Restoring a Configuration File to a Different Version

Configurations are specific to a given version of pfSense® software. The configuration is the same on all platforms and architectures using the same version of pfSense software. The version of FreeBSD used is not relevant.

Generally speaking, a complete older configuration version can always be restored to a newer release of pfSense software. The firewall will upgrade the configuration as needed provided that has the entire configuration and not a partial copy.

A newer configuration cannot be restored to an older release that had a different configuration version. Certain releases of pfSense software had the same configuration version, and restoring between those is possible, but still not recommended. See Versions of pfSense software and FreeBSD to see which configuration versions were used on specific releases.

A configuration section or partial configuration cannot be restored between different configuration versions. It may work by pure luck, but often there are configuration format differences that require changes to be made to the older configuration. These changes are automatic if a complete configuration is restored. If a partial restore is required, perform a full upgrade in a test VM or lab and then copy the needed section out of the resulting config.xml post-upgrade.