So you have an ISO file that you want on a flash drive, or some other USB storage device. You also need to be able to boot from it. Sounds straightforward, right? Copy the file over and you're done!
- PfSense is a free and open source firewall and router that also features unified threat management, load balancing, multi WAN, and more.
- Hello, I wanted to install pfSense on my new custom built router powered by a J3355B-ITX board and cpu. Unfortunately, I have problems installing pfSense via usb drive. I tried several tools (Win32DiskImager, Rufus, etc), and I tried all versions (memstick installer, iso installer), but UEFI tells me every time that no bootable device could be.
Nov 15, 2013 How to create a 3D Terrain with Google Maps and height maps in Photoshop - 3D Map Generator Terrain - Duration: 20:32. Orange Box Ceo 7,614,009 views. I have the same problems as some of the other commenters above that tried to create an USB installer for OPNsense using Rufus. I though I would add my comment incase any other reads have an issue similar to mine.
Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Properly burning an ISO to USB is different than just copying the file. It's even different than burning an ISO to a disc. Adding to the complexity is that you plan on booting from the USB drive once you're done getting the ISO image on there.
See Burning an ISO to USB When You Don't Need to Boot From It at the bottom of the page if that's your plan instead. That process is a bit different..and easier!
We should mention here that you're never technically 'burning' anything to a USB drive since there are no lasers or similar technology involved. This term has just been carried over from the common practice of burning an ISO image to an optical disc.
Regardless, there's a fantastic free tool that will handle all of this for you automatically. Continue on below for an easy tutorial on how to burn an ISO file to USB with the free Rufus program.
How to Burn an ISO File to a USB Drive
This process also works to burn a Windows 10 ISO to USB. However, doing so via Microsoft's Windows 10 download and installation tool is best. Our How and Where to Download Windows 10 piece explains everything you need to know.
Time Required: 'Burning' an ISO image file to a USB device, like a flash drive, usually takes less than 20 minutes but the total time depends a lot on the size of the ISO file.
- Download Rufus, a free tool that will correctly prepare the USB drive, automatically extract the contents of the ISO file you have, and properly copy the files contained within it to your USB device, including any files in the ISO needed to make it bootable.Rufus is a portable program (does not install), works on Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP, and will 'burn' an ISO image file to any type of USB storage device you happen to have. Be sure to choose Rufus 3.4 Portable on their site.If you'd prefer to use a different ISO-to-USB tool, some other good ones include UNetbootin, ISO to USB, and Universal USB Installer. Of course, if you do choose another program, you won't be able to follow the instructions we've written here because they pertain specifically to Rufus.
- Double-click or double-tap on the rufus-3.4p.exe file that you just downloaded. The Rufus program will start right away. Download free youtube videos.As we mentioned earlier, Rufus is a portable program, meaning that it just runs as is. This is a big reason why we prefer this ISO-to-USB program over some of the other options out there.When first opening Rufus, you're asked whether the program should occasionally check for updates. It's up to you whether you want to enable this but it's probably best to choose Yes if you plan to use Rufus again in the future.
- Insert the flash drive or other USB device into your computer that you want to 'burn' the ISO file to, assuming it's not already plugged in.Shockwave adds games frequently so there are always new games available. Bejeweled 2 free game no download needed.Burning an ISO image to a USB drive will erase everything on the drive! Before continuing, check that the USB drive is empty or that you have backed up any files you want to keep.
- From the Device drop-down at the top of the Rufus program screen, choose the USB storage device you want to burn the ISO file to.Rufus tells you the size of the USB device, as well as the drive letter and current free space on the drive. Use this information to double-check that you're choosing the correct USB device, assuming you have more than one plugged in. Don't worry about the free space indicated since you'll be erasing the entire drive as part of this process.If no USB drive is listed under Device, or you can't find the drive you're expecting to see, there might be an issue with the USB device you're planning on using for the ISO image, or Windows is having some sort of problem seeing the drive. Try another USB device and/or another USB port on your computer.
- From the Boot selection drop-down, make sure Disk or ISO image (Please select) is chosen.
- Click SELECT.
- When the Open window appears, locate and then select the ISO image you want to burn to the flash drive.
- Once selected, tap or click Open.
- Wait while Rufus inspects the ISO file you chose. This might take several seconds or may go by so quickly that you don't even notice.If you get an Unsupported ISO message, the ISO you chose is not supported for burning to USB by Rufus. In this case, try one of the other programs listed in Tip #3 below or check with the maker of the ISO image for more help getting their software to work from a USB drive.
- Under the Image option area, pick Standard Windows installationif you see this and if that's the case.For example, if you're putting a Windows installation ISO image onto the flash drive, and you get this option, you'd want to enable it for sure.
