Is a fresh install including existing config possible !!??

[louis2]

Hello,

Today I had a problem which forced me to do a fresh pfSense install. So I dowloaded the (menstick) version from the website and created a backup of the actual config to be used directly after the install.

Preferable I would like to have that option from the GUI, but that option does not exist (neither to have two pfSense instances to choose from).

So I installed by booting from the memory stick.

• First issue is you meet is that the pfSense system is probable not in “your office” and/or have keyboard and screen attached. I have solved that with a KVM-switch.
• During startup you select the memstick as boot option
• Probably select format install disk
• Then pfSense is installed automatically form the memstick
• and then, if everything went ok, there is the pfsense command line menu

However pfSense is probably part of a more complex network with vlan’s and switches and the chance that you can access the GUI of pfSense, without loaded config, is almost zero.

So you need to load your saved config into the fresh installed pfSense from the command line. For that purpose you did save the intended config on some second memory stick.

And then ……… exactly …… that is the question ……

The pfSense commandline menu does offer you to load an existing configuration ……… but not from your second memstick ……

So you have a big big second issue to solve.
(getting GUI access via some kind of temporarily connection .

I hope some one has a solution for that !!

Louis

[serbus]

Hello!

Maybe this?

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/backup/automatically-restore-during-install.html

John

[louis2]

Thanks John,

Will try that. That will save a lot of work!

It would be even better if you could additionally select a file from the menu as well!

Louis

[louis2]

John,

I tryed it. I did create an USB having a conf directory and containing two files (to be sure)

• config.xml
• config-pfSense.lan-20200615125949.xml

Whats ever it was not recognised / not used

Perhaps because the usb had been used as gpt device before. What-ever. It did not work

So I did it the complicated way (using a very long UTP-cable)

Louis