SOLVED USB drive installation fails (error:file'/boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found.)

[guttural]

Hey guys,

I'm trying to create a bootable USB stick but apparently something does not work.

FreeNAS version: FreeNAS-11.1-U5.iso

My hardware:

ASRock C236 WSI Intel C236 So.1151 Dual Channel DDR4 Mini-ITX Retail
Intel Pentium G4400 2x 3.30GHz So.1151 BOX
16GB (1x 16384MB) Hynix HMA82GU7AFR8N DDR4-2400 ECC DIMM CL15 Single

My steps so far:

1. Using Rufus 3.0.1304 (Portable)
2. Here are my Rufus options (tried a different USB drive before, which was a complete failure and didn't boot into anything nor do anything):

3. Using Write in ISO image mode (Recommended)
4. Trying to boot from the USB drive gives me this error message:

Code:

GRUB loading
Welcome to GRUB!

error:file'/boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found.
Entering rescue mode...
grub rescue>

And it just hangs there and does nothing. I had a warning pop up in Rufus before in which it complained that the .iso contained a 2 point something BETA version of GRUB which was apparently not available. I just told it to use the 2 point something version without BETA.

Any ideas would be much appreciated. Been struggling to get my new FreeNAS version up and running on new hardware for days.

guttural

 

[m0nkey_]

Don't use Rufus. It doesn't work correctly with FreeNAS. Use Win32DiskImager: https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

 

[guttural]

Solution to get it booting properly: used DD mode to write the image onto the USB stick.

Hope my frustrated and premature cry for help helps other noobs.

 

[Jailer]

I've always used Win32 disk imager to write my images and haven't had any issues with that. Might give that a try instead, if you're on Windows.

Edit: @m0nkey_ beat me to it.

 

[guttural]

Actually Rufus worked fine for me on my first FreeNAS installment (9.something). And it happily worked again this time :)

Tried Unetbootin on Ubuntu this time as well, but that didn't even recognize my USB stick (even after trying to force it with
installtype=USB targetdrive=/dev/sdb).

Thanks anyway for the rapid replies mates!

 

[Redcoat]

Solution to get it booting properly: used DD mode to write the image onto the USB stick.

Manual says in Section 2.2.2: "When using Rufus, check Create a bootable disk using and select DD Image from the drop-down menu."

 

[guttural]

I know, everybody should read the manual from top to bottom.

Anyway, installation worked flawlessly, DHCP IP configuration worked flawlessly, SMB share worked flawlessly. Except the installation issue this was the most fun I've had with FreeNAS since ever :)