Not able to install Pfsense 2.3.5 and 2.4.3 on ESXi 6.7

[abharti]

Hello all,

I was trying to install Pfsense 2.3.5 and 2.4.3 on new ESXi 6.7 but whenever i power on the VM it says "Operating system not found".

While creating the VM i tried with Compatibility version 6.5 , 6.7 , 6.0 with Guest OS family as Other. Guest OS only gives option of "FreeBSD Pre-11 version(64bit)" when compatibility version selected as 6.5 but going with this option does not help in the end and error comes up as operating system not found. When compatibility selected as 6.7 it does give other Free BSD option like version 11, 12 or more, Pre-11 etc. but with every option selected i could not make it work.

FYI, i have a working Pfsense box on another environment which is on ESXi 6.5 however on this new environment of ESXi 6.7 i am getting challenges in getting it installed.

Any suggestion how to proceed on this or which specific version /settings to select?

[stephenw10]

Well you should select the correct FreeBSD version if that's available. https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Versions_of_pfSense_and_FreeBSD

So it fails to boot the installer or fails to boot after the install?

Steve

[AndyC]

I just installed pfSense 2.4.3 on ESXi 6.7 without any issues. I chose: Guest OS: FreeBSD 11 (64-bit)
If you get "Operating system not found" perhaps the ISO wasn't mounted correctly?

[GPz1100]

Boot order in the VM bios?  Although, that should automatically default to the iso (assuming its valid and mounted correctly) if the hd is blank.  Maybe try recreating the vm.

[eastman]

tl;dr check if file format is .iso not .iso.gz

I'll reply to this thread even when it's old as it was one of the first which came up when googling "Operating system not found".

I spent quite awhile searching for an answer and then I realised that the pfSense ISO file, which I downloaded from official site, is in iso.gz format. I didn't notice this first as I'm working with small laptop screen and the file format was always cut from the screen.

You have to extract the .iso.gz file so you have only .iso file.

I installed pfSense CE 2.4.4 with Guest OS: Other and Guest OS Version: FreeBSD 11 (64-bit) on ESXi 6.7 U2, though I used VM compatibility ESXi 6.7.