# Installing 13.1 on a rather old i386 box unable to boot usb drives



## coredumb (Jun 25, 2022)

Hi,
I need to revive an rather old 32-bit box with a 13.1 FreeBSD installation.

My approach would be to remove the internal HDD off that older computer, stick it to one of my newer 64-bit ones as external HDD. Then I'd use `bsdinstall` to install a fresh 13.1 onto that drive. That seem to be the easiest way since the 32-bit box happens to lack a display port. Also it is proven to be unable to boot usb thumb drives or usb-connected HDD. It only seems to be willing to boot via SATA.

What I do not know for certain is whether or not `bsdinstall` is, in this particular case, the right tool. Man page doesn't indicate to select an arch target such as i386. I suspect letting the tool do its thing would let it be installing amd64 stuff according to what the host is running.

Please can someone push me to the right tool for the job? Thank you.


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## CuatroTorres (Jun 25, 2022)

I've used Plop Boot in the past to boot Linux images from machines without USB booting support.






						Plop Boot Manager 5.0 - Introduction
					






					www.plop.at


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## T-Daemon (Jun 26, 2022)

coredumb said:


> What I do not know for certain is whether or not  bsdinstall is, in this particular case, the right tool. Man page doesn't indicate to select an arch target such as i386. I suspect letting the tool do its thing would let it be installing amd64 stuff according to what the host is running.



Don't worry, the i386 installer has no amd64 stuff that can be installed, it doesn't provide lib64 distribution sets (as does amd64 provides lib32 distribution sets).


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## Phishfry (Jun 27, 2022)

coredumb said:


> What I do not know for certain is whether or not `bsdinstall` is, in this particular case, the right tool.


It is indeed and I use a similar routine on a Kiosk that the firmware is locked down. It will not boot from USB.
I remove the disk, Carry to laptop. Remove laptop drive so I don't screw up.
Use USB to SATA adapter and Install FreeBSD onto USB-SATA drive.

At the very end of the FreeBSD installer it allows you to modify your installation.
From there I fix /etc/fstab with SATA and set networking to a default setting.
Those are the two sticking points:
A)Drive letter is going to change name from USB to SATA when disconnected. Plan accordingly.
B)Your temporary install machine might have a different ethernet adapter than end machine.

 Try this setting instead if you use DHCP:
/etc/rc.conf

```
ifconfig_DEFAULT=DHCP
```

As mentioned make sure you use i386 FreeBSD installation disk. It don't matter if temp machine is 64bits.
Don't allow the new installation to boot on temp machine at all.


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