HOWTO: install without floppy, cdrom, or pxe.

[Alfred Perlstein]

I have a mini-HOWTO here that possibly be automated.

Basically we're going to install FreeBSD over FreeBSD without
a floppy, cdrom or pxe.

This depends on a loader that's compatible with your kernel
so if really weird lockups happen, you might not be compatible.


Anyhow, here we go:


Download the boot.flp from the release you want to install.

Mount it like so:
mdconfig -a -t vnode -f boot.flp
# should output something like 'md0'
mkdir -p /mnt
mount /dev/md0 /mnt

Copy the yummy bits from the install image to your root:
cp /mnt/kernel.gz /ikernel.gz
cp /mnt/mfsroot.gz /mfsroot.gz

Now reboot and interrupt the loader when it counts down the boot.

Then type these commands into the loader:
unload kernel
load /ikernel
load -t mfs_root /mfsroot
set vfs.root.mountfrom
boot

Now cross your fingers once you wipe the partitions out to reinstall...


It would be cool if this could be automated[1], perhaps by setting
the boot partition to the swap partition and setting it up temporarily
as a ufs filesystem and then... oh... well...

[1] http://www.jerkcity.com/jerkcity1426.html

-- 
- Alfred Perlstein
- Research Engineering Development Inc.
- email: bright at mu.org cell: 408-480-4684