From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 31 03:53:44 2010 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 5DC71106566C for ; Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:53:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fbsd1@a1poweruser.com) Received: from mail-03.name-services.com (mail-03.name-services.com [69.64.155.195]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 492188FC14 for ; Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:53:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [10.0.10.3] ([202.69.173.253]) by mail-03.name-services.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959); Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:53:44 -0700 Message-ID: <4BB2C734.1070301@a1poweruser.com> Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:53:24 +0800 From: Fbsd1 User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.17 (Windows/20080914) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Dan Nelson References: <4BB19257.6020108@a1poweruser.com> <20100330151708.GA16258@dan.emsphone.com> In-Reply-To: <20100330151708.GA16258@dan.emsphone.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-OriginalArrivalTime: 31 Mar 2010 03:53:44.0558 (UTC) FILETIME=[C27B78E0:01CAD085] X-Sender: fbsd1@a1poweruser.com Cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: /boot.config 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: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:53:44 -0000 Dan Nelson wrote: > In the last episode (Mar 30), Fbsd1 said: >> During the boot process I want to change the device used to boot from. >> From the default 0:ad(0,a)/boot/loader >> to 0:da(0,a)/boot/loader forcing the boot to continue from usb stick. >> >> Here is the problem, the bios have no option to boot from USB device. So >> thinking let the bios point to first drive to start the boot process and >> have a /boot.config file to redirect to booting from the USB stick. I am >> assuming the '0' zero will mean the first USB device. >> >> Is there any command i can use to verify the single USB stick is the 0 >> device? > > If you boot DOS from a floppy, can you see the USB stick as B: or C: ? If > not, then the BIOS probably has no USB support at all, and you'll need to > put a small boot partition somewhere on your hard drive to pull the kernel > from. 128MB is large enough for a /boot directory, and you can set > vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:/dev/da0s1a" in loader.conf to make it mount its > root filesystem from the USB stick (since at that point the kernel has > loaded its own USB drivers). > > If you do see the USB drive from a DOS boot floppy, try entering > "1:da(0,a)?" at the boot block prompt and see if it lists the files in your > USB filesystem. If it does, then "1:da(0,a)/boot/loader" should let you > boot FreeBSD. > The USB stick is plugged in before booting. During boot I select option 6 from Freebsd menu to go direct to the loader prompt. I have ok on command line. I enter vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:/dev/da0s1a" and get "not found" after hitting enter key. At the ok prompt I enter ? for list of available boot devices and only have ad0 listed. It seems the da0 device USB stick is not recognized yet.