---
title: How to install NetBSD on a Retroboot system from GNU GRUB payload
x-toc-enable: true
...

GRUB supports booting NetBSD kernels directly. However, you're better off
simply using the SeaBIOS payload; BSD works well with BIOS or UEFI setups.

GRUB is acceptable for booting unencrypted BSD installations. However,
encrypted BSD installations will probably require the use of SeaBIOS/Tianocore.

Prepare the USB drive (in NetBSD)
---------------------------------

[This
page](https://wiki.netbsd.org/tutorials/how_to_install_netbsd_from_an_usb_memory_stick/)
on the NetBSD website shows how to create a NetBSD bootable USB drive
from within NetBSD itself. You should use the *dd* method documented
there.

Prepare the USB drive (in FreeBSD)
----------------------------------

[This page](https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/bsdinstall-pre.html) on
the FreeBSD website shows how to create a bootable USB drive for
installing FreeBSD. Use the *dd* on that page. You can also use the same
instructions with a NetBSD ISO image.

Prepare the USB drive (in LibertyBSD or NetBSD)
-----------------------------------------------

If you downloaded your ISO on a LibertyBSD or NetBSD system, here is how
to create the bootable NetBSD USB drive:

Connect the USB drive. Check dmesg:

    $ dmesg | tail

Check to confirm which drive it is, for example, if you think its sd3:

    $ disklabel sd3

Check that it wasn't automatically mounted. If it was, unmount it. For
example:

    $ doas umount /dev/sd3i

dmesg told you what device it is. Overwrite the drive, writing the
NetBSD installer to it with dd. For example:

    $ doas netbsd.iso of=/dev/rsdXc bs=1M; sync

You should now be able to boot the installer from your USB drive.
Continue reading, for information about how to do that.

Prepare the USB drive (in GNU+Linux)
------------------------------------

If you downloaded your ISO on a GNU+Linux system, here is how to create
the bootable NetBSD USB drive:

Connect the USB drive. Check dmesg:

    $ dmesg

Check lsblk to confirm which drive it is:

    $ lsblk

Check that it wasn't automatically mounted. If it was, unmount it. For
example:

    $ sudo umount /dev/sdX\*
    # umount /dev/sdX\*

dmesg told you what device it is. Overwrite the drive, writing your
distro ISO to it with dd. For example:

    $ sudo dd if=install60.fs of=/dev/sdX bs=8M; sync
    # dd if=netbsd.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=8M; sync

You should now be able to boot the installer from your USB drive.
Continue reading, for information about how to do that.

Installing NetBSD without full disk encryption
----------------------------------------------

You might have to use an external USB keyboard during the installation.
Press C to access the GRUB terminal.

    grub> knetbsd -r sd0a (usb0,netbsd1)/netbsd
    grub> boot

It will start booting into the NetBSD installer. Follow the normal
process for installing NetBSD.

Installing NetBSD with full disk encryption
-------------------------------------------

TODO

Booting
-------

Press C in GRUB to access the command line:

    grub> knetbsd -r wd0a (ahci0,netbsd1)/netbsd
    grub> boot

NetBSD will start booting. Yay!

Configuring Grub
----------------

If you don't want to drop to the GRUB command line and type in a
command to boot NetBSD every time, you can create a GRUB configuration
that's aware of your NetBSD installation and that will automatically be
used by retroboot.

On your NetBSD root partition, create the `/grub` directory and add
the file `retroboot_grub.cfg` to it. Inside the
`retroboot_grub.cfg` add these lines:

    default=0
    timeout=3

    menuentry "NetBSD" {
        knetbsd -r wd0a (ahci0,netbsd1)/netbsd
    }

The next time you boot, you'll see the old Grub menu for a few seconds,
then you'll see the a new menu with only NetBSD on the list. After 3
seconds NetBSD will boot, or you can hit enter to boot.

Troubleshooting
===============

Most of these issues occur when using retroboot with coreboot's 'text
mode' instead of the coreboot framebuffer. This mode is useful for
booting payloads like memtest86+ which expect text-mode, but for NetBSD
it can be problematic when they are trying to switch to a framebuffer
because it doesn't exist.

won't boot...something about file not found
---------------------------------------------

Your device names (i.e. usb0, usb1, sd0, sd1, wd0, ahci0, hd0, etc) and
numbers may differ. Use TAB completion.
