How to Install FreeBSD 14

FreeBSD 14 is what you reach for when you want a Unix that is not Linux — strict BSD licence, the original ZFS port, pf firewall, and a manual that is consistently the best in the industry.

Prerequisites

• A server, VM, or hypervisor slot with 2 vCPU, 2 GiB RAM, 20 GiB disk.
• FreeBSD-14.x-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso or -bootonly.iso from freebsd.org.
• The matching CHECKSUM.SHA256-FreeBSD-14.x-RELEASE-amd64 file.

Step 1: Verify the ISO

sha256 FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso
# compare to the SHA256 file

Step 2: Boot bsdinstall

Boot the ISO; pick Install. Layout:

• Keymap: US (or your preference)
• Hostname: bsd14.example.sa
• Distribution: leave lib32 and kernel-dbg ticked if you want them; for a slim server install neither

Step 3: Partitioning — choose ZFS

The installer offers Auto (ZFS) — accept it for production. Pick:

• Pool type: stripe (single disk) or mirror (two disks) or raidz1 (three+ disks)
• Force 4K sectors: yes
• Encrypt: optional, recommended for laptops, skip for typical servers
• Swap size: 2 GiB
• Pool name: zroot (default)

ZFS gets you cheap snapshots, send/receive replication, and inline compression. Worth the few minutes to set up.

Step 4: Root password + first user

• Root password: 32+ chars.
• Add user: tick wheel group so you can su - or sudo later.
  • Login shell: /usr/local/bin/bash if you installed it, else stay with sh.

Step 5: Network and services

Configure your NIC (static or DHCP). At the System Hardening screen tick:

• Hide processes running as other users
• Hide processes running as other groups
• Disable reading kernel message buffer for unprivileged users
• Disable process debugging facilities for unprivileged users
• Randomize the PID of newly created processes
• Clean the /tmp filesystem on system startup
• Disable Sendmail service
• Disable Sendmail message submission service

These are the no-regret defaults.

Step 6: First boot

Log in as your user, switch to root:

su -
pkg bootstrap -y
pkg update
pkg install -y vim curl htop sudo bash git
visudo                  # uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Push your SSH key from your workstation:

ssh-copy-id ops@bsd14.example.sa

Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no
PubkeyAuthentication yes

service sshd reload

Verify

uname -a            # FreeBSD bsd14 14.x-RELEASE
zpool status        # ZFS pool healthy
sockstat -4l        # listeners on IPv4
sysctl kern.ostype kern.osrelease

Conclusion

FreeBSD 14 + ZFS gives you a stable Unix server you can run for a decade with confidence. Update with freebsd-update fetch install, package the rest with pkg, and snapshot the OS dataset before any major change.

Next steps

• Install daily software with the pkg + Ports collection.
• Lock inbound traffic down with pf firewall.
• For a Linux-shaped server experience see Install Debian 12 instead.