Headless FreeBSD Install
Ever wanted to install without a keyboard and mouse on the system? Do it over serial console! Here’s how to make a CD that can do it.
Extract the ISO
Get your install ISO from somewhere and extract it to some directory.
mkdir ./iso tar -C ./iso -pxf 8.0-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso cd ./iso
loader.conf
Next thing to do is to tell the boot loader to start using the serial port. This can be done by putting:
console="comconsole"
somewhere inside boot/loader.conf (obviously inside the iso directory)
Make the ISO!
Now wrap it all up into an iso using:
mkisofs -J -r -b boot/cdboot -no-emul-boot -o 8.0-RELEASE-i386-disc1-serial.iso ./iso
or something of the sort.
You’re done!
Go burn the ISO file and boot a system off the CD. Set your terminal’s baud rate to 9600 and you’ll eventually see things booting up!
