Installing FreeBSD

The FreeBSD installer is not an application that can be run from within another operating system. Instead, download a FreeBSD installation file, burn it to the media associated with its file type and size (CD, DVD, or USB), and boot the system to install from the inserted media.

FreeBSD installation files are available at www.freebsd.org/where.html#download. Each installation file’s name includes the release version of FreeBSD, the architecture, and the type of file. For example, to install FreeBSD 10.2 on an amd64 system from a DVD, download FreeBSD-10.2-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso , burn this file to a DVD, and boot the system with the DVD inserted.

Installation files are available in several formats. The formats vary depending on computer architecture and media type.

Additional installation files are included for computers that boot with UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). The names of these files include the string uefi .

File types:

After downloading the image file, download CHECKSUM.SHA256 from the same directory. Calculate a checksum for the image file. FreeBSD provides sha256(1) for this, used as sha256 [replaceable]imagefilename````. Other operating systems have similar programs.

Compare the calculated checksum with the one shown in CHECKSUM.SHA256 . The checksums must match exactly. If the checksums do not match, the image file is corrupt and must be downloaded again.

These architectures provide a BIOS menu for selecting the boot device. Depending upon the installation media being used, select the CD/DVD or USB device as the first boot device. Most systems also provide a key for selecting the boot device during startup without having to enter the BIOS. Typically, the key is either F10 , F11 , F12 , or Escape .

If the computer loads the existing operating system instead of the FreeBSD installer, then either:

On most machines, holding C on the keyboard during boot will boot from the CD. Otherwise, hold Command+Option+O+F , or Windows+Alt+O+F on non-Apple™ keyboards. At the prompt, enter

Most SPARC64™ systems are set up to boot automatically from disk. To install FreeBSD from a CD requires a break into the PROM.

To do this, reboot the system and wait until the boot message appears. The message depends on the model, but should look something like this:

If the system proceeds to boot from disk at this point, press L1+A or Stop+A on the keyboard, or send a BREAK over the serial console. When using tip or cu, ~# will issue a BREAK. The PROM prompt will be on systems with one CPU and on SMP systems, where the digit indicates the number of the active CPU.

At this point, place the CD into the drive and type boot cdrom from the PROM prompt.

Once the system boots from the installation media, a menu similar to the following will be displayed:

By default, the menu will wait ten seconds for user input before booting into the FreeBSD installer or, if FreeBSD is already installed, before booting into FreeBSD. To pause the boot timer in order to review the selections, press Space . To select an option, press its highlighted number, character, or key. The following options are available.

The boot options menu is divided into two sections. The first section can be used to either return to the main boot menu or to reset any toggled options back to their defaults.

The next section is used to toggle the available options to On or Off by pressing the option’s highlighted number or character. The system will always boot using the settings for these options until they are modified. Several options can be toggled using this menu:

After making the needed selections, press 1 or Backspace to return to the main boot menu, then press Enter to continue booting into FreeBSD. A series of boot messages will appear as FreeBSD carries out its hardware device probes and loads the installation program. Once the boot is complete, the welcome menu shown in [_bsdinstall_choose_mode] will be displayed.

Press Enter to select the default of [ Install ] to enter the installer. The rest of this chapter describes how to use this installer. Otherwise, use the right or left arrows or the colorized letter to select the desired menu item. The [ Shell ] can be used to access a FreeBSD shell in order to use command line utilities to prepare the disks before installation. The [ Live CD ] option can be used to try out FreeBSD before installing it. The live version is described in Using the Live CD.

Depending on the system console being used, bsdinstall may initially display the menu shown in [_bsdinstall_keymap_select_default].

To configure the keyboard layout, press Enter with [ YES ] selected, which will display the menu shown in [_bsdinstall_config_keymap]. To instead use the default layout, use the arrow key to select [ NO ] and press Enter to skip this menu screen.

When configuring the keyboard layout, use the up and down arrows to select the keymap that most closely represents the mapping of the keyboard attached to the system. Press Enter to save the selection.

In FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE and later, this menu has been enhanced. The full selection of keymaps is shown, with the default preselected. In addition, when selecting a different keymap, a dialog is displayed that allows the user to try the keymap and ensure it is correct before proceeding.

The next bsdinstall menu is used to set the hostname for the newly installed system.

Type in a hostname that is unique for the network. It should be a fully-qualified hostname, such as machine3.example.com .

Next, bsdinstall will prompt to select optional components to install.

