FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

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GVitaliy63
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Feb 2020, 16:26

FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by GVitaliy63 »

Host - Win 10 64x
VBox – 6.1.26
After starting the installation I go straight to the EFI shell. And that's where the whole setup ends. How do I proceed with the installation?
scottgus1
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Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
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Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by scottgus1 »

I understand that you can hit Esc and the shell will go to a boot menu where the install media might be started.
GVitaliy63
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Feb 2020, 16:26

Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by GVitaliy63 »

There is no response to Esc. If I enter exit I get to the uefi bios. There are two options there Continue and Reset. Choosing any of them brings me back to the same state I started with.
scottgus1
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Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by scottgus1 »

Try rebooting and hitting Esc before you get to the shell.
GVitaliy63
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Feb 2020, 16:26

Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by GVitaliy63 »

Tried it - pressed Esc several times right after pressing Start. I'm hitting the shell again.
scottgus1
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Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by scottgus1 »

Hmm, that's too bad. I don't know what else to do, will have to wait for a forum guru to come along.
fth0
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Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by fth0 »

Both pressing Esc very early and entering exit in the (U)EFI Shell usually gets you into the (U)EFI BIOS, and the menu should then show Select Language, Device Manager, Boot Manager and Boot Maintenance Manager right above Continue and Reset.

Please reproduce the issue and post a zipped VBox.log file.
GVitaliy63
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Feb 2020, 16:26

Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by GVitaliy63 »

My log file.

However, I saved the snapshot with the broken state and started the installation without uefi for now. Therefore the file may also contain data from this installation.
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FreeBSD_64x-2021-09-26-20-19-48.zip
(31.58 KiB) Downloaded 13 times
fth0
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Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by fth0 »

The FreeBSD_64x-2021-09-26-20-19-48.log file doesn't indicate any problems to me. I can see that you switched from the (U)EFI Shell to the (U)EFI BIOS after ~20 seconds, and back again after ~2 minutes.
GVitaliy63
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Joined: 9. Feb 2020, 16:26

Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by GVitaliy63 »

I just switched to the no uefi option to, do the install. So I made a new VM with UEFI to display the situation. Same effect. Here's the new Log file.
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FreeBSD13-2021-09-27-00-22-18.zip
(34.68 KiB) Downloaded 6 times
fth0
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Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by fth0 »

I'm not sure if I really understand what you're trying to do. Can you perhaps describe it in more detail?

Additionally, your host's CPU is quite old and doesn't have features like EPT, which are nowadays expected for efficient hardware virtualization. Perhaps there is some incompatibility between (U)EFI BIOS and the CPU capabilities.
GVitaliy63
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Feb 2020, 16:26

Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by GVitaliy63 »

Unfortunately, no other details are available. After starting the VM, I am immediately taken to the EFI shell prompt and that's where it ends.

My computer is really old and I'm just trying to learn freebsd, so I guess I should just put it off until I upgrade and go back to the no uefi option.
scottgus1
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Re: FreeBSD EFI guests 6.1.26 will not install

Post by scottgus1 »

GVitaliy63 wrote:My computer is really old ... put it off until I upgrade
Your physical computer and the Virtualbox 'hardware' are completely separate entities, except for the physical CPU.

If you have been setting the VM to EFI because your computer is EFI, you don't have to. Legacy BIOS VMs on EFI host or EFI VMs on Legacy BIOS host are completely compatible.

FWIW pfSense is a FreeBSD OS and does not require EFI. Are you sure that your FreeBSD requires EFI? If it does not, you can simplify learning FreeBSD by switching to Legacy BIOS.
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