Unable to create bootable USB media

[kt215]

I downloaded OPNsense-16.7-OpenSSL-vga-amd64.img.bz2, then ran

bunzip2 -d OPNsense-16.7-OpenSSL-vga-i386.img.bz2

then

sudo dd if=OPNsense-16.7-OpenSSL-vga-i386.img of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

it writes successfully to the USB thumb drive, but it's not recognized as bootable media when I plug it into my test PC.

I used bs=1M because another thread with similar issue said changing that value from 16k could help.

My environment: Windows 10 Pro, with Ubuntu 16.04.1 running on VirtualBox 5.1.10

If I do the same with ipfire-2.19.x86_64-full-core102.iso it works fine and my test PC boots into the ipfire installer.

From what I think I learned, it seems the ipfire ISO is "hacked" to work with USBs, but the OPNsense ISO is not (only works with CD/DVDs) so I'm only trying to use your IMG files.

I've also tried using different USB media but with same bad result.

I also tried using rufus-2.11 but with same bad result.

I'm new to FreeBSD and new to OPNsense, and I'm trying to migrate from ipfire to OPNsense.

I've attached two images, the first one (dd1.png) show the fdisk info before the dd script and the result of the dd script. The second image (dd2.png) show the fdisk info after successfully (?) writing to the USB.

Any help with this would be appreciated 

My fall-back option is to use the ISO image and burn a DVD, but I'm trying to avoid that.

[csmall]

Win32diskimager works great if you have a windows box available.

[elCapitan]

I used Rufus with both
OPNsense-16.7-OpenSSL-cdrom-XXXX.iso.bz2

Booted from USB with no issues.
Might want to try those.

[csmall]

I've had no success with anything other than win32diskimager

[e-d-i-t]

With all those new devices secure boot stuff, you can forget getting it to work ever...
I used Rufus, physdisk, and more tools but it just won't boot.
So, took out a DVD player and used my external USB disk interface to use it as an external DVD.
Then it boots perfectly.

Must say, although it took me 2 days getting it to boot, it sees my onboard NIC as well as the 2 USB nics. Lol, could build me a firewall with 7 interfaces if I needed it!

A lot of other firewall/gateway Linux based distros won't install cause they don't recognise any eth in my system...

[kt215]

Thanks for the replies! 

I've tried both Win32diskimager and OPNsense-16.7-OpenSSL-cdrom-XXXX.iso.bz2 suggestions without success.

I also tried booting from my main PC (MB: ASUS Sabertooth 990FX, BIOS Version 1503). It tries to boot, but gets into some loop and I see "GPT" error flash really quick on the screen, which may be the same message shown on my dd2.png screenshot in red.

I even tried FreeBSD-11.0-RELEASE-i386-memstick.img, same issue, which leads to be believe there is something fundamentally wrong with FreeBSD boot loader compatibility. For example, Rufus 2.11 refuses to even load any of the OPNsense-16.7-OpenSSL-XXX-XXX.iso files.

I've never had these issues with either Windows or Linux ISO files, they just work (boot)!!!

It seems my only option is to burn a physical DVD... which is disappointing. 

[csmall]

Use the img file with win32diskimager

Make sure you extract the IMG file from the downloaded file.

[CraigHead]

I am having the same problem.
I have tried to dd the image via a Linux shell. I've tried both win32diskimage and rufus to no success. Today I tried burning a cd-rom which came-out non-bootable.

The usb sicks would just but the machine (Fit-PC) into a boot-loop, but I have tested on my laptop with basically the same results. The best I can tell is the bootloader offset is not right?

Also, when I df -h the usb stick after my dd it only showed 24K used on the usb disk even though dd reported that everything was copied over.

Has anyone recently tried to install from the 16.7 image?

[csmall]

Yes. I did last week. Extract the IMG file and use win32diskimager.

It worked for me.

[CraigHead]

I tried using Win32DiskImager as you suggested but couldn't get that to work either.
I attempted on both an Intel machine and an AMD machine. I tried using the nano server and each flavor using i386 and amd64.

Perhaps its my extract tool. I am using WinRAR to get to the img file. I was able to setup an Windows bootable usb stick (using the same stick and PCs). So ... something here is a-miss.

[kt215]

I find it strange that OPNsense employees don't take more interest in this thread...

I still haven't had time to burn a DVD, but when I do, I will report the results back to this thread.

[debug]

I am experiencing the same issue with a brand new build (GA-H170N-WIFI) and Opnsense.  Tried img/iso and multiple USB.  Updated BIOS on board.  Nothing works.

Just a sanity check - sam USB stick, pfSense latest IMG, Rufus DD write works fine and boots.

[grilix]

Hey, guys, any update on this?

I'm having this same issue; no success with either 16.7 or 17.1. The machine detects the USB device, but selecting it will just make the system reboot.

Tried writing the image with rufus and win32diskimager, also checked the checksum of the downloaded files, tested different USB sticks, changed some BIOS settings, cleared them with the board jumper, nothing seems to help.

pfSense boots perfectly for me as well.

I have no idea what else to try . Please let me know if there's something else I can do.

[franco]

Hi guys,

I'd like to point out that we don't have OPNsense employees. There are a larger number threads about this that go one of 3 ways:

1. Replace Windows memstick writer with a Linux/BSD: images work fine.

2. Check against FreeBSD/pfSense. If those don't work there's nothing we can do and the hardware or the FreeBSD code is problematic. Workarounds may exist, but then the images are the best they are.

3. If pfSense works by all means help us fix our images. Here's the build code to start with: https://github.com/opnsense/tools -- and keep in mind that we do have conflicting requirements that will fix some boot scenarios and break others (like UEFI), a kernel more aligned with FreeBSD we would like to further align, possibly more...

At the end of the day, resources and knowledge to "fix" a "blank" boot screen is something that cannot be focus of this firewall project, at least not for me as an unpaid volunteer.


Cheers,
Franco

[grilix]

I had no other computer at hand than the target box and a windows machine, but now I brought my Linux laptop from the office and tested this all again. Creating the USB sticks by following the steps from Getting started on Linux worked like a charm for both 16.7 and 17.1 images.

I can confirm the dd'ed sticks boot on the box I wanted without any BIOS configuration change (already installed it and it's working perfectly! ), and also booted on my laptop, so they should most surely boot on any system.

So, for anyone else having issues, if you don't have access to a Linux box, maybe the way to go is to download a live Linux distro and boot it for creating the USB stick. I know this could be a pain, but it's the best bet right now. I strongly suggest going with that.

Now that I know it is not a BIOS setup problem, I will try to look for other Windows tool that could make a working USB stick and come back here if I have any further update.

For the record: what DIDN'T work before, was with rufus (version 2.11) and Win32DiskImager (version 0.9.5) running on Windows 10.

Cheers.