Reinstalling pfSense CE Software

  1. Navigate to www.pfsense.org/download/ to download the latest image of pfSense® Community Edition (CE) software.

  2. Write the image to a USB memstick. Locating the image and writing it to a USB memstick is covered in detail under Writing Flash Drives.

  3. Connect to the console port of the device.

    See also

    Connecting to the Console Port. Cable is required.

  4. Insert the memstick into an open USB port and boot the device.

  5. After a minute the loader menu will be displayed with a 3 second timer. Either allow the menu to timeout or press 1 (the default) to continue.

    ../_images/pfsense-reinstall-1.png
  6. Console options are presented for serial console installation. The default option is vt100, which should work for most. Choose the correct console output most compatible with the serial client.

    Please choose the appropriate terminal type for your system.
    Common console types are:
       ansi     Standard ANSI terminal
       vt100    VT100 or compatible terminal
       xterm    xterm terminal emulator (or compatible)
       cons25w  cons25w terminal
    
  7. The installer will automatically launch and several options will be presented. On Netgate firewalls, choosing Enter for the default options will complete the installation process.

    Note

    Options such as the type of disk partition can be modified through this installation if required.

    See also

    For more information on the available choices during this process, see the Installation Walkthrough.

  8. Once the installer is finished, choose No and press Enter to skip going to a shell.

  9. The installer will then prompt to Reboot. Select Reboot and press Enter. The device will shutdown and reboot.

    Dec 21 22:41:37 Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `vnlru` to stop... done
    Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `bufdaemon` to stop... done
    Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `syncer` to stop...
    Syncing disks, vnodes remaining... 0 0 done
    All buffers synced.
    Uptime: 5m43s
    umass0: detached
    umass1: detached
    uhub1: detached
    
  10. Remove the USB drive from the USB port.

    Important

    If the USB drive remains attached, the system will boot into the installer again because by default the system firmware is configured so that a device plugged into the USB port will be booted with a higher priority.

See also

For information on restoring from a previously saved configuration, go to Backup and Restore.