Deciding which components to install will depend largely on the intended use of the system and the amount of disk space available. The FreeBSD kernel and userland, collectively known as the base system , are always installed. Depending on the architecture, some of these components may not appear:

The menu shown in [_bsdinstall_netinstall_notify] only appears when installing from a -bootonly.isoCD as this installation media does not hold copies of the installation files. Since the installation files must be retrieved over a network connection, this menu indicates that the network interface must be first configured.

To configure the network connection, press Enter and follow the instructions in Configuring Network Interfaces. Once the interface is configured, select a mirror site that is located in the same region of the world as the computer on which FreeBSD is being installed. Files can be retrieved more quickly when the mirror is close to the target computer, reducing installation time.

Installation will then continue as if the installation files were located on the local installation media.

When laying out file systems, remember that hard drives transfer data faster from the outer tracks to the inner. Thus, smaller and heavier-accessed file systems should be closer to the outside of the drive, while larger partitions like /usr should be placed toward the inner parts of the disk. It is a good idea to create partitions in an order similar to: / , swap, /var , and /usr .

The size of the /var partition reflects the intended machine’s usage. This partition is used to hold mailboxes, log files, and printer spools. Mailboxes and log files can grow to unexpected sizes depending on the number of users and how long log files are kept. On average, most users rarely need more than about a gigabyte of free disk space in /var .

The /usr partition holds many of the files which support the system, including the FreeBSD Ports Collection and system source code. At least 2 gigabytes of space is recommended for this partition.

When selecting partition sizes, keep the space requirements in mind. Running out of space in one partition while barely using another can be a hassle.

As a rule of thumb, the swap partition should be about double the size of physical memory (RAM). Systems with minimal RAM may perform better with more swap. Configuring too little swap can lead to inefficiencies in the VM page scanning code and might create issues later if more memory is added.

On larger systems with multiple SCSI disks or multiple IDE disks operating on different controllers, it is recommended that swap be configured on each drive, up to four drives. The swap partitions should be approximately the same size. The kernel can handle arbitrary sizes but internal data structures scale to 4 times the largest swap partition. Keeping the swap partitions near the same size will allow the kernel to optimally stripe swap space across disks. Large swap sizes are fine, even if swap is not used much. It might be easier to recover from a runaway program before being forced to reboot.

By properly partitioning a system, fragmentation introduced in the smaller write heavy partitions will not bleed over into the mostly read partitions. Keeping the write loaded partitions closer to the disk’s edge will increase I/O performance in the partitions where it occurs the most. While I/O performance in the larger partitions may be needed, shifting them more toward the edge of the disk will not lead to a significant performance improvement over moving /var to the edge.

When this method is selected, a menu will display the available disk(s). If multiple disks are connected, choose the one where FreeBSD is to be installed.

Once the disk is selected, the next menu prompts to install to either the entire disk or to create a partition using free space. If [ Entire Disk ] is chosen, a general partition layout filling the whole disk is automatically created. Selecting [ Partition ] creates a partition layout from the unused space on the disk.

After the partition layout has been created, review it to ensure it meets the needs of the installation. Selecting [ Revert ] will reset the partitions to their original values and pressing [ Auto ] will recreate the automatic FreeBSD partitions. Partitions can also be manually created, modified, or deleted. When the partitioning is correct, select [ Finish ] to continue with the installation.

Selecting this method opens the partition editor:

Highlight the installation drive (ada0 in this example) and select [ Create ] to display a menu of available partition schemes:

GPT is usually the most appropriate choice for amd64 computers. Older computers that are not compatible with GPT should use MBR. The other partition schemes are generally used for uncommon or older computers.

After the partitioning scheme has been selected and created, select [ Create ] again to create the partitions. The Tab key is used to move the cursor between fields.

A standard FreeBSD GPT installation uses at least three partitions:

Another partition type worth noting is freebsd-zfs, used for partitions that will contain a FreeBSD ZFS file system ([_zfs]). Refer to gpart(8) for descriptions of the available GPT partition types.

Multiple file system partitions can be created and some people prefer a traditional layout with separate partitions for / , /var , /tmp , and /usr . See Creating Traditional Split File SystemPartitions for an example.

The Size may be entered with common abbreviations: K for kilobytes, M for megabytes, or G for gigabytes.

A Mountpoint is needed if the partition will contain a file system. If only a single UFS partition will be created, the mountpoint should be / .

The Label is a name by which the partition will be known. Drive names or numbers can change if the drive is connected to a different controller or port, but the partition label does not change. Referring to labels instead of drive names and partition numbers in files like /etc/fstab makes the system more tolerant to hardware changes. GPT labels appear in /dev/gpt/ when a disk is attached. Other partitioning schemes have different label capabilities and their labels appear in different directories in /dev/ .

