I used Unix a long time ago. I'm familiar with Linux, as I have installed quite a few systems.

I could not get GhostBSD to start via a "burned" USB flash drive. I burned a DVD and that worked okay.

My first problem happened with partitioning the drive. I had wiped the SSD, so I expected that GhostBSD installer would allow me to create partitions. I understand that BSD tends to use zfs instead of ext4, but there appeared to be no way to create custom partitions via the custom option. Then I tried creating partitions in advance, thinking that GhostBSD was like antiX / MX Linux in that the installer cannot create partitions. But nothing changed, though since I created ext4 partitions, GhostBSD installer probably did not recognize them. Then I tried the other option, to use the entire drive. That worked. One good thing about the GhostBSD installer is that the swap amount could be set via the lower-right.

So I finished the install or so I thought. While it was running, I noticed that Brisk menu was already available, in other words, I did not have to install a package to get it. The installation finished. I rebooted, only to see "ead error." It was game over at that point.

So my question is, does GhostBSD allow for an installation via USB, with the drive in an external enclosure? If so, what does "ead error" mean and what's the workaround?

I tried again. I did not mention before that I chose the default (bottom; BIOS) option when it came to what I assume was the bootloader step. The wording was confusing, as I expected to see something regarding UEFI, legacy, Grub, etc. This time I chose the middle option. After I finished and rebooted, I was confronted with a PXE prompt of some kind which infinite-looped.

I tried Rescuezilla to add Grub to the SSD, but it does not understand ZFS. I'll try using Fedora, which understands ZFS, or the GhostBSD DVD to add Grub.

Hi barquest, GhostBSD does not install Grub. We are using rEFInd instead.

barquest wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 3:19 pm So my question is, does GhostBSD allow for an installation via USB, with the drive in an external enclosure? If so, what does "ead error" mean and what's the workaround?

I would have to look myself what "ead error" means. Also, I think installing from a USB to a USB has been a problem for a long time.

@ericbsd
Thanks for the reply. Actually I was installing from a DVD to an SSD in a USB external enclosure, but the result is the same I think. The PXE boot, which normally means the PC is trying to boot via network, makes me think BSD can only be installed and used via internal SATA. When I can, I'll install GhostBSD on my desktop.

I did not use a DVD for years could be with DVD also.