# Installing FreeBSD 12.0 with encrypted ZFS is stopped by GELI error



## micski (Sep 19, 2019)

I downloaded the `disc1` image from the FreeBSD FTP servers and wrote it to a USB medium with `dd`. I inserted the USB medium in the machine in question, set boot priority to USB and rebooted. The machine is a modern 2018 machine with UEFI motherboard. The FreeBSD installer appeared as expected. I selected ZFS, enabled encryption and accepted the default GPT partition scheme. Shortly after this the installer stopped with the following error message.


```
geli: cannot load geom_eli: Exec format error
```

The message is a little unclear to me. Is `geli` missing from the install image? Is `geli` missing permissions to write to the SSD? I then retried by selecting the different partition schemes, but they all stops with that error message. I then tried creating a virtual machine and mounted the downloaded image in the guest. The same error message appears. If I skip encryption, then the installer works fine. Does anyone know more about this problem?


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## yuripv (Sep 19, 2019)

Which image exactly, link please?  What about checksums?  Did you try the memstick image instead?


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## micski (Sep 20, 2019)

I downloaded the image from the following directory. 

/pub/FreeBSD/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/12.0

The files was named the following.

FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso
CHECKSUM.SHA256-FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-amd64

I did not check it vs. the list of checksums this time, but it actually turns out, that it fails the test. However, it is a little strange, that the installer ran though.

I just tested the memory stick image instead. This one checks OK vs. the list of checksums. However, when written to USB and booted, the machine stops on an EFI terminal like screen with a GELI password prompt, that I did not apply. I assume, it is some kind of result of the prior installer before it stopped. It mentions UFS, but never selected UFS, so this is all very confusing to me.


```
>> FreeBSD EFI boot block
   Loader path: /boot/loader.efi
   Initializing modules: ZFS UFS
   Load Path: \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI
   ZFS found no pools
   UFS found 1 partition
   ..
GELI Passphrase for disk1p3: _
```


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