# Mounting Root FS



## crhawkins (Aug 27, 2019)

Hello,
I just finished doing a manual installation of FreeBSD using MBR/UFS/slices.  Everything booted up file and worked great.  My question is how does the boot system know what device the root file system is on and where to mount it when fstab exists on the root file system?

Thanks.


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## SirDice (Aug 27, 2019)

It depends on how the machine boots (MBR, GPT, EFI) which path is taken, they all work slightly different. But a good start is reading the handbook: Chapter 12. The FreeBSD Booting Process


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