Trying to install 9.3, only one USB drive

[chrisbrown2050]

I'm trying to install FreeNAS 9.3 on a new system. No CD/DVD drive. I've only got one USB stick. I burned the 9.3 ISO to the USB using Win32DiskImager, it boots fine, but when I select Install and select the (same) USB stick in the menu I get an error:

gpart: geom 'da0': Operation not permitted
dd: /dev/da0: Operation not permitted

This seems pretty obvious; the installer can't overwrite the boot disk. But the 9.3 manual didn't say (clearly) that I needed two USB sticks, and I only have one. Must I go shopping again? Or is there some way to get away with just one? I read earlier posts about burning FreeNAS directly to USB without going through the install menu, is that still an option with 9.3?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks, Chris

 

[dlavigne]

Yup, you can't install to the same stick. You can, however, upgrade from an existing 9.2.1.x installation which is probably the best-workaround for one USB slot systems.

 

[danb35]

You should be able to set up a VM (say, using VirtualBox), boot from the ISO in that, and write the installation to your USB drive. Then move the USB drive to your FreeNAS box.

 

[Ericloewe]

Or boot from CD with a USB optical drive. Or make yourself a multi-ISO loader USB drive where you carry around all the ISOs you may need.

If you have IPMI, use the Java remote viewer to mount the ISO remotely.

 

[diedrichg]

Or boot from CD with a USB optical drive. Or make yourself a multi-ISO loader USB drive where you carry around all the ISOs you may need.

If you have IPMI, use the Java remote viewer to mount the ISO remotely.

I checked up on YUMI, looks awesome! In the meantime though I finally got access to my IPMI. I didn't realize that ADMIN/ADMIN was case sensitive. At least I now know that my X10SLM-F has BIOS 2.0 and IPMI 1.35! Anyways, it looks like the IPMI method is the cleanest method. My hangup is that I am unsure about the "Share to host" which is supposed to be a Windows Share. Total noob question: Windows Share ≠ CIFS, correct? Do I need to actually set up a Windows share? If so, do you have a good link please? Despite that, can I use my CIFS share on my FreeNAS box to mount the ISO? I found this article fairly informative for setting up the virtual mount in IPMI.

Code:

http://kb.krypt.com/article/184

 

[Ericloewe]

I checked up on YUMI, looks awesome! In the meantime though I finally got access to my IPMI. I didn't realize that ADMIN/ADMIN was case sensitive. At least I now know that my X10SLM-F has BIOS 2.0 and IPMI 1.35! Anyways, it looks like the IPMI method is the cleanest method. My hangup is that I am unsure about the "Share to host" which is supposed to be a Windows Share. Total noob question: Windows Share ≠ CIFS, correct? Do I need to actually set up a Windows share? If so, do you have a good link please? Despite that, can I use my CIFS share on my FreeNAS box to mount the ISO? I found this article fairly informative for setting up the virtual mount in IPMI.

Code:

http://kb.krypt.com/article/184

Never got that to work.

The easy way is to use the Java remote viewer and its built in ISO mounting function.