Installer doesn't recognize thumb drive

[wags22]

I booted my laptop from the cd installer, the laptop sees the thumb drive when I'm selecting the boot device, but once the installer boots up it only sees the hard drive. I had the same issue on my freenas tower although I had booted the installer from the thumb drive. Any suggestions on how to fix? Is it a case of a missing driver in the installer? Is there a way to get an image and install directly to the thumb drive and avoid using the installer?

I'm using a SanDisk Cruzer 8 GB thumb drive.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Your hardware isn't a good choice for freenas. You need to read that suggested hardware thread.

The reason it won't recognize your USB on boot is because your motherboard probably doesn't support booting from USB. This is seen on very old systems which are a bad choice for freenas.

 

[BigDave]

Is it a case of a missing driver in the installer?

No.

I booted my laptop from the cd installer, the laptop sees the thumb drive when I'm selecting the boot device, but once the installer boots up it only sees the hard drive.

It is likely the limitation is your hardware, not FreeNAS.
Question, why would you try and install this on a laptop?

 

[BigDave]

You're too fast for me Sweet:(

 

[SweetAndLow]

Providing the same answer twice just helps get the point across. Also different ways of saying things is important.

 

[wags22]

Not trying to install freenas on the laptop, trying to install freenas to the thumb drive to then be used on a tower (previous versions you could write the image to thumb drive and run on another system).

The laptop bios sees the drive on the boot menu, the freenas installer does not see it. YES, I scrolled the list.
Motherboard on both systems supports booting from USB.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Not trying to install freenas on the laptop, trying to install freenas to the thumb drive to then be used on a tower (previous versions you could write the image to thumb drive and run on another system).

The laptop bios sees the drive on the boot menu, the freenas installer does not see it. YES, I scrolled the list.
Motherboard on both systems supports booting from USB.

Hmm no clue what is wrong. Another idea could be to use a VM to boot the installer then install to your USB drive. This is how I do it when I need a freenas image and don't want to burn a CD or use multiple usb's.

 

[gpsguy]

Are you using two flash drives with your tower? One, for the installer and a second one for the target device.

If you have USB 3.0 ports - do not use them. Just use USB 2.0 ports.


Sent from my phone

 

[BigDave]

+1 ^^^^^^^^^^^
Sometimes trying a different combination of USB2.0 ports will get the installer to "see" the target drive.

I think iX systems should sell flash drives pre-loaded with an install iso kinda like pfSense does, just sayin' ;)

 

[solarisguy]

@wags22, making sure that it is clear to those new to the FreeNAS world.

• The most likely reason that the installer did not see the USB drive was that USB 3.0 port was used, as in most cases FreeNAS would not see USB 3.0 ports. Sometimes there is an option in the BIOS to make USB 3.0 ports operate as USB 2.0 ports.
• One should use the installer (on CD or USB) and the USB memory device in the target FreeNAS system.

 

[wags22]

Messed with the VM, kept having issues with VM not booting the installer. Eventually took the flash drive and the cd back to the tower and the installer ran just find.
I didn't consider the USB 3.0 angle, will have to check that out later.
It's up and running, thanks for the assistance. Now, how to fix Plex!