After the custom partitions have been created, select [ Finish ] to continue with the installation.

Support for automatic creation of root-on-ZFS installations was added in FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE. This partitioning mode only works with whole disks and will erase the contents of the entire disk. The installer will automatically create partitions aligned to 4k boundaries and force ZFS to use 4k sectors. This is safe even with 512 byte sector disks, and has the added benefit of ensuring that pools created on 512 byte disks will be able to have 4k sector disks added in the future, either as additional storage space or as replacements for failed disks. The installer can also optionally employ GELI disk encryption as described in [_disks_encrypting_geli]. If encryption is enabled, a 2 GB unencrypted boot pool containing the /boot directory is created. It holds the kernel and other files necessary to boot the system. A swap partition of a user selectable size is also created, and all remaining space is used for the ZFS pool.

The main ZFS configuration menu offers a number of options to control the creation of the pool.

Select T to configure the Pool Type and the disk(s) that will constitute the pool. The automatic ZFS installer currently only supports the creation of a single top level vdev, except in stripe mode. To create more complex pools, use the instructions in Shell Mode Partitioning to create the pool. The installer supports the creation of various pool types, including stripe (not recommended, no redundancy), mirror (best performance, least usable space), and RAID-Z 1, 2, and 3 (with the capability to withstand the concurrent failure of 1, 2, and 3 disks, respectively). While selecting the pool type, a tooltip is displayed across the bottom of the screen with advice about the number of required disks, and in the case of RAID-Z, the optimal number of disks for each configuration.

Once a Pool Type has been selected, a list of available disks is displayed, and the user is prompted to select one or more disks to make up the pool. The configuration is then validated, to ensure enough disks are selected. If not, select <Change Selection> to return to the list of disks, or <Cancel> to change the pool type.

If one or more disks are missing from the list, or if disks were attached after the installer was started, select - Rescan Devices to repopulate the list of available disks. To avoid accidentally erasing the wrong disk, the - Disk Info menu can be used to inspect each disk, including its partition table and various other information such as the device model number and serial number, if available.

The main ZFS configuration menu also allows the user to enter a pool name, disable forcing 4k sectors, enable or disable encryption, switch between GPT (recommended) and MBR partition table types, and select the amount of swap space. Once all options have been set to the desired values, select the >>> Install option at the top of the menu.

If GELI disk encryption was enabled, the installer will prompt twice for the passphrase to be used to encrypt the disks.

The installer then offers a last chance to cancel before the contents of the selected drives are destroyed to create the ZFS pool.

The installation then proceeds normally.

When creating advanced installations, the bsdinstall partitioning menus may not provide the level of flexibility required. Advanced users can select the Shell option from the partitioning menu in order to manually partition the drives, create the file system(s), populate /tmp/bsdinstall_etc/fstab , and mount the file systems under /mnt . Once this is done, type exit to return to bsdinstall and continue the installation.

First, the root password must be set. While entering the password, the characters being typed are not displayed on the screen. After the password has been entered, it must be entered again. This helps prevent typing errors.

Next, a list of the network interfaces found on the computer is shown. Select the interface to configure.

If an Ethernet interface is selected, the installer will skip ahead to the menu shown in [_bsdinstall_configure_net_ipv4]. If a wireless network interface is chosen, the system will instead scan for wireless access points:

Wireless networks are identified by a Service Set Identifier (SSID), a short, unique name given to each network. SSIDs found during the scan are listed, followed by a description of the encryption types available for that network. If the desired SSID does not appear in the list, select [ Rescan ] to scan again. If the desired network still does not appear, check for problems with antenna connections or try moving the computer closer to the access point. Rescan after each change is made.

Next, enter the encryption information for connecting to the selected wireless network. WPA2 encryption is strongly recommended as older encryption types, like WEP, offer little security. If the network uses WPA2, input the password, also known as the Pre-Shared Key (PSK). For security reasons, the characters typed into the input box are displayed as asterisks.

Next, choose whether or not an IPv4 address should be configured on the Ethernet or wireless interface:

There are two methods of IPv4 configuration. DHCP will automatically configure the network interface correctly and should be used if the network provides a DHCP server. Otherwise, the addressing information needs to be input manually as a static configuration.

If a DHCP server is available, select [ Yes ] in the next menu to automatically configure the network interface. The installer will appear to pause for a minute or so as it finds the DHCP server and obtains the addressing information for the system.

If a DHCP server is not available, select [ No ] and input the following addressing information in this menu:

The next screen will ask if the interface should be configured for IPv6. If IPv6 is available and desired, choose [ Yes ] to select it.

