The Handbook

    Theme
    • Guides
        • Check a system before installing FreeBSD
        • Orient a Linux administrator on FreeBSD
        • Supported FreeBSD releases
        • Choose a FreeBSD documentation and support channel
        • Move files safely without GNU mv -t
        • Update, upgrade, or update packages?
        • Upgrade 14.4 or 15.0 to FreeBSD 15.1
        • Choose packages, ports, or poudriere
        • Choose the quarterly or latest package branch
        • Choose a FreeBSD download or package mirror
        • Make a system setting persistent
        • Configure locale, keyboard, and time zone
        • Configure a serial console for recovery
        • Choose a custom kernel, module, or loader setting
        • Run a Linux binary with the compatibility layer
        • Check desktop and laptop hardware before installation
        • Choose and check a graphics driver
        • Choose Xorg or Wayland
        • Build a maintainable desktop baseline
        • Install and check a desktop browser
        • Check laptop Wi-Fi, power, and suspend
        • Check multimedia readiness
        • Choose and configure a printing stack
        • Run Windows applications with Wine
        • Snapshot and replicate a ZFS dataset
        • Choose a filesystem and storage layout
        • Operate ZFS without losing the recovery path
        • Restore files from a ZFS snapshot
        • Read ZFS pool health and run a scrub
        • Replace a failed device in a ZFS mirror
        • Replicate a ZFS dataset over SSH
        • Change PF safely on a remote host
        • Configure a narrow WireGuard tunnel
        • Plan a FreeBSD home server
        • Choose a mail server or an outgoing relay
        • Publish a network service safely
        • Choose a jail network model
        • Choose native jails or a jail manager
        • Choose a jail or a bhyve virtual machine
        • Establish a FreeBSD security baseline
        • Choose a MAC policy
        • Audit security-relevant activity
        • Start a DTrace performance investigation
    • Integrations
        • Create a first jail with Bastille
        • Compare jail managers and OCI tooling
        • Publish a Bastille service through PF
        • Mount a ZFS dataset in a Bastille jail
        • Update and upgrade Bastille jails
        • Back up and restore a Bastille jail
        • Prepare bhyve and vm-bhyve
        • Choose NFS or Samba for file sharing
        • Choose ZFS backup automation
        • Operate a signed poudriere repository
        • Manage FreeBSD configuration with Ansible or Salt
        • Run Motion with webcamd on FreeBSD
        • Design a reverse proxy, certificates, and monitoring
    • FAQ
      • Troubleshooting
          • Recover an interrupted freebsd-update run
          • Resolve a package repository or ABI mismatch
          • Diagnose the FreeBSD boot path
          • Recover with a ZFS boot environment
          • Diagnose DNS, routing, and firewall paths
          • Diagnose network mbuf exhaustion
          • Bind a service to a low port without running it as root
          • Diagnose audio output or input
          • Diagnose webcamd, cuse, and a webcam
          • Fix USB device permissions without opening every device
      • About this handbook
      • A practical companion
      • Start here
      • Independent project

      Practical guides for FreeBSD

      A practical companion #

      This handbook collects focused procedures, explanations, and troubleshooting notes for people who run FreeBSD. It is designed to answer a specific operational question quickly and to explain the decisions that make the procedure safe.

      It complements rather than republishes the official FreeBSD documentation . The official Handbook , release notes, errata notices, and manual pages remain authoritative.

      Start here #

      • Guides provide complete procedures for common administrative tasks.
      • Integrations connect FreeBSD facilities with maintained ecosystem tools.
      • FAQ gives short answers and points to the relevant guide or primary source.
      • Troubleshooting begins with evidence and narrows a problem before changing the system.

      Each technical page displays the releases to which it applies and the date on which its primary sources were last reviewed. A separate Tested on line appears only when the complete procedure was exercised on those releases.

      Independent project #

      This handbook is an independent documentation project. It is not produced, maintained, sponsored, or endorsed by the FreeBSD Project or the FreeBSD Foundation.

      The authoritative FreeBSD documentation, including the official Handbook, is available at docs.freebsd.org .

      FreeBSD is a registered trademark of the FreeBSD Foundation. The name is used here only to identify the operating system discussed by this handbook. This site does not use the FreeBSD Project logo, the FreeBSD Foundation logo, or their visual branding.

      Questions, corrections, complaints, and other concerns about this independent project can be sent to the address revealed by the Report a bug link below.

      Independent documentation. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the FreeBSD Project or the FreeBSD Foundation.

      Report a bug
      • A practical companion
      • Start here
      • Independent project