Let’s talk a bit about FreeBSD. We could just say that it’s a Unix-like operating system and be done with it, but that would be an understatement. FreeBSD was first developed in the University of California. It’s design architecture and development is entirely based on Berkeley Software Distribution(BSD) Unix. Because of the large community behind it, FreeBSD has developed into a powerful open-source operating system. Today, FreeBSD is used to power modern server, desktops, and embedded systems. Due to its advanced networking, security, and storage features, FreeBSD has become the platform of choice for many of the web sites and most embedded networking and storage devices. 

FreeBSD is compatible with the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) platform; a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware. With this support for virtualization, you can install and run multiple systems on one single physical machine. This also makes it much easier to manage your Virtual Machines and users can take advantage of FreeBSD’s high performance even in a virtualized environment.

In this guide, we’ll focus on the process of installing FreeBSD 14 on KVM or Proxmox virtualization platform. We’ll go through all the necessary pre-installation steps to set up your KVM environment and then go ahead with the installation.

Install FreeBSD 14 on KVM Virtualization platform

In the next steps we perform the installation of FreeBSD 14 on KVM.

Download FreeBSD 14 Image

You can download a copy of FreeBSD 14 image from FreeBSD releases page or get it right from your terminal by running one of the following commands.

# DVD iso
wget https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.0/FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso

# Bootonly iso -- Recommended for server editions
wget https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/ISO-IMAGES/14.0/FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso

Preparation

Login to your KVM and navigate to the Virtual Machines tab and click on ‘Create VM’. Give it a unique name and choose the installation media.

Choose the ISO image you will use and the OS type. You will need to specify the disk size Memory for the VM.

Click ‘Create and Edit’ and proceed to edit the specs further, such as the number of allocated CPUs.

Installation Steps for FreeBSD 14 on KVM

When everything is all set, click the ‘Install’ button to initiate the boot up of the image.

The Installer will start once the ISO image boots up. Start the installation of FreeBSD 14 by clicking on Install.

Choose your preferred keyboard map. The system console driver for FreeeBSD defaults to the standard ‘US’ keyboard map but you an choose other maps from the provided list.

Choose a hostname for your virtual machine.

Next, choose the optional components you’d like to Install during the installation process. Press the SPACEBAR to select then press ENTER to continue.

Choose the method you’d like to use in partitioning your disk.

Confirm this in the next window and proceed.

Select a partition scheme for the selected volume.

Review the disk set up and when done, press the Finish button.

Confirm the changes to be written to the disk. If you’d like to make some more changes, you can go back using the Back button.

Now set a password for the system management account (root).

Select a network interface to configure.

Agree to configure if you are using IPv4.

Choose to use DHCP to configure IPv4 but if you are using Static IP on your network, choose otherwise.

If you are using IPv6, configure it, otherwise select ‘NO’.

Configure the DNS. The system will automatically detect the DNS in your network but you can specify otherwise.

Choose a region for your time zone.

Select your country or region and set the date and time.

Select the system services you’d like to be started at boot up. Use the SPACEBAR to select them then press enter to proceed,

You can also choose the system security hardening options.

Add users to the new system and set the necessary credentials and passwords.

The set up of your FreeBSD 14 is nearly complete. All that is left is to apply the configurations and exit the installer.

You have completed the installation of FreeBSD 14.

Reboot the system to login.

Install Desktop Environment

If you need a desktop environment because the application you want to use requires GUI, you can install it as follows. Let’s install KDE Desktop using the following commands:

#Update system packages
sudo pkg update

#Install xorg
pkg install xorg

#Install KDE Plasma
sudo pkg install plasma5-plasma-desktop

#Install Display Manager
sudo pkg install sddm

#Enable SDDM
sddm_enable="YES"

#Start SDDM
sudo service sddm start

#Reboot system
sudo reboot

As soon as you start the SDDM service, the KDE Plasma desktop will start immediately.

Login with any registered user and start enjoying the experience.

Voila! You are done!

Conclusion

To wrap up, FreeBSD has a large community behind it that has continually developed it for the past thirty years. This has led to it’s advancement in networking, security and storage features, which make it the number one choice for most companies.