This has been mentioned before both here and on other forums, but I think the issue is serious enough that it deserves a prominent warning on the FreeNAS ISO download page. I'm not asking for a bug fix, I'm asking for a warning on the download page letting people know that a FreeNAS install flash drive might crash their Windows 7 computer.
If a USB flash drive with FreeNAS 11.2 installed on it is inserted into a Windows 7 computer, it can cause an immediate BSOD, usually a STOP 0x000000001 (APC_INDEX_MISMATCH.)
I have spent several frustrating hours troubleshooting, done a lot of testing, and read multiple posts on various forums talking about this issue. It seems clear that this is due to a bug in Windows 7, probably related to improperly interpreting the GPT partition.
Here's what I know...
I think a warning message on the download page would save some people a lot of frustration.
If a USB flash drive with FreeNAS 11.2 installed on it is inserted into a Windows 7 computer, it can cause an immediate BSOD, usually a STOP 0x000000001 (APC_INDEX_MISMATCH.)
I have spent several frustrating hours troubleshooting, done a lot of testing, and read multiple posts on various forums talking about this issue. It seems clear that this is due to a bug in Windows 7, probably related to improperly interpreting the GPT partition.
Here's what I know...
- This is NOT a bug in one specific imaging program. It is NOT an issue with Etcher, or Rufus, or with the platform the flash drive is burned on.
- I personally have reproduced the problem using Rufus, Etcher, and Win32DiskImager. Others have reproduced the issue with these and other packages, including dd on Linux and Mac OS.
- This is NOT a problem with the flash drive hardware. It's easily reproducible on many different brands and sizes of drives.
- The crash is NOT directly caused by the imaging software or imaging process. The crash happens after imaging is complete and the OS tries to mount the volume. A FreeNAS 11.2 flash drive created on a Windows 10, Macintosh, or Linux box will still crash a Windows 7 machine when inserted, and one created on a Windows 7 machine will NOT crash a different OS.
- So far, every single Windows 7 computer I have tried has crashed immediately on inserting one of these flash drives. Obviously there's potential for serious abuse here.
- Similar problems have been reported in the past when users tried to insert flash drives with FreeBSD-related images on them on Windows 7 machines.
- I doubt Microsoft will ever fix this.
- Lots of other people are going to experience this problem, and incorrectly blame either the imaging software, or their flash drive, or FreeNAS itself
I think a warning message on the download page would save some people a lot of frustration.