# ISO changes in 11.3 and 12 not mountable on OSX



## ferrago (Aug 13, 2019)

I am trying to burn a FreeBSD 12 ISO to install a new machine.
I downloaded the latest amd64 ISO and burned it to a CD however I then get the message saying the DVD cannot be read..
I tried this a few types as I first suspected the media..
Then I discovered that double clicking on the downloaded ISO produces an error saying there are 'no mountable filesystems'

The same issue occurs with 11.3 however I can download 11.2 and double click on it and it will mount OK...

Can anyone explain what has changed since 11.3 that OSX can now longer view/burn FreeBSD ISOs? This is a major issue for me, is there any work arounds other than using a Windows machine?


----------



## SirDice (Aug 13, 2019)

Exactly which files did you download? Some of them are compressed and need to be uncompressed. And did you check the hash to verify the file itself wasn't corrupted during the download?


----------



## ferrago (Aug 13, 2019)

Yes I did.. I also downloaded multiple times on multiple computers, i.e.: macbook pro, iMac, 
The files I downloaded are:
Dont work:
https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/re...GES/12.0/FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso


			https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/12.0/FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso
		



			https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/11.3/FreeBSD-11.3-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso
		



			https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/11.3/FreeBSD-11.3-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso
		

Do work:


			https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/11.2/FreeBSD-11.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso
		



			https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/11.2/FreeBSD-11.2-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso


----------



## badbrain (Aug 13, 2019)

ferrago said:


> I am trying to burn a FreeBSD 12 ISO to install a new machine.
> I downloaded the latest amd64 ISO and burned it to a CD however I then get the message saying the DVD cannot be read..
> I tried this a few types as I first suspected the media..
> Then I discovered that double clicking on the downloaded ISO produces an error saying there are 'no mountable filesystems'
> ...


First try on a Windows machine to know whether you downloaded the right image and it could work at all.


----------



## badbrain (Aug 13, 2019)

ferrago said:


> Yes I did.. I also downloaded multiple times on multiple computers, i.e.: macbook pro, iMac,
> The files I downloaded are:
> Dont work:
> https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/re...GES/12.0/FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso
> ...


You could install `cdrtools` from MacPorts or Homebrew don't you? Test with `cdrecord` to see if it works. You could take example command from this wiki.


----------



## SirDice (Aug 13, 2019)

One major difference I believe is that 11.3 and 12.0 are EFI bootable too, 11.2 didn't have that. The 11.3 and 12.0 images also have a partition table, 11.2 didn't have  that either. This might confuse MacOS when you try to mount it. 

This shouldn't impact the ability to burn the image though, burning the image just takes the whole image bit for bit "as-is" and burns this to a CD or DVD.


----------



## badbrain (Aug 13, 2019)

SirDice said:


> *One major difference I believe is that 11.3 and 12.0 are EFI bootable too, 11.2 didn't have that. The 11.3 and 12.0 images also have a partition table, 11.2 didn't have  that either. This might confuse MacOS when you try to mount it.*
> 
> This shouldn't impact the ability to burn the image though, burning the image just takes the whole image bit for bit "as-is" and burns this to a CD or DVD.


Is it the same as `hybrid-iso` on Linux?

The OP should try `dd` as a last resort.


----------



## ferrago (Aug 13, 2019)

It will burn the iso but if I put the burned iso in the computer it will not Read it and it does not boot on the server I tried to use it on, so the iso will not mount when double clicking and the burned media will not mount on OS X either, I will try using windows and parallels to see if that will mount the image and the dvd and report back


----------



## SirDice (Aug 13, 2019)

Before you do, are you able to try one of the memory stick images and try to boot from that?


----------



## SirDice (Aug 13, 2019)

blackdog said:


> Is it the same as  hybrid-iso on Linux?


I don't think so. If I recall correctly those are images you can burn to CD/DVD or to a memory stick without modification.


