Install Problems - Solved

[Tj42]

Having a pretty torrid time attempting to install OPNSense onto a Lanner SBC (32bit Celery M) with a single SSD. Installing from a USB stick OPNsense 19.7 img file, using the installer Manual Install, produces a disc that won't boot. It gets as far as displaying: FreeBSD/x86 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1 but won`t start OPNsense.

This is the display:

F1 FreeBSD
F6 PXE
Boot : F1

BTX loader 1.8B BTX version is 1.82
Consoles: internal video/ keyboard
BIOS drive C: is disk0
BIOS 639kB/2087744kB available memory

FreeBSD/x86 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1


I know it isn`t the hardware or BIOS, because copying the 19.7 image directly to the SSD boots and runs fine.

Does anyone have any ideas, or can you point me to some detailed documentation on how the install and boot processes work please? I'm perfectly happy to dive in and do the install by hand, but I cant find any documentation for that.

[Tj42]

I fixed this. The problem is the installation combinations are very limited - either 64bit GPT or MBR, or 32bit MBR. I needed 32bit GPT.

Fixed it by running a 32bit and a 64bit install in VMware Workstation and examining the build logs, extracting the commands and running a GPT config followed by a OS config. Missing bits around GPT boot came from the gpart man page.

GPT config script:

Code: [Select]

#
# gpt version of i386 install
#
# Format Disk as GPT
/sbin/gpart destroy -F ada0
/sbin/gpart create -s gpt ada0
#
# Install protective mbr
/sbin/gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr ada0
#
#  Create Partition p1
/sbin/gpart add -t freebsd-boot -a 4k -s 512K  -l bootfs ada0
/sbin/gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr -p /boot/gptboot -i 1 ada0
#
# Create Partition p2, and format
/sbin/gpart add -t freebsd-ufs -a 4K -s 80G -l rootfs ada0
/sbin/newfs /dev/ada0p2
/sbin/tunefs -L OPNsense /dev/ada0p2

OS install:

Code: [Select]

#
# just the install os bit
#
# gpt version of i386 install
#
# Install OS
/usr/sbin/pstat -s -k
#/sbin/mount -o async
/sbin/mount -o async /dev/ada0p2 /mnt/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /.cshrc /mnt/.cshrc
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /.profile /mnt/.profile
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /COPYRIGHT /mnt/COPYRIGHT
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /bin /mnt/bin
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /boot /mnt/boot
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /conf /mnt/conf
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /dev /mnt/dev
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /etc /mnt/etc
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /home /mnt/home
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /lib /mnt/lib
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /libexec /mnt/libexec
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /media /mnt/media
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /proc /mnt/proc
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /rescue /mnt/rescue
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /root /mnt/root
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /sbin /mnt/sbin
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /sys /mnt/sys
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/bin /mnt/usr/bin
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/include /mnt/usr/include
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/lib /mnt/usr/lib
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/libdata /mnt/usr/libdata
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/libexec /mnt/usr/libexec
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/local /mnt/usr/local
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/obj /mnt/usr/obj
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/sbin /mnt/usr/sbin
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/share /mnt/usr/share
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/usr/
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /usr/src /mnt/usr/src
/usr/local/bin/cpdup -d -o /var /mnt/var
/bin/rm -rf /mnt/tmp
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt/tmp
/bin/chmod 1777 /mnt/tmp
/bin/mkdir -p /mnt//mnt
/bin/echo '# Device Mountpoint FStype OptionsDump Pass#' >/mnt/etc/fstab
/bin/echo '/dev/gpt/rootfs / ufs rw,noatime 1 1' >>/mnt//etc/fstab
/bin/echo >>/mnt//etc/rc.conf
/bin/echo '# -- BEGIN BSD Installer automatically generated configuration  -- #' >>/mnt//etc/rc.conf
/bin/echo '# -- Written on '`date`'-- #' >>/mnt//etc/rc.conf
/bin/echo "keymap='uk'" >>/mnt//etc/rc.conf
/bin/echo '# -- END of BSD Installer automatically generated configuration -- #' >>/mnt//etc/rc.conf
#
# Post-installation tasks
/usr/sbin/pstat -s -k

These have the benefit of running much quicker than the standard GUI based stuff. In particular the cpdup command replace the standard -vvv (which produces log output for every file copied) with -d (output just for each directory).

Cheers

Tim