Follow these instructions to install FreeBSD on a dedicated server, from a Linux rescue environment

1. Boot into the rescue console for your dedicated server

• Hetzner Rescue
• OVHCloud Rescue
• Xneelo Rescue

SSH into the rescue control as root. Prepare file path or URL of SSH public key.

2. Download and run the installer script

Download and run the mfsBSD-based installer for FreeBSD, with root-on-ZFS.

wget [--no-check-certificate] https://depenguin.me/run.sh \
&& chmod +x run.sh \
&& ./run.sh [ -d ] [ -r ram ] [ -m (url of own mfsbsd image) ] authorized_keys ...

Parameters in [ square brackets ] are optional.

The wget command may require the parameter "--no-check-certificate" if SSL validation fails on some rescue systems.

You must specify at least one authorized_keys source. URL and local file is supported.

Example invocations

./run.sh https://example.org/mypubkey
./run.sh /tmp/my_public_key

The default installer is currently version 14.3. You can also pass in a parameter and URL to use a specific version of the installer.

./run.sh -m https://depenguin.me/files/mfsbsd-13.5-RELEASE-amd64.iso https://example.org/mypubkey


3. Connect via SSH

Wait until the script reports SSH to be available (takes a few minutes) then connect.

ssh -p 1022 mfsbsd@your-host-ip

Once logged in, you can sudo su - to root without a password. You cannot login as root.

If you have trouble with the connection, wait 2 minutes and try again.

4. Install FreeBSD or rescue your system

Choose your own adventure