# Installing directly from harddrive?



## Grubsnik (Sep 30, 2009)

Hi, i'm totally new to FreeBSD, and before i even get started, i'm stuck 

Seems like both my dvd and floppy drives have died a dusty death. So my question is, is there any way you can get a FreeBSD install started from a harddrive? Possibly just by turning an old HD into a "install-dvd-replica"?


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## tobe (Sep 30, 2009)

Well you can try to install from FTP.
First, you can copy boot files from the installation CD to your HD (from another machine if it's possible), or you can run sysinstall from the HD and try to overwrite the installation.


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## vermaden (Sep 30, 2009)

Check this:
http://www.daemonforums.org/showthread.php?t=1538


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## Grubsnik (Sep 30, 2009)

Hmm, neither answers were what i was looking for. I only have a running WinXp installed on the box, and that doesn't really give me anywhere to start from.

Anyhow, thanks for offering help, managed to get the cd-drive to eat cds, though not dvds. So on to the next problem (i'll post in a seperate thread).


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## tobe (Oct 1, 2009)

From XP, you can try to install Sun VirtualBox, configure direct access to an USB key as a disk drive, mount the installation iso and install FreeBSD on the USB key (or just make it bootable and copy the installer from the iso). But I don't know if it's possible to install a boot manager under VirtualBox this way.


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