From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 9 10:30:08 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DDDC51065688 for ; Thu, 9 Oct 2008 10:30:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from k0802647@telus.net) Received: from defout.telus.net (defout.telus.net [204.209.205.13]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8C5158FC17 for ; Thu, 9 Oct 2008 10:30:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from k0802647@telus.net) Received: from priv-edmwaa07.telusplanet.net ([204.209.205.55]) by priv-edmwes50.telusplanet.net (InterMail vM.7.08.02.00 201-2186-121-20061213) with ESMTP id <20081009103009.DMYG23349.priv-edmwes50.telusplanet.net@priv-edmwaa07.telusplanet.net> for ; Thu, 9 Oct 2008 04:30:09 -0600 Received: from oliver.bc.lan (d75-157-28-2.bchsia.telus.net [75.157.28.2]) by priv-edmwaa07.telusplanet.net (BorderWare Security Platform) with ESMTP id 57363624302C6470 for ; Thu, 9 Oct 2008 04:30:06 -0600 (MDT) Received: from [10.111.111.112] (unknown [10.111.111.112]) by oliver.bc.lan (Postfix) with ESMTP id 56EF561E0; Thu, 9 Oct 2008 03:30:06 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <48EDDD2D.1000505@telus.net> Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:30:05 -0700 From: Carl User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 (Windows/20080708) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: cannot install from existing UFS thumb drive with sysinstall X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:30:09 -0000 I've crafted a USB flash thumb drive containing a bootable UFS partition containing the contents of 7.0-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso. It boots properly and sysinstall runs as expected, so I'm all set to install FreeBSD to a system that has no optical drive. Just as "fbsd2" in the following thread, I ran into the problem of being unable to specify the USB thumb drive as the installation media: http://unix.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/FreeBSD/questions/2007-08/msg00369.html [ http://tinyurl.com/4o7pkl ] I was not deterred though because I knew from Reid Linnemann's response that I just needed to select "Install from an existing filesystem". I also understood that I'd need to go to the Fixit menu first and launch the Emergency Holographic Shell (EHS) first in order to mount the thumb drive's UFS partition. Unfortunately, the final response in the above thread appears to indicate that "fbsd2" might not have understood what he was seeing and it seems no one followed up with an explanation or solution. The problem is that the EHS, exactly as advertised, has a very small set of commands. While it does include 'mount_nfs', it does not appear to include anything for mounting a local UFS filesystem, which strikes me as being a strange thing to leave out. So, can anyone tell me how I can mount my thumb drive's UFS partition from within sysinstall? Linnemann countering the "fbsd2" assertion that this is a show stopper now looks to me to have been a little hasty, but I need to believe I'm missing something here. If there really isn't a way to mount the thumb drive's filesystem, is there a way to custom the ISO content such that either 1) the EHS can have 'mount' added to it, or 2) the thumb drive's filesystem can be automatically mounted upon sysinstall startup? Yes, I realize anything's possible if I were willing to build a whole new custom ISO from the ground up, but that's more dramatic than I'm ready for. I know virtually nothing about NFS, so excuse what is probably a stupid question... is it possible to use sysinstall's NFS capabilities to mount a local UFS filesystem somehow? Carl / K0802647