FreeBSD, GhostBSD, MidnightBSD & pfSense

If memstick images are available then you can use these as directed below.

You can also use FreeBSD-based hybrid ISO files (e.g. FreeBSD-11.1.iso or OPNsense-17.7.5-OpenSSL-dvd-amd64.iso) - see the FreeBSD ISO heading at the end of this page.

MemStick images

How to add FreeBSD memstick p ayloads and pfSense memstick payloads to E2B.

Versions 9 and 10 of FreeBSD will not boot as an ISO, but the 1.63 version of Easy2Boot and a new MPI Tool Pack v0.044 or later supports FreeBSD 9 and 10 'memstick' images. For GhostBSD, download the .img files and not the .iso files. For MidnightBSD, use the 'memstick' download.

GhostBSD4.0 Desktop

The procedure is to use the MakePartImage process, but as the FreeBSD memstick.img files are already in the correct format for a FreeBSD partition, the .img files don't actually need converting or modifying!:

1. Create a new empty folder on the Windows Desktop (or anywhere else).

2. Drag-and-drop the empty folder onto the MPI_FAT32 MPI Desktop shortcut to make a 30MB (or as small as possible - e.g. 10MB) partition image with no payload. If prompted for a target file, use a filename with either a .imgPTN or .imgPTNA5 file extension - e.g. FreeBSD_10_1.imgPTN or FreeBSD_10_1.imgPTNA5.

Do NOT use a filename that has any dots in it because it will also appear in the E2B Menu - e.g. FreeBSD10.1.imgPTNA5 would not be a good name because the 'FreeBSD10.1' file (see below) would also be visible in the menu!

3. Copy the new .imgPTN file to a menu folder (e.g. \_ISO\LINUX, a 2nd level folder - NOT \_ISO\LINUX\MNU).

4. Copy your FreeBSD memstick .img file to the same folder that the .imgPTN file is in and rename it to match the name of the .imgPTN file but WITH NO FILE EXTENSION - e.g.

FreeBSD_10_1.imgPTN (10-30MB)
FreeBSD_10_1 (NO FILE EXTENSION OR DOTS - e.g. 700MB memstick.img file renamed to match with no file extension)

Tip: Download the .xyz (compressed) non-UEFI version, e.g. FreeBSD-10.1-RELEASE-i386-memstick.img.xz and then unzip it to obtain the .img file. The .xyz files are smaller than the .img files. I also tested this with pfSense-CE-memstick-2.3.5-RELEASE-i386.img.

5. Make all files contiguous on the drive.

6. Use the E2B menu to select the .imgPTN file.

Bug in MPI v0.078 and previous versions: Do NOT use SWITCH_E2B.exe or you will not get the option to boot from the 3rd partition (fixed in MPI Tool Pack v0.079+).

Grub4dos can access the files on a FreeBSD type A5 partition just fine as it understands the FreeBSD volume format.

To add more FreeBSD versions to the E2B USB drive, just copy and rename the .imgPTN file (or make a fresh one) and then rename the new FreeBSD memstick .img file to match it.

Note that only 'memstick' images will work. Luckily, GhostBSD .img files are in the memstick format.

For installing/upgrading OpenBSD - see karl's blog. For installxx.iso OpenBSD, see this blog post.

FreeBSD 11 x64

The .img file format has changed for FreeBSD11. We can UEFI-boot however (or MBR-boot using Clover) as follows:

FreeBSD-11.0-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img

Use 7Zip GUI to open the memstick.img file
Extract the .ufs file as a single large file directly to your E2B USB drive - e.g. \_ISO\LINUX\.ufs
Rename \_ISO\LINUX\.ufs to \_ISO\LINUX\FreeBSD11
Double-click on EFI System image in 7Zip to open it
Extract the whole EFI folder into a new FreeBSD11 folder on desktop - e.g. we get (desktop)\FreeBSD11\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI
Create .imgPTN file from the FreeBSD11 folder on the Desktop
Copy the FreeBSD11.imgPTN file to \_ISO\LINUX on your E2B USB drive
Make all files contiguous
Switch to the FreeBSD11.imgPTN file using the E2B menu (do not use SWITCH_E2B.exe)

Note: If you wish to use SWITCH_E2B.exe to select the FreeBSD11.imgPTN file, you must then modify the \menu.lst file inside the .imgPTN and add the line

parttype (hd0,2) 0xa5

to the start of the \menu.lst file

Use the 'Clover 64-bit UEFI Boot Menu' option or directly UEFI-boot from the E2B drive.

MBR-booting FreeBSD-based ISOs

You must use MakePartImage v 0.079 or later for this.

The process is essentially the same as for memstick images.

I tested FreeBSD-11.1-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso and also OPNsense-17.7.5-OpenSSL-dvd-amd64.iso

FreeNAS 11 U4 and GhostBSD 11.1 ISOs did not work using this method.

1. Drag-and-drop an empty folder onto the FAT32_MPI Desktop shortcut to create a FreeBSD.imgPTN file.

2. Copy the FreeBSD.imgPTN file to the E2B drive - e.g. \_ISO\LINUX\FreeBSD.imgPTN

Tip: You can use a file extension of .imgPTNAUTO to suppress the user prompt.

3. Copy the FreeBSD ISO file to the same folder and rename it to FreeBSD.

Note: The two files can have any name you wish, but they should not contain any spaces or dots and the filenames must be identical.

You should now be able to select the .imgPTN file and switch to the CSM menu.

In the CSM menu, choose the 'Boot to FreeBSD on 3rd partition (MBR mode)' menu option.