How does Netgate NDI work if I have to reinstall to a Community Edition of pfsense
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I run PFsense Plus on a PC and have a valid NDI from netgate. I recently had a disk crash and have no backup so now I have to install the latest PFsense CE 2.8.0 on my PC. I will be installing on the same computer with the same NIC cards.
My question is this. After I reload my configuration onto 2.8.0 CE and boot up for the first time will PFsense give me the option to install the latest "PFsense Plus" Operating System over the 2.8.0 CE edition on the dashboard version display?Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Yes If it was only the disk that failed the NDI will not change and the device will still be eligible for Plus.
But not from 2.8.0 because that is currently newer than 24.11 and you cannot downgrade. When 25.03 is released you will be able to upgrade to it from 2.8.0.
However you don't need to because using the Net Installer you can install Plus directly. You no longer need to install CE then upgrade to Plus.
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Not sure what your saying is correct? 2.8.0 CE is lower than pfsense plus 24.11 isn't it? I dont think there is any way to currently download 24.11 Plus from the netgate installer onto a pc. I havent found any way. If you know of a way please let me know , I'd really like to do it that way, much easier.
Best Regards
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@Hoserman7632 No, 2.8 is new and 24.11 is 6 months old.
The installer AFAIK should default to Plus if you have a Plus license for that device's NDI. It's changeable to CE here: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/install-walkthrough.html#advanced-options
dates and config versions:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/releases/versions.html -
Yea, your right. I thought that the Plus versions are ahead of the CE versions and receive the latest updates? So how to I get back to where I was before my disk crashed on 24.03 Plus?
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@Hoserman7632 Choose 24.03 at this point: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/install-walkthrough.html#version-selection
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@SteveITS Where I get stuck is in the welcome screen The "Configuration Restore" selection is not there. It is on a usb in "config/config.xml" and no "configuration Restore" selection". I have even deleted everything on the usb and just placed the "config.xml" in the usb and still no "Configuration Restore" selection on the "welcome" screen. Any Idea's?
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Download the Net Installer and install Plus directly.
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/netinstaller.htmlYou could install 24.03 but I would must install 24.11. Restore your config into it.
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@Hoserman7632 I just did one tonight. Per https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/backup/restore-during-install.html#recover-config-xml-from-existing-installation you select to recover, then start the install. At this prompt https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/install-walkthrough.html#welcome-menu select Configuration Restore.
Even if you don't do it during the install you can do it after using ECL https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/backup/restore-during-install.html#restore-using-the-external-configuration-locator-ecl or just restore via the web GUI.
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Im beginning to think there is a problem with the USB that contains my configuration. I formatted the usb on a windows 11 system. I'm not an expert on Freebsd but is it possible?
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As long as it formatted it as FAT32 it should be fine. You can just put the config.xml file in the root of the USB drive.
But you can always just restore it via the webgui after installing.
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Yea I guess I can. You have been really helpful and I truly appreciate it. Much better than Netgate Support. I contacted Netgate support on TAC Lite and they have been no help at all or interested in the problem. They bounce me around like a ball from one person to another and provide no solution at all.
Thanks again....
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@Hoserman7632 I finally got it to work. My Error, I named the Config file on the USB incorrectly.