- Leave the Partition scheme, Target system, File system, and Cluster size options alone unless you know what you're doing or you've been advised to set any of those parameters to something else.For example, maybe a bootable tool you downloaded in ISO format advised on its website to make sure the file system is FAT32 instead of NTFS if you're burning to USB. In that case, make the File system change to FAT32 before continuing.
- You're welcome to enter a custom volume label in the Volume label field, but leaving it at whatever the default happens to be, or even blank, shouldn't have any impact on anything.
- Under Format Options, inside the Show advanced format options menu, you'll see a number of.. yes, format options! You can leave all of them in their default state but you're welcome to select Check device for bad blocks if you have some concern that the flash drive or USB device you're using may have an issue.1 Pass is just fine in most cases but knock that up to 2, 3, or even 4 if you've had issues with this drive before.
- Tap or click on START to start the 'burning' of the ISO file to the USB device you chose.If you get an Image is too big message, you'll need to use a larger USB device or choose a smaller ISO image.
- Tap or click OK to the WARNING: ALL DATA ON DEVICE 'XYZ' WILL BE DESTROYED message that appears next.Take this message seriously! Make sure the flash drive or other USB device is empty or that you're fine with erasing everything on it.
- Wait while Rufus properly formats the USB drive so it's bootable, and then copies all of the files to the drive that are contained in the ISO image you selected in Step 8.The total time to do this depends very much on how large the ISO file is that you're working with. Some small diagnostic tools (like the 18 MB ONTP&RE ISO) take under one minute, while larger images (like a 5 GB Windows 10 ISO) could take closer to 20 minutes. Your computer and USB hardware speeds are a big factor here as well.
- Once the status at the bottom of the Rufus program window says READY, you can close Rufus and remove the USB drive.
Booting From the USB Drive
Now that the ISO file is properly 'burned' to the USB drive, you can boot from it and then continue with whatever it is you're using this bootable drive for.
For example, if you've put a memory testing program on a flash drive, you can now boot from that flash drive and test your RAM with it. Same goes for bootable hard drive testing programs, password recovery tools, data wipe programs, antivirus tools, etc.
You're more than welcome to use the procedure we've outlined above with Rufus for Windows ISO images, like those you might have downloaded for Windows 8, Windows 7, etc. However, there is a more 'official' procedure that uses free software direct from Microsoft.
We've written complete tutorials on these procedures, which also includes guidance on other aspects of installing Windows from a USB stick. See How to Install Windows 8 From USB or How to Install Windows 7 From USB, depending on the version of Windows you're installing.
Booting from a USB drive is often as easy as plugging the drive in to any free USB port and then restarting your computer, but it can sometimes be much more complicated. See our How to Boot From a USB Drive tutorial if you need help.
Burning an ISO to USB When You Don't Need to Boot From It
Rufus, and related ISO-to-USB tools, are great when you need to get some sort of bootable program, or even an entire operating system, onto a USB drive. However, what if you have an ISO image that you want to 'burn' to a USB drive that isn't intended to be booted from? An ISO of Microsoft Office comes to mind as a common example.
In these cases, think of the ISO image you're working with as just any other compressed format, like a ZIP file. Use your favorite file compression program — we often recommend the free 7-Zip tool — to extract the contents of the ISO image directly onto the previously-formatted flash drive. That's it!
See this List of Free File Extractor Programs for some more free programs that work with ISO files in this way.
The Internet is full of harmful objects or security issues such as viruses, malware, ransomware hackers and more. The big organizations spend an enormous amount of money to maintain security infrastructure and in building firewalls to protect their internal networks and data.
To secure home or office networks you don’t need to spend a heavy amount, it can be possible with the help of simple open source firewall Linux operating systems like PfSense. It is a network firewall or router software distribution based on FreeBSD. Anyone with some technical knowledge can turn an old system or routers into a dedicated network firewall.
However, the pfSense is not alone opensource firewall there are a couple of others too, you can see our articles for more information on this: Nine Top opensource network firewall Linux systems.
The pfSense should be installed between the Internet and other products that are using the Internet as shown in the above diagram. Also, make sure the system you are using for the pfSense must have two network interfaces one for WAN and others to connect LAN.
The minimum hardware or system requirements for the pfSense are also basic, any old system with below-given configuration can easily handle the installation and process…
Linux pfSense System Requirements: | |
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Requirements Specific to Individual Platforms: | |
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Here in this tutorial, we let you know how to install & setup pfSense on Virtualbox and Vmware.
The process of Linux pfSense installation on Virtualbox is same for Linux Ubuntu, Windows, MacOS or any other operating system and the same for Vmware Workstation player too.
Note: To set up and use pfSense on Virtualbox virtual machine environment as a firewall to save the network from threats; your physical machine should have two adapters. It can be Wireless+Wilress or Wireless + Ethernet or Ethernet+Ethernet.
