# FreeBSD update on KVM/QEMU VM led to inability to boot



## hakayova (Sep 15, 2018)

Dear all,

This is my first post in this forum, and I am quite new to FreeBSD, so please be gentle with me.

I have a FreeBSD 11.2 guest (VM) on a Manjaro Linux host based on KVM/QEMU infrastructure. I use the VM as a CardDAV and CalDAV server for the family, and among all options I tried, FreeBSD does the job fastest and most gracefully. Kudos to everyone who made it possible!

I recently updated the VM via the following commands:

```
#freebsd-update fetch
#freebsd-update install
```
Everything seemed to work fine, with no error messages. However, the system failed to boot (manually) afterwards. What happens is it autoboots, displays a few lines of text (too fast to read) and falls back to the boot screen with the red devil text art. I tried single user booting, as well as toggling all options under the boot options menu with no avail. I also tried booting from the old kernel, which essentially froze the VM. I restored the VM from a recent backup and I am very content to continue using it without the latest update for 11.2, but I wanted to learn what could have possibly caused this issue and if it could possibly be prevented in the future. I still have the defunct (non-booting) VM, where I can try and experiment the options that may be suggested here.

Please accept my apologies if the information provided is so brief. It was how things actually happened from my perspective and I am more than happy to troubleshoot with any one who may be willing to help.

Thanks!


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## ucomp (Sep 21, 2018)

well, freebsd installs run very quick- so I would recommend to  try to  clean-install a new 11.2 kvm-guest ( if you don`t need to restore your data from broken vm)


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## hakayova (Sep 23, 2018)

Thank you ucomp for your comment. I think it is the smart thing to do in the future, i.e. install a new kvm guest first (say 12.0), define user during installation, then transfer user and server settings (/usr/local/home, /etc, /usr/local/etc directory contents) from the previous kvm guest (11.2) by scp or something similar. This way, one can avoid the update process and its unexpected consequences in guest vms. It is a little cumbersome, but shouldn't take more than a few hours at the most, even in my hands I believe.


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## ucomp (Sep 24, 2018)

hakayova said:


> ..... install a new kvm guest first (say 12.0), define user during installation, then transfer user and server settings (/usr/local/home, /etc, /usr/local/etc directory contents) from the previous kvm guest (11.2) by scp or something similar. .......



well, this sounds a bit complicated.... my 1st thought is rather  to send the whole zfs bootfs from one kvm guest to the other ( zfs send .....| zfs recv.....)
you woke up my interest to find out whether freebsd-update is a general issue in kvm.. I`ll try it out tonight ...


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## kdemidofff (Oct 3, 2018)

i just done

```
#freebsd-update ...
```
in virtio with uefi bios FreeBSD 11.2 guest
host is centos 7 and it works fine (qemu-kvm-ev)


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## ucomp (Oct 6, 2018)

Likewise no issues : illumos qemu-kvm: FreeBSD 11.1-> 11.2


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