----------



## badbrain (Aug 13, 2019)

ferrago said:


> It will burn the iso but if I put the burned iso in the computer it will not Read it and it does not boot on the server I tried to use it on, so the iso will not mount when double clicking and the burned media will not mount on OS X either, I will try using windows and parallels to see if that will mount the image and the dvd and report back


Did you also download the checksum file and check it? I think the iso is damaged.


----------



## badbrain (Aug 13, 2019)

SirDice said:


> Before you do, are you able to try one of the memory stick images and try to boot from that?


I also wonder the same. Why didn't he use the memstick image from the beginning?


----------



## badbrain (Aug 13, 2019)

SirDice said:


> I don't think so. If I recall correctly those are images *you can burn to CD/DVD or to a memory stick without modification*.


So it's practically the same as `hybrid-iso` on Linux.


----------



## moridin (Aug 13, 2019)

blackdog said:


> So it's practically the same as `hybrid-iso` on Linux.



Indeed, it's the newly added isoboot(8).


----------



## ferrago (Aug 13, 2019)

OK so it turns out the DVD's do work.. ie: they boot the server and allow install.. but they are not mountable on OSX since 11.3 due to new format as SirDice stated earlier.. So I'm wondering if there is away this so they 'can' be mounted in OSX if needs be.. or if this is going to have to wait until apple update their OS to support these new formats?

I did try to make a freeBSD bootable memstick, (BTW the memstick version of the image, won't mount or open in OSX either) when I put the memory stick in it auto-mounts and dd won't work as it says resource busy or unavailable.. if I unmount it the /dev/disk2 disappears too so I Can't reference it using dd...


----------



## badbrain (Aug 14, 2019)

ferrago said:


> OK so it turns out the DVD's do work.. ie: they boot the server and allow install.. but they are not mountable on OSX since 11.3 due to new format as SirDice stated earlier.. So I'm wondering if there is away this so they 'can' be mounted in OSX if needs be.. or if this is going to have to wait until apple update their OS to support these new formats?


Why would you want to mount it at all? As I remember this kind of iso could be view using `7zip` on Windows and `file-roller` + `p7zip-full` on Linux. You could also extract it content to a temp dir using `7za` from the command line.


----------



## badbrain (Aug 14, 2019)

ferrago said:


> I did try to make a freeBSD bootable memstick, (BTW the memstick version of the image, won't mount or open in OSX either) when I put the memory stick in it auto-mounts and dd won't work as it says resource busy or unavailable.. if I unmount it the /dev/disk2 disappears too so I Can't reference it using dd...


If the iso is `hybrid` you could also try to `dd` it to your usb stick.


----------



## ferrago (Aug 14, 2019)

blackdog said:


> Why would you want to mount it at all? As I remember this kind of iso could be view using `7zip` on Windows and `file-roller` + `p7zip-full` on Linux. You could also extract it content to a temp dir using `7za` from the command line.


Really simple reasons, like copying a file from it or putting the DVD in the drive to see what is on it? It mounts OK in windows, feels like a real negative that OSX can't do the same


----------



## badbrain (Aug 14, 2019)

ferrago said:


> Really simple reasons, like copying a file from it or putting the DVD in the drive to see what is on it? It mounts OK in windows, feels like a real negative that OSX can't do the same


You could fetch the distribution sets here. The iso image is not needed if you doing just that.


----------



## trev (Aug 16, 2019)

FWIW, Parallels on macOS can still mount the FreeBSD ISO images as I did it a few days ago for the FreeBSD 12.0 disc1 ISO.


----------



## ChrisFCarroll (Dec 10, 2019)

At 12.1 the only iso I can get working on macOs Parallels or VirtualBox is bootonly.iso

I haven't quite understood what macOs is missing : there is no new iso standard for bootable disks is there?


----------



## SirDice (Dec 10, 2019)

ChrisFCarroll said:


> At 12.1 the only iso I can get working on macOs Parallels or VirtualBox is bootonly.iso
> 
> I haven't quite understood what macOs is missing : there is no new iso standard for bootable disks is there?


It's irrelevant what MacOS itself supports, you're booting this in a virtual machine.


----------