Note: If you just want to test the pfSense then one network adapter can be used to access it by setting up a same physical adapter for both virtual adapter of VirtualBox and later when the installation is done the just manually enter the LAN address within same range to WAN address from pfSense management screen.
In our case: We have one Wireless that we are using to access the internet and one is ethernet that is connected to the internet network switch from where further devices such as laptops, printers, router, are connected.
pfSense VirtualBox / Vmware Virtual machine internal/external network diagram
Step 1: Download pfSense ISO file
Go to the pfSense website and download the pfSense ISO file. Select the architecture AMD64 and CD image (ISO) installer and click on the Download button.
Step 2: Setup Virtual box for pfSense
Assuming that you already have the Virtualbox installed on your system, if not then first download and install that.
- Open the Virtualbox.
- Click on New Button.
- Give some name to your machine as we have given pfSense. From Type select the BSD and Version: FreeBSD (64-bit). Assing memory around 1Gb for better performance and then click on the Create button.
- Select Create a virtual disk now option.
Step 3: Create a Virtual hard disk for pfSense
- Select the size of the hard disk you want to assign to pfSense firewall. Like we have given the 4GB which is more than enough.
- Select the hard disk file type, you can select any of them.
- Click on the Create button.
Step 4: Add pfSense ISO image to Virtualbox
Select the newly created pfSense virtual machine and then click on the settings option.
- Click on the Storage settings option
- Select the Empty CD ROM icon
- Click on the CD icon given on the right side of the Optical drive drop down box.
- Use the Choose Virtual Optical disk file option to select the downloaded pfSense image.
Once you select the pfSense image it will show under the Storage devices section of the Virtual box.
Step 5: VirtualBox network settings for the pfSense virtual machine
Now from the Network settings, you need to add two adapters for your pfSense firewall. One is acting as WAN and another one is for LAN or internal network.
Note: If you just want to test the firewall and only have one physical adapter then you can use the same adapter in Adapter 1 and Adapter 2.
Enable the second adapter and select the adapter that is attached to your internal network. Add press OK
Note: The Name of the adapter would be different in your case.
Step 6: Start pfSense Virtual machine
Step 7: pfSense Boot screen
The pfSense will start boot automatically in few seconds to install the firewall on Virtualbox.
Step 8: Accept the distribution license for pfSense.
Hit the Enter key to move further
Step 9: Install pfSense
Again leave the default settings and just hit the Enter button to make the install.
Step 10: Guided Disk setup
Hit the OK button…
Step 11: Continue with default keymap
If you are using the standard keyboard which generally we all do, then leave the setting as it is and press the Enter button.
Step 12: Manual configuration: Select No
There is no need to do any manual modifications just select the No option and press the Enter button
Step 13: Eject the attached ISO image of pfSense.
Select the Devices->Optical Drives and then click on pfSense ISO.
You will get a pop-up to force unmount the ISO click on the Force unmount option.
Step 14: Reboot the pfSense virtual machine
Click on the Reboot option when appears.
Step 15: pfSense IP addresses
Once the pfSesne gets booted you will receive two IP addresses one is which pfSesne got for WAN access and other is for the local network.
In our case:
WAN: 192.168.43.141 (Adapter 1 of Virtual box)
LAN: 192.168.1.1 (Adapter 2 of Virtual box)
To access the front end or Web interface of pfSesne to configure it. You need to go to the system that connected to the Adapter 2 or LAN (em1) network of the computer/server in which you have installed the pfSense Virtual machine.
Step 16: pfSense default password
Rufus Download
In the browser, type, the LAN IP address mentioned on the pfSense booted screen. As soon as you enter it will show https error just add it as an exception and click on the link proceed safely. When the pfSense login screen appears to enter the default password and username type them username: adminand password: pfsense respectively.
Step 17: Follow the guides screen of pfSense firewall
Leave LAN interface IP address as it is… and click on the Next.
Update the Admin password when it asks for…
Complete the pfSesne setup wizard and Click on the Finish button…
Now the Dashboard of the pfSense will appear from where you can control firewall, VPN, Status, Interfaces, System, Diagnostics…
If you are using the VMware Workstation then everything from pfSense installation to setup will same except the creating of Virtual Machine on it.
To create a virtual machine on VMware open it and click on the Create a New Virtual Machine option.
Select the Installed disc Image file (ISO) option and then click on the Browser button and select the downloaded pfSesne ISO image and then click on the Next button.
Type some custom name if you wish to give your pfSense VM and then click on the Next button.
Click on the Customize Hardware button…
Change the RAM to 1 or 2GB and then click on the ADD button to add one more Network Adapter for pfSense VM. For both, the network adapters select the bridge option and then select the Adapters using the Configure adapter option. As we did for Virtualbox above.
In this way, you can use the install, setup and use the pfSense firewall on Virtualbox or Vmware workstation player virtual machine to use it as a commercial, home or office firewall solutions without wasting hardware resources.
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