as:

Shared object "libgnuregex.so.5" not found, required by "grep"
Shared object "libdialog.so.8" not found, required by "dialog"

sha256 is correct.

stephenw10

Hmm, that looks pretty fundamentally broken.
Technically FreeBSD 11 (that pfSense is built on) is only supported in ESXi 6.5.
I thought people were running in 6 though.

Steve

KOM

It's been several days now and OP has yet to confirm that he checked his ISO against the hash. I strongly suspect we're wasting time talking about a corrupted ISO.

dam034

Sorry for the delay.
My hypervisor is Oracle Virtualbox 6.0, and I'm mounting the ISO downloaded with these conditions:

The behaviour is the same as the .img file on the USB stick in the real PC of which I wrote above.

I checked both the sha256 checksums and they're right.

I do not say in the VM, but at least in the real computer, how can I make everything work?

Thanks

stephenw10

Hmm, well I can't say for sure about VBox 6 but I just tested that in 5.2 and booted to the installer in both legacy and UEFI modes.

Steve

dam034

So, the use of the VM was just for testing, and I don't need it. Now I returned to the PC described 8 days ago:

@dam034 said in Can't install pfsense on a x64 pc:

Motherboard: Asus P8H61-MX

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 @ 3 GHz

RAM: 8GB

Network interface: only one gigabit ethernet port, not connected when I'm trying to boot pfsense

Today I downloaded an old release of pfsense 2.1 for x86 (at the moment), and created the USB stick with rufus for UEFI and legacy boot.
I booted it in legacy way, as shown in this screencast:
https://cdn.dampc.ga/ctv/pfsense-2.1-boot.mp4
In the video, at 0:12 I pushed "6" and at 0:42 I pushed "I".
As you can see, I received many errors in the boot, even in the configure console.

Am I wrong? And where I did mistakes?

Thanks

stephenw10

I don't see any errors there. There are warning messges but you will will see lots more if you boot verbose.

But 2.1 is probably too old for that hardware. It's looks like it's 32bit, it's ignoring anything above 4GB.

Did it install? Can you upgrade from that?

Steve

dam034

Using the latest version at 64 bit, I can't boot it, and that's why I opened this topic.

If I use the 2.1 version at 64 bit, it will work? Or I'll get problems?

Thanks

stephenw10

I have no idea, try it and see. It's very old, your hardware could well be too new for it to recognise some parts.

But if it installs then you can try upgrading from there.

Steve

dam034

I know 2.1 version is very old, is there a way to download a newest (but not the latest) version to try it?

Thanks

pwood999

I recently used both latest ISO & old 2.3.4 32bit to create USB, and installed on selection of core2duo, pentium4 & VMware ESXi boxes. Reason was testing NICs.

All installed without trouble. Are you selecting serial console?

dam034

Not serial, is a normal pc with VGA monitor. If possible, I want to download it to try it.

Thanks

pwood999

I’m in Philippines on business so no access to my builds. Will make it available over the weekend

dam034

So I tried to burn and boot the latest image (2.4.4p1) in BIOS (legacy) mode.
This is the result:
https://cdn.dampc.ga/ctv/pfsense-2.4.4p1-legacy.mp4

The hardware is this:

Motherboard: Asus P8H61-MX
CPU: Intel Pentium G860 @ 3 GHz
RAM: 8GB
Network interface: one gigabit ethernet port (not connected when I'm trying to boot pfsense) and one USB wi-fi card

Now I don't know if I'm right, what you advice me?

Thanks

KOM

@dam034 I advise you to click the Accept button to continue the installation??? I'm not quite sure what your problem is. FreeBSD booted up and now the pfSense installation wizard is starting.

Grimson

@dam034 said in Can't install pfsense on a x64 pc:

P8H61-MX

First thing, update the Bios. Your version 0408 is from around 2011 while the current one 0711 is from 2013. Both are quite old, but there is a good chance some UEFI/AHCI bugs haven been fixed.

Second, even with the old Bios the installer seems to be booting fine. So proceed with the installation.

stephenw10

Um...yeah that^. I see zero problems there at all. Just run the installer.

Steve

dam034

@KOM @Grimson @stephenw10 Thanks for your replies.

I didn't press Accept button because I wasn't sure if the boot had gone well.

Now, I want to know what are the benefits and the difference between an UEFI and a BIOS installation.

If possible, I'll upgrade the bios on motherboard to enable UEFI boot and fix some bugs.

Thanks