IPv6 also has two methods of configuration. StateLess Address AutoConfiguration (SLAAC) will automatically request the correct configuration information from a local router. Refer to http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4862 for more information. Static configuration requires manual entry of network information.

If an IPv6 router is available, select [ Yes ] in the next menu to automatically configure the network interface. The installer will appear to pause for a minute or so as it finds the router and obtains the addressing information for the system.

If an IPv6 router is not available, select [ No ] and input the following addressing information in this menu:

The last network configuration menu is used to configure the Domain Name System (DNS) resolver, which converts hostnames to and from network addresses. If DHCP or SLAAC was used to autoconfigure the network interface, the Resolver Configuration values may already be filled in. Otherwise, enter the local network’s domain name in the Search field. DNS #1 and DNS #2 are the IPv4 and/or IPv6 addresses of the DNS servers. At least one DNS server is required.

The next menu asks if the system clock uses UTC or local time. When in doubt, select [ No ] to choose the more commonly-used local time.

The next series of menus are used to determine the correct local time by selecting the geographic region, country, and time zone. Setting the time zone allows the system to automatically correct for regional time changes, such as daylight savings time, and perform other time zone related functions properly.

The example shown here is for a machine located in the Eastern time zone of the United States. The selections will vary according to the geographical location.

The appropriate region is selected using the arrow keys and then pressing Enter .

Select the appropriate country using the arrow keys and press Enter .

The appropriate time zone is selected using the arrow keys and pressing Enter .

Confirm the abbreviation for the time zone is correct. If it is, press Enter to continue with the post-installation configuration.

The next menu is used to configure which system services will be started whenever the system boots. All of these services are optional. Only start the services that are needed for the system to function.

Here is a summary of the services which can be enabled in this menu:

The next menu is used to configure whether or not crash dumps should be enabled. Enabling crash dumps can be useful in debugging issues with the system, so users are encouraged to enable crash dumps.

The next menu prompts to create at least one user account. It is recommended to login to the system using a user account rather than as root . When logged in as root , there are essentially no limits or protection on what can be done. Logging in as a normal user is safer and more secure.

Select [ Yes ] to add new users.

Follow the prompts and input the requested information for the user account. The example shown in [_bsdinstall_add_user2] creates the asample user account.

Here is a summary of the information to input:

After entering everything, a summary is shown for review. If a mistake was made, enter no and try again. If everything is correct, enter yes to create the new user.

If there are more users to add, answer the Add another user? question with yes. Enter no to finish adding users and continue the installation.

For more information on adding users and user management, see [_users_synopsis].

After everything has been installed and configured, a final chance is provided to modify settings.

Use this menu to make any changes or do any additional configuration before completing the installation.

After any final configuration is complete, select Exit .

bsdinstall will prompt if there are any additional configuration that needs to be done before rebooting into the new system. Select [ Yes ] to exit to a shell within the new system or [ No ] to proceed to the last step of the installation.

If further configuration or special setup is needed, select [ Live CD ] to boot the install media into Live CD mode.

If the installation is complete, select [ Reboot ] to reboot the computer and start the new FreeBSD system. Do not forget to remove the FreeBSD install media or the computer may boot from it again.

As FreeBSD boots, informational messages are displayed. After the system finishes booting, a login prompt is displayed. At the prompt, enter the username added during the installation. Avoid logging in as root . Refer to [_users_superuser] for instructions on how to become the superuser when administrative access is needed.

The messages that appeared during boot can be reviewed by pressing Scroll-Lock to turn on the scroll-back buffer. The PgUp , PgDn , and arrow keys can be used to scroll back through the messages. When finished, press Scroll-Lock again to unlock the display and return to the console. To review these messages once the system has been up for some time, type less /var/run/dmesg.boot from a command prompt. Press q to return to the command line after viewing.

If sshd was enabled in [_bsdinstall_config_serv], the first boot may be a bit slower as the system will generate the RSA and DSA keys. Subsequent boots will be faster. The fingerprints of the keys will be displayed, as seen in this example:

Refer to [_openssh] for more information about fingerprints and SSH.

FreeBSD does not install a graphical environment by default. Refer to [_x11] for more information about installing and configuring a graphical window manager.

Proper shutdown of a FreeBSD computer helps protect data and hardware from damage. Do not turn off the power before the system has been properly shut down! If the user is a member of the wheel group, become the superuser by typing su at the command line and entering the root password. Then, type shutdown -p now and the system will shut down cleanly, and if the hardware supports it, turn itself off.