Created attachment 185409 [details] screenshot of bootloader In FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE using Encrypted ZFS on root via bsdinstall (no customization), the GELI passphrase prompt occurs before the serial console is initialized, which prevents the system from booting with a serial console. The attached screenshot shows the point where the serial console activates, after the passphrase prompt. (at the /boot/config line.) The following are my settings: $ cat /boot.config -D -S115200 $ cat /boot/loader.conf boot_multicons="YES" boot_serial="YES" comconsole_speed="115200" console="comconsole, vidconsole" aesni_load="YES" geom_eli_load="YES" kern.geom.label.disk_ident.enable="0" kern.geom.label.gptid.enable="0" vfs.zfs.min_auto_ashift=12 zfs_load="YES"
A commit references this bug: Author: allanjude Date: Sun Jun 17 03:18:57 UTC 2018 New revision: 335276 URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/base/335276 Log: gptboot, zfsboot, gptzfsboot: Enable the video and serial consoles early Normally the serial console is not enabled until /boot.config is read and we know how the serial console should be configured. Initialize the consoles early in 'dual' mode (serial & keyboard) with a default serial rate of 115200. Then serial is re-initialized once the disk is decrypted and the /boot.config file can be read. This allows the GELIBoot passphrase to be provided via the serial console. PR: 221526 Requested by: many Reviewed by: imp Sponsored by: Klara Systems Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D15862 Changes: head/stand/i386/gptboot/gptboot.c head/stand/i386/zfsboot/zfsboot.c
This issue should now fixed in FreeBSD 12.0 Can you wait a few days for a snapshot newer than the commit date below, and test this?
A commit references this bug: Author: allanjude Date: Wed Jun 20 00:14:54 UTC 2018 New revision: 335398 URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/base/335398 Log: Revert r335276 This was causing issues for people booting. I will likely bring this back as an optional feature, similar to boot0sio, like gptboot-serial or something. PR: 221526 Reported by: O. Hartmann <ohartmann@walstatt.org>, Thomas Laus <lausts@acm.org> Changes: head/stand/i386/gptboot/gptboot.c head/stand/i386/zfsboot/zfsboot.c
^Triage: committed back in 2018.