Create a FreeBSD-14.2-RELEASE-amd64 Install USB Memory Stick
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:~ %