Automatically Restore a pfSense Configuration During Installation

If a configuration needs to be restored to a new setup, but it is cumbersome to go through all the trouble of setting up a system and restoring via the WebGUI, there are much easier ways.

These methods are significantly easier than reconfiguring the LAN and restoring via the network. The firewall will start up using the restored configuration immediately without needing intermediate steps.

Recover config.xml

The installer for pfSense® version 2.4 has a Recover config.xml option which reads a configuration from an existing installation being overwritten. This makes it useful for upgrades, filesystem changes, or any other situation where a reinstallation is required on the same hardware.

  • Before starting, take a backup of the configuration if possible, in case this procedure does not work as expected.

  • Boot a 2.4 install memstick or CD

  • Choose Recover config.xml when the option appears

  • Pick the existing installation drive (e.g. ada0), the selection list shows the disk name, size, and filesystem type which is typically enough to identify the disk

  • Proceed through the installation as usual

The firewall will boot off the target disk with the restored configuration.

Configuration from USB during Install

pfSense has, as part of the installation routine, a step that checks for an existing configuration on a USB drive and, if one is found, copies it to the target drive.

  • First, make sure to have a config.xml backup from the old firewall

  • On a DOS/FAT formatted USB drive, make a directory called conf

    Note

    For this feature to work correctly, the USB drive must contain a partition table and it must not be formatted as a raw device.

  • Copy a backup configuration file to the conf directory

  • Rename the backup to config.xml

    Example: If the USB drive is E:, the full path would be E:\conf\config.xml

  • Unmount/eject the USB drive, remove it, then plug it into the firewall

  • Boot the install media (Memstick, disc, etc)

  • Install to the target disk

  • Reboot the firewall

  • Remove the USB drive only AFTER the firewall has begun to reboot

    Warning

    If the USB drive is removed too early, it may still be mounted and the system will panic!

  • Remove the install media as well at this point

The firewall will boot off the target disk with the restored configuration.

External Configuration Locator (ECL)

This procedure is nearly identical to the method in the previous section, but the USB disk containing the configuration does not need to be present during the installation.

For this process, the configuration file must be placed on the USB drive in /config.xml or /config/config.xml.

After the installation completes, insert the USB drive containing the configuration before the firewall boots and the firewall will read it in from there.

If it is the first boot post-installation, then this process also triggers reinstallation of packages listed in the restored configuration.