# help with loader.conf



## blkdme (Sep 15, 2012)

Start out by saying.  New to FreeBSD, new to UNIX.  I can change directories, copy files, make directories...but that's pretty much it.  Been reading a tutorial on UNIX from http://manuals.its.virginia.edu/unixtut/index.html just so that I can understand what I'm doing here.

Running a Mac with Mtn Lion, using VMWare fusion 5.0.  Running VMs from external drive.  Have loaded FreeBSD 9.0.  Went through install, best I can tell it went smoothly.

Can't find the loader.conf file to save my life.  Found one in boot\defaults\ directory, but I'm about 99.99% positive I leave that file alone.  Where can I find this file?  End game here is enabling wireless so that I can connect to the network.

Sidenote - I've searched the forum for about 15 minutes trying to find an answer before starting this thread.  If you guys know of a thread that answers my question, by all means flag it for me.

Thanks in advance!


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## noobster (Sep 15, 2012)

The file should be located at /boot/loader.conf. If it's not there, create it.


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## break19 (Sep 15, 2012)

But seriously.. if you wanted to learn the console.. why not just launch terminal on OSX, use it for as much as possible until you feel comfortable with the shell commands... THEN install FreeBSD?


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## Beastie (Sep 15, 2012)

It doesn't exist by default. The system loads all the settings from /boot/defaults/loader.conf and then applies any changes found in /boot/loader.conf if it exists.
So all you have to do is create it and add any line you want to change from /boot/defaults/loader.conf. Never change /boot/defaults/loader.conf and never copy the entire file to /boot/loader.conf!

And by the way slashes are used as directory separators, not backslashes. Backslashes are for DOS/Windows. Backslashes in Unix/unix-like systems are used to escape characters, e.g. file\ with\ spaces.

Welcome on board!


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## blkdme (Sep 15, 2012)

Thanks for all the help guys!  

@ Beastie - That's exactly what I was looking for.  Thank you!   Got my slashes and backslashes confused.  Was at work stepping through DOS all day, so didn't even think twice when i typed it out!

@ break19 - Would love to play around in Terminal on my Mac, but I'm afraid of screwing it up...so i opted for the virtual freebsd.  PLUS it was recommended by my boss.  Said by using freebsd, it would force me to use that OS. lol


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