Manual Pages  — BOOT

Some newer PCs boot using UEFI firmware, not BIOS. That process is described in uefi(8).

By default, a three-stage bootstrap is employed, and control is automatically passed from the boot blocks (bootstrap stages one and two) to a separate third-stage bootstrap program, loader(8). This third stage provides more sophisticated control over the booting process than it is possible to achieve in the boot blocks, which are constrained by occupying limited fixed space on a given disk or slice.

However, it is possible to dispense with the third stage altogether, either by specifying a kernel name in the boot block parameter file, /boot.config, or, unless option -n is set, by hitting a key during a brief pause (while one of the characters -, \, amp;|, or / is displayed) before loader(8) is invoked. Booting will also be attempted at stage two, if the third stage cannot be loaded.

The remainder of this subsection deals only with the boot blocks. The loader(8) program is documented separately.

After the boot blocks have been loaded, you should see a prompt similar to the following:

>> FreeBSD/x86 BOOT
Default: 0:ad(0,a)/boot/loader
boot:

The automatic boot will attempt to load /boot/loader from partition ‘a’ of either the floppy or the hard disk. This boot may be aborted by typing any character on the keyboard at the ‘bootamp;:’ prompt. At this time, the following input will be accepted:

amp;?	Give a short listing of the files in the root directory of the default boot device, as a hint about available boot files. (A ?amp; may also be specified as the last segment of a path, in which case the listing will be of the relevant subdirectory.)
bios_drive : interface ( unit , [slice , ]part)filename[-aCcDdghmnPprsv] [-S speed] Specify boot file and flags.
bios_drive
	The drive number as recognized by the BIOS. 0 for the first drive, 1 for the second drive, etc.
interface
	The type of controller to boot from. Note that the controller is required to have BIOS support since the BIOS services are used to load the boot file image. The supported interfaces are:
ad	ST506, IDE, ESDI, RLL disks on a WD100[2367] or lookalike controller
fd	5 1/4" or 3 1/2" High density floppies
da	SCSI disk on any supported SCSI controller

unit	The unit number of the drive on the interface being used. 0 for the first drive, 1 for the second drive, etc.
[slice , ]part
	The partition letter inside the BSD portion of the disk. See bsdlabel(8). By convention, only partition ‘a’ contains a bootable image. If sliced disks are used ("fdisk partitions"), any slice (1 for the first slice, 2 for the second slice, etc.amp;) can be booted from, with the default (if not specified) being the active slice or, otherwise, the first FreeBSD slice. If slice is specified as 0, the first FreeBSD slice (also known as "compatibility" slice) is booted from.
filename
	The pathname of the file to boot (relative to the root directory on the specified partition). Defaults to /boot/kernel/kernel. Symbolic links are not supported (hard links are).
[-S speed] Boot flags:
-a
	during kernel initialization, ask for the device to mount as the root file system.
-C
	try to mount root file system from a CD-ROM.
-c
	this flag is currently a no-op.
-D
	boot with the dual console configuration. In the single configuration, the console will be either the internal display or the serial port, depending on the state of the -h option below. In the dual console configuration, both the internal display and the serial port will become the console at the same time, regardless of the state of the -h option.
-d
	enter the DDB kernel debugger (see ddb(4)) as early as possible in kernel initialization.
-g
	use the GDB remote debugging protocol.
-h
	force the serial console. For instance, if you boot from the internal console, you can use the -h option to force the kernel to use the serial port as its console device. The serial port driver sio(4) (but not uart(4)) has a flag (0x20) to override this option. If that flag is set, the serial port will always be used as the console, regardless of the -h option described here.
-m
	mute the console to suppress all kernel console input and output during the boot.
-n
	ignore key press to interrupt boot before loader(8) is invoked.
-P
	probe the keyboard. If no keyboard is found, the -D and -h options are automatically set.
-p
	pause after each attached device during the device probing phase.
-q
	be quiet, do not write anything to the console unless automatic boot fails or is disabled. This option only affects second-stage bootstrap, to prevent next stages from writing to the console use in combination with the -m option.
-r
	use the statically configured default for the device containing the root file system (see config(8)). Normally, the root file system is on the device that the kernel was loaded from.
-s
	boot into single-user mode; if the console is marked as "insecure" (see ttys(5)), the root password must be entered.
-S speed
	set the speed of the serial console to speed. The default is 9600 unless it has been overridden by setting BOOT_COMCONSOLE_SPEED in make.conf(5) and recompiling and reinstalling the boot blocks.
-v
	be verbose during device probing (and later).

Use the /boot.config file to set the default configuration options for the boot block code. See boot.config(5) for more information about the /boot.config file.