# Downgrade FreeBSD 12.1 amd64 to i386 on OVH VPS



## Alex123 (Jul 26, 2021)

Hello guys,

As the title says, I'm looking for a way to install a FreeBSD i386 version over my amd64 version. Unfortunately, OVH doesn't have the option to install from scratch a 32-bit version and neither to mount am image.
I looked over the internet and I found nothing so far.
I need to admit that I'm a newbie when it comes to FreeBSD or any other similar OS really.

Thank you in advance.


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## PMc (Jul 26, 2021)

Sounds ugly. While it might be possible, to have all lib32 installed, and then over-install with a normal `make installworld`, I wouldn't trust in that to work. 
Then, if they don't have virtual media, what do they have? Do they have a rescue boot where you can access the disk with dd? Then you could create somewhere else a bootable image in the correct size of your partition, and then bulk that up thru the rescue boot and via dd straight onto your disk. (I did similar things, they do work.)


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## hardworkingnewbie (Jul 26, 2021)

Question is: why do you want to do that?

Solution: stay with amd64 FreeBSD and use bhyve for a 32bit FreeBSD guest.


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## T-Daemon (Jul 27, 2021)

There is an guide how to upload an image after ssh(1) into the VPS recovery console. If this is still an option, maybe it's of use.





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						Installing FreeBSD on OVH | Tim's blog
					





					blog.thechases.com


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## SirDice (Jul 27, 2021)

Alex123 said:


> I'm looking for a way to install a FreeBSD i386 version over my amd64 version.


Not a supported path. Doable but highly likely to break the entire system, especially if you've never done this before. Besides that, 12.1 is now end-of-life and not supported at all anymore. 



Alex123 said:


> I need to admit that I'm a newbie when it comes to FreeBSD or any other similar OS really.


Lets start at the beginning and explain why you think you need a 32 bit version of FreeBSD?


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## olli@ (Jul 27, 2021)

hardworkingnewbie said:


> Question is: why do you want to do that?
> 
> Solution: stay with amd64 FreeBSD and use bhyve for a 32bit FreeBSD guest.


I have to agree with that. What kind of problem are you trying to solve by downgrading from amd64 to i386? I’m pretty sure that there is a better solution.
If you need to run 32bit binaries – Those usually run fine an amd64, too (sometimes even better than on i386).
If you have a requirement for a 32bit kernel (but again: why?), you can run FreeBSD/i386 inside a VM (such as bhyve or VirtualBox) on amd64, as hardworkingnewbie has mentioned above.

Migrating a machine from one architecture to another is possible, and I’ve done that several times, but the other way around, i.e. from i386 to amd64. If you have a RAID such as gmirror, that’s not difficult: Just break up the mirror and install the new architecture on the other half of the mirror, then boot from it, then rebuild the mirror. Another possibility: If you have a swap partition that’s large enough, you can use that partition to hold an intermediate FreeBSD base system and boot from it. Similarly, if you can temporarily free up another partition, you can use that one. It might not be trivial (and _not_ recommended for beginners), but it’s certainly possible. Of course, in either case you should have a good backup of your valuable data, in case something goes wrong.

But again: What is the _actual_ problem that you are trying to solve?


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