<![CDATA[Won't boot after an unclean shutdown]]>Hi all,

Just testing out pfSense on ESXi.  One thing that I have noticed is that if the system is given a hard reset or an improper shutdown it will always fail to boot again and pfSense will require a new installation.

Given that it is running in a VM I have the luxury of taking a backup.  But I'm curious as to how the system can be so sensitive to an improper shutdown.  I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.

Is it possible that there is some sort of setting which is required when running pfSense on ESXi?  I appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/117392/won-t-boot-after-an-unclean-shutdownRSS for NodeSat, 08 Aug 2026 00:17:20 GMTTue, 27 Jun 2017 02:35:00 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Won't boot after an unclean shutdown on Wed, 28 Jun 2017 03:18:09 GMT]]>Not sure abou VMware but virtual machines running pfsense (I use Hyper-V) and I have never had an issue so would agree with jimp.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/708329https://forum.netgate.com/post/708329Wed, 28 Jun 2017 03:18:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Won't boot after an unclean shutdown on Tue, 27 Jun 2017 15:23:15 GMT]]>I also use thin provisioned disks.

Something is definitely different in your environment causing it. I wouldn't be so confident in your hardware.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/708188https://forum.netgate.com/post/708188Tue, 27 Jun 2017 15:23:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Won't boot after an unclean shutdown on Tue, 27 Jun 2017 15:21:23 GMT]]>I can tell you that this is definitely not the case and I am running on high quality hardware.

Maybe it's because I am using a think provisioned disk. Will research it a bit more.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/708186https://forum.netgate.com/post/708186Tue, 27 Jun 2017 15:21:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Won't boot after an unclean shutdown on Tue, 27 Jun 2017 12:08:29 GMT]]>I have a dozen or so pfSense VMs on an ESX box for a lab setup and I yank the power from it all the time (it doesn't have a battery backup). I've never had to do anything special to get them to recover on that one. Or any other ESX box I've seen running pfSense.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/708134https://forum.netgate.com/post/708134Tue, 27 Jun 2017 12:08:29 GMT