FreeBSD-15.1 qcow2 images readme

Updated 07-13-2026
FreeBSD-15.1-p1-amd64-ufs-07132026.qcow2
Updated 07-13-2026
FreeBSD-15.1-p1-amd64-zfs-07132026.qcow2
These 2 qcow2 images are from a FreeBSD-15.1 Proxmox VM that's been updated and upgraded with the FreeBSD
"pkg" package manager. I've included the command line filemanager (Midnight Commander) "mc", that you can use
for easy editing of files if you want. SSHD is enabled, but you will need to use VNC to add a user or permit root login.
These images are ready to run, and come on a 10GB / partition that can be enlarged to the max capacity of the drive
it is ran on. I had the qcow2 images set to auto resize at boot, but it was not working as expected at my provider.

Upload your chosen qcow2 image to your VPS/VDS/DS provider as a custom image.

Install it to a server at your VPS/VDS/DS provider.

VNC to the server with the VNC address given to you by your provider. I use TigerVNC for my VNC client.

Log on to your server with:
```
user: root
password: slacker
```

Change the password to something more secure with:
```
passwd
```
Add a user to login to your server with:
```
adduser
```
Accept all the defaults except for "Invite user into other groups?" enter "wheel". That way you can switch to root with "su - root".
If you want to be able to login as root, then edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and change "#PermitRootLogin no" to "PermitRootLogin yes" to allow root login.
Note! You can use "vi" or "mc -u" (Midnight Commander) to edit files. I use "mc -u" to edit files, it's faster and easier.

Next we need to configure the network device:

You'll need the following info about your server from your VPS provider:

ipv4:
ip: eg. 111.222.33.44
netmask: eg. 255.255.248.0
gateway: eg. 111.222.333.1

ipv6 - optional:
ip: eg. 2601:a143:2228:3183::1 # You'll have to get this from your VPS provider.
gateway: eg. fe80::1 # This is the local ipv6 gateway that everybody uses.

Edit /etc/rc.conf and change the following:

ipv4:
Underneath hostname="slacker" add the following 2 lines:

ifconfig_vtnet0="inet your_ip netmask your_netmask"
defaultrouter="your_gateway"

ipv6 - optional:
This is optional. If you want to support ipv4 and ipv6, then you'll need your server's ipv6 ip with prefix length. 
The ipv6 gateway I'm using is local, and should be the ipv6 gateway everybody uses.
Add the following 3 lines:

ipv6_activate_all_interfaces="YES"
ifconfig_vtnet0_ipv6="inet6 2001:db8::10 prefixlen 64" # Change this to match your server's ipv6 ip.
ipv6_defaultrouter="fe80::1%vtnet0" # This is the local ipv6 gateway that everybody uses.

These latest FreeBSD qcow2 images are set to use their own local DNS resolver with Unbound. Check /etc/resolv.conf and make sure it matches what is below:

nameserver 127.0.0.1
options edns0

Hopefully your networking will work now, and you can reboot and login with PuTTY.

Reboot:
```
reboot
```
Then login to your server with PuTTY to finish the setup.

Enlarge the root partition from 10gb to the max size of the drive it is on:
```
/etc/rc.d/growfs start
```
Set your timezone:
```
tzsetup
```
Set your hostname (FQDN), and of course adjust for your actual FQDN:
```
sysrc hostname="mail.example.org"
```
Then run the echo command below to set your /etc/hosts file, and of course adjust for your actual FQDN:
```
echo "127.0.0.1 mail.example.org mail 
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost" > /etc/hosts
```
Next we need to do a system update:
```
pkg update
pkg upgrade
```
If your system was upgraded, then do a reboot:
```
reboot
```

Next we need to install some needed packages:

pkg install -y gcc gmake cmake python php84 php84-pecl-imagick bind-tools 7-zip m4 git gnupg sudo perl5 openssl40 bash bsddialog \
p5-App-cpanminus p5-App-cpanoutdated mc htop neofetch gzip unzip shared-mime-info ca_root_nss bzip2-1.0.8_1 pftop gsed vim

A lot of stuff was added, so do a reboot:

reboot

You can install SlackerMail-FreeBSD now if you want by going here. It takes about 4-5 minutes to install.
If you want to install SlackerMail-FreeBSD by hand start here. It will take about a day to finish.
After you get SlackerMail-FreeBSD installed you'll probably want to switch from the self signed certs to the Let's Encrypt certs. Go here for the how-to.

Apache v2.4.68 Apache

SlackerMail v0.65.1

Please send any feedback to: wjack@the-slacker.com