Installing without monitor. Possible? WDPR4100

[We87]

I am trying to install truenas or freenas onto a western digital pr4100 Nas unit, which does not have video out.

I have installed other Nas platforms, so I know the USB boots first.

On other platforms, when installation starts I am able to ssh in to complete installation, without a monitor or keyboard plugged into the western digital. Is this also possible with freenas?

 

[Nick2253]

Have you added more memory to the PR4100? According to its specs, it has only 4GB of RAM, which is woefully inadequate for ZFS, rendering it useless for TrueNAS.

 

[We87]

Yes, I just loaded 16gbs of ram into it (two 8gb ddr3l)

I know the ram registered and works because while I have another OS on the box, it shows up.

When I have the freenas USB in the PR4100 it turns on, and looks like it's booting - but nothing shows up on the network even though the lan is connected.

 

[LarsR]

you can intall it on a different box and after finishing the installation plug it in the other box.

 

[Phone Guy]

you can intall it on a different box and after finishing the installation plug it in the other box.

How do you mean? When I installed truenas 12, it would have been impossible with a monitor. Are you saying create a bootable usb with truenas on it??? I didnt think that was possible, it even says to install on a ssd or hdd for stability.

 

[jgreco]

Of course it's possible, it's just not practical because TrueNAS will burn through the endurance of cheap thumb drive flash disks quickly.

You can:

1) Create a bootable USB thumb drive with TrueNAS already on it, which usually won't survive too long
2) Create a bootable USB SSD with TrueNAS already on it, which will be fine
3) Create a bootable USB HDD with TrueNAS already on it, which will also be fine
4) Variations using USB for an installer that is customized for whatever serial console your unit probably supports, perhaps a USB serial dongle

In any case, the basic point here is that USB is portable from one machine to another. You can hack on your boot environment on a headed host and then try it on your headless appliance.

 

[LarsR]

@Phone Guy no what i meant was to connect the ssd you want to install truenas on to your windows pc, install truenas on it, disconnect it from that pc again and connect it to your truenas box.