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FreeBSD Handbook : FreeBSD Internals : The FreeBSD Booting Process : Determine the root filesystem
Previous: Loading a kernel
Next: Initialize user-land things

24.1.2. Determine the root filesystem

Once the kernel is loaded and the boot-code jumps to it, the kernel will initialize itself, trying to determine what hardware is present and so on; it then needs to find a root filesystem.

Presently we support the following types of root filesystems:

UFS

This is the most normal type of root filesystem. It can reside on a floppy or on hard disk.

MSDOS

While this is technically possible, it is not particular useful because of the ``FAT'' filesystem's inability to deal with links, device nodes and other such ``UNIXisms''.

MFS

This is actually a UFS filesystem which has been compiled into the kernel. That means that the kernel does not really need any hard disks, floppies or other hardware to function.

CD9660

This is for using a CD-ROM as root filesystem.

NFS

This is for using a fileserver as root filesystem, basically making it a diskless machine.


FreeBSD Handbook : FreeBSD Internals : The FreeBSD Booting Process : Determine the root filesystem
Previous: Loading a kernel
Next: Initialize user-land things
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Updated March 2, 1999