How to Install FreeBSD on ARM Devices – A Quick Guide for Power Users

FreeBSD on ARM: Lightweight, Powerful, and Your New Obsession
FreeBSD runs beautifully on ARM devices (Raspberry Pi, Pine64, AWS Graviton, etc.). Here’s how to install it like a pro.
What You’ll Need
1. ARM Device (RPi 4/5, Rock64, etc.)
2. MicroSD Card (16GB+ recommended)
3. FreeBSD-ARM Image (Download from official site)
4. dd or balenaEtcher (to flash the image)
Installation Steps
1. Download the Correct Image
Choose UEFI or non-UEFI depending on your board:
wget https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/arm64/13.2-RELEASE/FreeBSD-13.2-RELEASE-arm64-aarch64.img.xz
2. Flash the Image
Linux/macOS:
xzcat FreeBSD-*.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1M status=progress
Windows: Use balenaEtcher (GUI).
3. Boot & Configure
• Insert the microSD, power on.
• Log in as root (no password by default).
• Run first-time setup:
bsdinstall
Set hostname, partitions, users, etc.
4. Post-Install Tweaks
Enable SSH:
echo ‘sshd_enable=”YES”‘ >> /etc/rc.conf
service sshd start
Update Packages:
pkg update && pkg upgrade -y
Pro Tips for Your ARM BSD Adventure
 Overclock? Edit /boot/loader.conf (carefully!).
 ZFS on ARM? Possible but needs testing.
 WiFi Issues? Check ifconfig wlan0 up + manual DHCP.