<![CDATA[Can i install pfsense on my win8 server to run as a virtual machine?]]>I've been meaning to throw pfsense onto an old machine that I have laying around here, but then I got to thinking that I already have a windows 8 machine working like a file server that is on 24 hours a day, why not save on space and electricity and see if you can just run a virtual machine in windows 8 and install pfsense on it.

Is this possible?

I would get a couple intel dual nics, maybe a good wireless card and assign them to the virt pfsense machine.

box has 8 gigs of ram and I never use half of that, so I could safely take 2-4 gigs and use it for pfsense.

What do you guys think?

Will this work?

I've never set up a virtual machine before, so any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/66421/can-i-install-pfsense-on-my-win8-server-to-run-as-a-virtual-machineRSS for NodeSat, 10 Oct 2026 14:23:31 GMTWed, 05 Mar 2014 17:19:00 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Can i install pfsense on my win8 server to run as a virtual machine? on Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:06:35 GMT]]>On Windows (I don't know if you can do it under Linux) I usually untick the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol on the network cards which supply connectivity to other network segments.

For example :

If I have a pfSense box with two network cards (RED = WAN) and (GREEN = LAN) then I usually untick both IPv4 and IPv6 from the WAN interface.

The LAN interface I leave as is, as you'll need to have either a static IP (suggested) or dynamic IP on it for you to connect and administrate pfSense.

The rest don't need IPv4 or IPv6 either, should you have other network cards.

This makes it more difficult for ne'er-do-wells to try and hack the windoze box hosting pfsense.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/447649https://forum.netgate.com/post/447649Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:06:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Can i install pfsense on my win8 server to run as a virtual machine? on Fri, 07 Mar 2014 09:02:10 GMT]]>Thanks guys for all the tips.

I am looking forward to setting this up.  Maybe this weekend.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/447615https://forum.netgate.com/post/447615Fri, 07 Mar 2014 09:02:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Can i install pfsense on my win8 server to run as a virtual machine? on Thu, 06 Mar 2014 08:15:31 GMT]]>I did this on a box with win7, 4x NIC's and virtualbox installed.

Works quite nice.

Still on a learning curve here. :) But it's fun.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/447393https://forum.netgate.com/post/447393Thu, 06 Mar 2014 08:15:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Can i install pfsense on my win8 server to run as a virtual machine? on Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:17:54 GMT]]>No not a problem. The hypervisor host would usually use pfsense as the WAN anyway.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/447334https://forum.netgate.com/post/447334Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:17:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Can i install pfsense on my win8 server to run as a virtual machine? on Wed, 05 Mar 2014 23:57:19 GMT]]>So it wont be a problem having a server connect to the pfsense machine (acting as a router/firewall) even though they will both be in the same box?

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/447323https://forum.netgate.com/post/447323Wed, 05 Mar 2014 23:57:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Can i install pfsense on my win8 server to run as a virtual machine? on Wed, 05 Mar 2014 18:19:17 GMT]]>I have done this with Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit using Microsoft Virtual PC.  It can be done.  Though I'd probably use Virtual Box instead.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/447286https://forum.netgate.com/post/447286Wed, 05 Mar 2014 18:19:17 GMT