Create a FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64 Install USB Memory Stick

Create a FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64 Install USB Memory Stick

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Last Updated on 2025-01-27 09:19 by Sture

Requirements:

Required hardware: USB Memory Stick, minimum size 2 GB

Required software: sudo and wget

Download files

user@freebsdsrv:~ $ wget https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.2/FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img [enter]
--2025-01-24 16:47:51--  https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.2/FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img
Resolving download.freebsd.org (download.freebsd.org)... 85.30.190.138, 2a02:80:0:3ffd::15:1
Connecting to download.freebsd.org (download.freebsd.org)|85.30.190.138|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1559351808 (1.5G) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img’

FreeBSD-14.2-RELEAS 100%[===================>]   1.45G  93.8MB/s    in 16s     

2025-01-24 16:48:07 (91.1 MB/s) - ‘FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img’ saved [1559351808/1559351808]

user@freebsdsrv:~ $
user@freebsdsrv:~ $ wget https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.2/CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64 [enter]
--2025-01-24 16:49:55--  https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.2/CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64
Resolving download.freebsd.org (download.freebsd.org)... 85.30.190.138, 2a02:80:0:3ffd::15:1
Connecting to download.freebsd.org (download.freebsd.org)|85.30.190.138|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1811 (1.8K) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64’

CHECKSUM.SHA512-Fre 100%[===================>]   1.77K  --.-KB/s    in 0s      

2025-01-24 16:49:55 (200 MB/s) - ‘CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64’ saved [1811/1811]

user@freebsdsrv:~ $

Verify file checksum

user@freebsdsrv:~ % sha512sum --ignore-missing -c CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64 [enter]
FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img: OK
user@freebsdsrv:~ %

Prepare the USB Memory Stick

Insert the USB Memory Stick into a USB Port on the FreeBSD Computer.

N.B.: All Data on the USB Memory Stick will be lost!

Since USB devices are seen as a SCSI device, camcontrol can be used to list device information for the inserted USB Memory Stick with this command:

user@freebsdsrv:~ $ sudo camcontrol devlist [enter]
<KINGSTON SKC600MS1024G S4500105>  at scbus0 target 0 lun 0 (pass0,ada0)
<AHCI SGPIO Enclosure 2.00 0001>   at scbus1 target 0 lun 0 (ses0,pass1)
<Generic STORAGE DEVICE 9454>      at scbus2 target 0 lun 0 (da0,pass2)
<USB SanDisk 3.2Gen1 1.00>         at scbus3 target 0 lun 0 (da1,pass3)
user@freebsdsrv:~ %

…or show the list with:

user@freebsdsrv:~ % geom disk list [enter]
Geom name: ada0
Providers:
1. Name: ada0
   Mediasize: 1024209543168 (954G)
   Sectorsize: 512
   Stripesize: 4096
   Stripeoffset: 0
   Mode: r3w3e6
   descr: KINGSTON SKC600MS1024G
   lunid: 50026b7784547f24
   ident: 50026B7784547F24
   rotationrate: 0
   fwsectors: 63
   fwheads: 16

Geom name: da0
Providers:
1. Name: da0
   Mediasize: 15682240512 (15G)
   Sectorsize: 512
   Mode: r0w0e0
   descr: USB SanDisk 3.2Gen1
   lunname: USB     SanDisk 3.2Gen10401d35adeca736bcb13
   lunid: USB     SanDisk 3.2Gen10401d35adeca736bcb13
   ident: 0401d35adeca736bcb13031ed3ec52718ba62977e6bc9346b77babe3dc0b8413cbd00000000000000000000073fbf77f0096801881558107632a548f
   rotationrate: unknown
   fwsectors: 63
   fwheads: 255

user@freebsdsrv:~ %

In this example, SanDisk 3.2Gen1 registered as device da0 is the target USB Memory Stick.

Optional: Display information about device da0 with, for example:

user@freebsdsrv:~ % sudo diskinfo -v da0 [enter]
da1
	512         	# sectorsize
	15682240512 	# mediasize in bytes (15G)
	30629376    	# mediasize in sectors
	0           	# stripesize
	0           	# stripeoffset
	1906        	# Cylinders according to firmware.
	255         	# Heads according to firmware.
	63          	# Sectors according to firmware.
	USB SanDisk 3.2Gen1	# Disk descr.
	0401d35adeca736bcb13031ed3ec52718ba62977e6bc9346b77babe3dc0b8413cbd00000000000000000000073fbf77f0096801881558107632a548f	# Disk ident.
	umass-sim1  	# Attachment
	No          	# TRIM/UNMAP support
	Unknown     	# Rotation rate in RPM
	Not_Zoned   	# Zone Mode

user@freebsdsrv:~ %

Optional: Show the current partition information of the USB Memory Stick using this command:

user@freebsdsrv:~ % gpart show da0 [enter]
=>      63  30629313  da1  MBR  (15G)
        63      1985       - free -  (993K)
      2048  30625792    1  ntfs  (15G)
  30627840      1536       - free -  (768K)

user@freebsdsrv:~ %

N.B.: Your USB Memory Stick may have a different layout than this example!

WARNING: The next step will delete all information on the USB Memory Stick!

Destroy the partitioning scheme on the USB Memory Stick with the following:

user@freebsdsrv:~ % sudo gpart destroy -F da0 [enter]
da1 destroyed
user@freebsdsrv:~ %

Copy the FreeBSD image file to the USB Memory Stick

The image file FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img is copied to the USB Memory Stick with the dd utility with this command:

user@freebsdsrv:~ % sudo sh -c 'dd if=FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img of=/dev/da0 bs=4M conv=sync status=progress' [enter]
  1560281088 bytes (1560 MB, 1488 MiB) transferred 85.038s, 18 MB/s
372+0 records in
372+0 records out
1560281088 bytes transferred in 85.306856 secs (18290219 bytes/sec)
user@freebsdsrv:~ $

Delete downloaded files

user@freebsdsrv:~ % rm FreeBSD-14.2-*; rm CHECKSUM.SHA512-FreeBSD-14.2-* [enter]
user@freebsdsrv:~ %
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