From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Aug 28 15:36:13 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A31431CB for ; Thu, 28 Aug 2014 15:36:13 +0000 (UTC) Received: from server1.shellworld.net (shellworld.net [69.60.117.94]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7F9AA182E for ; Thu, 28 Aug 2014 15:36:12 +0000 (UTC) Received: from server1.shellworld.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by server1.shellworld.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 992102298C for ; Thu, 28 Aug 2014 11:36:12 -0400 (EDT) To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Recreating the FreeBSD Installation Disks MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <78057.1409240172.1@server1.shellworld.net> Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 10:36:12 -0500 From: "Martin G. McCormick" Message-Id: <20140828153612.992102298C@server1.shellworld.net> X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 15:36:13 -0000 Ian Smith writes: > As I recall reading (only in passing, sorry) you wanted to do a shuffle > using a linux box to make a memstick? and had problems with (some)tar? Yes. I needed a headless installation medium to build a new FreeBSD server. The FreeBSD system had no direct usb access so I did all the work there and then used the Linux box to actually transfer the new image to a thumb drive. The image did not boot so I fell back to trying to make that same headless installation medium with a CDROM. Apparently, BSDtar which does understand ISO9660 images has some problem that makes it refuse to process a large number of files on the ISO image. In summary, the process worked flawlessly on the memstick to create it but the image won't boot on anything we tried it on. With the older custom CDROM method, BSDtar simply won't work the way the FreeBSD Handbook chapter tells you to use it. There seem to be no work-arounds so far. My preference of method is the memstick since the creation process is less time-consuming. Why the image wouldn't boot is a mystery since all I had to do was to add loader.conf to /boot for a serial console. Nothing else needed to be touched. Some times, the simplest tasks can just stop one cold. Martin