# FreeBSD 9.1 Can't install USB image



## aperture (Jul 12, 2013)

Hi there, first time posting, I'll get right to the point.

Downloaded FreeBSD[]9.1-RELEASE i386 image for the memstick. I'm on windows 7, so I downloaded dd[1] (+md5sum), verified that the image was fine, and did: 
`dd if=FreeBSD-9.1-RELEASE-i386-memstick.img of=\\.\e: bs=10240 conv=sync --progress`

The write was successful, so I proceeded to insert the USB[2] (which was in drive E:) to my machine I wished to install on. Only error I get is: 
	
	



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Boot error
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Machine has ada0 (SSD 120 GB), ada1 (HDD 136 GB), ada2 (HDD 1 TB). i5-3550, XFX Radeon 7870, tz77xe3 motherboard, and OEM DVD drive. ada2 has data but ada0 and ada1 have nothing in them. BIOS is set to boot from USB.

Tried two different sticks and still getting errors. Is there anything I can do as a fix?




[1] Proper forum formatting: http://goo.gl/quCa6
[2] Capitalize all system words: http://goo.gl/2cOZa


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## wblock@ (Jul 12, 2013)

`dd` on Windows... is that through Cygwin?  When working on the Handbook section that shows writing the memory stick, I tried several types of programs.  The only one that was reasonably easy to use and actually did the right thing was the way I put in the Handbook: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.IS...nstall-pre.html#bsdinstall-installation-media.

Please try that.  It would be nice if there was a native Windows method, but Windows really does not want to give bare-metal access to drives without some kind of program.


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## aperture (Jul 13, 2013)

The tutorial was able to work well, and although I would prefer to use `dd`, I suppose it can't be helped. For general information, I used dd.6.beta3 version. This did NOT work for Windows, and the command I used came from here with the install instructions for mem-sticks. Hopefully this can help other users who may browse the forums with the same issue.


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## steve612 (Jul 17, 2013)

Why don't you use Win32DiskImager? It is an easier option, if you want to install by USB and you are in Windows.


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