# FreeBSD 9.0 fails to install on second hard disk with MBR partition



## mnlnl4 (Jan 30, 2012)

I am trying to install FreeBSD 9.0 on my desktop. I have two hard disks. FreeBSD is to be installed on the second hard disk. 

If I use MBR partition on my second hard disk, the installer will report an error when extracting base.txz. The exact error message is:

```
Error while extracting base.txz: Can't set user=0/group=0 for var/emptyCan'tupdate time for var/empty
```

If I use GPT partition, the installer works fine. If I remove my first hard disk, installer works on MBR partition as well.

My desktop has a MSI H67MA-E35 (H67chipset) motherboard. SATA is set to AHCI. I suspect it is a bug in FreeBSD 9.0 installer.


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## donallen (Feb 9, 2012)

I am seeing exactly the same thing on a relatively new HP laptop, trying to install on the *only* disk, next to windows. I cannot install FreeBSD and will install Linux instead.

This is so typical of my FreeBSD experience. Since the 7.x series, I try to use it, and a showstopping bug invariably appears and I revert to Linux. I will repeat an observation that I've made on these forums before that didn't make me too popular: I'm a *very* experienced software professional, having contributed to and managed software projects large and small over a long career and it's my opinion that there is a systemic problem with FreeBSD QA or release engineering. Versions of the system get released with gross bugs that you would never see in, say, Slackware Linux or OpenBSD.


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## wblock@ (Feb 10, 2012)

Maybe no developer has that model of laptop to test.  Did you enter a PR?


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