Install OpenWRT on a x86 Network Appliance

First load the latest image using balena Etcher onto a USB drive. The latest image is:

https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.2/targets/x86/64/openwrt-24.10.2-x86-64-generic-squashfs-combined.img.gz

Now boot the appliance using the USB drive.

Double check that the USB drive designation is sdb:

opkg update
opkg install lsblk
lsblk

The default USB drive boot will not allow the download the the openwrt image as there will be insufficient space. The next step is to create space for this download. Here is the first step:

# Install packages
opkg update
opkg install parted

# Identify disk name and partition number
parted -l -s

# Expand root partition
parted -f -s /dev/sdb resizepart 2 100%

# Apply changes
reboot

Now the next step to complete increase the storage size for the download on the USB drive. This process can take a while, be patient:

# Install packages
opkg update
opkg install losetup resize2fs

# Map loop device to root partition
losetup /dev/loop0 /dev/sdb2 2> /dev/null

# Expand root filesystem
resize2fs -f /dev/loop0

# Apply changes
reboot

Now we ready to prepare the internal disk:

wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/24.10.2/targets/x86/64/openwrt-24.10.2-x86-64-generic-squashfs-combined.img.gz
# Unpack image
gunzip openwrt-*.img.gz

# Identify disk (to use in the following command below)
lsblk

# Write image
dd if=openwrt-24.10.2-x86-64-generic-squashfs-combined.img bs=1M of=/dev/sdb

Remove the USB drive and boot.

Install OpenWRT on a x86 Network Appliance

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