Important note about SSL VPN compatibility for 20.0 MR1 with EoL SFOS versions and UTM9 OS. Learn more in the release notes.

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PC Hardware for Home Edition: Lessons Learned, or, My Pain = Your Gain

Bruce Kleinman

Reasonably expert, long-time user of the home edition of Sophos XG and (before that) Sophos UTM. It has been ages since I performed a full install … and this weekend I learned A LOT about things that can go wrong AND how to resolve them.

Motherboard is a contemporary Gigabyte H370N, a nice rugged choice with the bonus of a usable i211 Ethernet (the second Ethernet is an unusable i219, common to most motherboards). Additional i350 Ethernet (one, two, or four ports) on a PCIe card.

Issue #1: cannot boot installer from USB drive

Resolution: Enable CSM Support AND set Storage Boot Option Control to Legacy. Default settings assume you want to run UEFI only--a reasonable assumption in 2020--but the Sophos installer is strictly MBR/BIOS.

Issue #2: still cannot boot installer from USB drive

Resolution: use a USB 2 drive OR an CD-ROM drive. USB 3 is not natively supported and requires driver support from the installer--a reasonable assumption in 2020--but the Sophos installer lacks this support.

Issue #3: installer starts (YAY) and quickly stops (BOO) with "Unable to Detect Primary Disk"

Resolution: use a SATA SSD drive. M.2 NVMe is one of the most wonderful PC developments in ages: fast, reliable, affordable, and zero added footprint. But the Sophos installer is not NVMe compatible, full stop. SATA SSDs work like a charm AND that includes M.2 SATA drives. The latter are two years old, becoming harder to find, and cost slightly more than their NVMe counterparts … but they WORK and at this point the mission is all about mitigating frustration.

Summary: contemporary PC hardware with default settings can be a migraine

Awful lot of Google searches PLUS trail-and-error outlined above. I hope this saves other folks time and angst in the future! If you've encountered installation issues AND resolved them, please append to this thread for the good of mankind.



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  • 0

    Hi,

    thank you for the detailed explanation. I disagree with you about SATA SSDs, still very common.

    One thing you might add is check the BIOS, I had to update mine before I could install V18 EAP3.

    Ian

    XG115W - v20.0.3 MR-3 - Home

    XG on VM 8 - v21 GA

    If a post solves your question please use the 'Verify Answer' button.

  • 0 in reply to rfcat_vk

    Ian--

    Thanks for the kind words. 2.5" SATA SSDs are still quite common, but M.2 SATA SSDs are not. The latter became "a thing of the past" about two years ago, as M.2 NVMe SSDs are superior in every way.

    My build is delightfully small form factor, so it doesn't have room for a 2.5" drive. Thankfully for me, you can still purchase M.2 SATA SSDs though the selection and cost are relatively unattractive.

    The lack of NVMe support is a known issue … it just wasn't known to ME until yesterday. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Bruce.

Reply
  • 0 in reply to rfcat_vk

    Ian--

    Thanks for the kind words. 2.5" SATA SSDs are still quite common, but M.2 SATA SSDs are not. The latter became "a thing of the past" about two years ago, as M.2 NVMe SSDs are superior in every way.

    My build is delightfully small form factor, so it doesn't have room for a 2.5" drive. Thankfully for me, you can still purchase M.2 SATA SSDs though the selection and cost are relatively unattractive.

    The lack of NVMe support is a known issue … it just wasn't known to ME until yesterday. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Bruce.

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  • 0 in reply to Bruce Kleinman

    Hi Bruce,

    additional NICs - avoid Realtek based NICs these can affect your systems performance under high network loads and do not get an Intel i219 series they are not supported.

    Ian

    XG115W - v20.0.3 MR-3 - Home

    XG on VM 8 - v21 GA

    If a post solves your question please use the 'Verify Answer' button.

  • 0 in reply to rfcat_vk

    Ian--

    Goodness yes, I avoid Realtek NICs like the plague! I've added an Intel i350T4v2: a little pricey, sure, and worth every penny for the peace of mind.

    Most Intel motherboards today have a single NIC, and it is almost always i219 because it is part of the chipset. As you point out, i219 is NOT supported. Happily, the Gigabyte H370N motherboard has a second NIC which is a fully supported i211.

    The i211 NIC is assigned to the WAN port, leaving four top-notch i350 NICs for network ports.

    Cheers,
    Bruce.

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