Full install for WRAP embedded router

UNSUPPORTED: This may wreck your install, kill your cat, burn down your house, or hundreds of other nasty things, none of which should be blamed on the pfSense developers.

pfSense already provides a special version for embedded platforms as a compact flash drive image. It has a number of customizations, including running read-only (to save your flash drive) and booting without a keyboard or video card. However, if you have a hard drive based MicroDrive CF card, you don't really need the special flash restrictions, and can use the full install. But the full install won't boot on a WRAP due to the lack of keyboard and video...

These instructions will help you get a full install of pfSense which will still boot on the WRAP. The current version as I update this is 1.2-BETA1. Instructions for 1.0-BETA3 can be found in the history of this page.

Requirements

* WRAP embedded PC
* Compact Flash Type II MicroDrive card (if it doesn't have moving parts, this WILL destroy the card post haste! No flash!)
* CF to PCMCIA or CF to USB adapter
* x86 PC with CD-ROM drive
* Floppy drive or USB thumb drive or network for above PC

Installing pfSense Full

* Fetch the pfSense Live CD/Installer from pfsense.com
* Using a USB cradle or cardbus adapter, attach your microdrive to a PC with a CD drive
* Boot the PC using the LiveCD
* Perform a new full install on the microdrive. I followed all the defaults, skip installing a bootloader.

Fixing things for WRAP

* Reboot, using the LiveCD again
* Enter the shell (8)
* Install serial bootblocks on microdrive (change ad4 to whatever device is detected)
* Mount the microdrive for editing
* Fix up the fstab
* Fetch the pfSense Embedded image from pfsense.com to /mnt/root. If the PC has a network connection you can use, that is preferable:
Otherwise, download the image on another machine and transfer it via a MS-DOS formatted thumbdrive:
* Mount the Embedded image:
* Copy the embedded kernel/boot settings
* Enable serial console
* Protect the embedded kernel:

Optional

* Tuning

Using VMware to Perform the Install

VMware makes it very easy to perform this type of installation if you have a USB Compact Flash writer.

1. Create a VM with USB redirection.
2. Unplug your CF writer from your PC.
3. Plug your Microdrive into your CF writer.
4. Start the virtual machine, and click inside the VM to give it focus.
5. Plug the CF writer into your PC. The VM will pick up the USB device, and the pfSense installer CD will recognize the Microdrive as a hard drive.
6. Continue through these instructions the same as you would for a "normal" installation.

Using VirtualBox

Introduction

I have just purchased one Hitachi Microdrive 4Go. I only have one USB CF adapter, Microsoft Windows.

Requirements

Steps

1. In VirtualBox, create a new virtual machine with USB redirection, no need to set up virtual hardrive, use pfSense iso for CD-ROM mapping and add another network interface,
2. Start VirtualBox, pfSense is booting, configure network interfaces, menu should then appear.
3. Plug your USB CF adapter with Microdrive inside.
4. At menu prompt, type option 99 to install.
5. Proceed with the defaults, choose embedded kernel install. Check Grub for boot method.
6. Stop the virtual machine.
7. Eject microdrive, let's now proceed with Wrap.
8. Boot your WRAP with microdrive inside, serial cable connected.
9. Connect the serial console, pfSense should be booting but can't mount root filesystem.
10. When asked, type ufs:/dev/ad0s1a, pfSense boot should mount the root filesystem and complete.
11. Set up your network interfaces
12. On console menu, type option 8.
13. Edit /etc/fstab. Replace /dev/da0s1a to /dev/ad0s1a. Save.
14. Reboot
15. Enjoy!

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