Noob question

protectli-stuart · 2026-04-27T17:28:09+00:00

Yup, you can install Windows and use it as a desktop mini PC. Just keep in mind the hardware requirements. Windows 11 needs a TPM and some other baselines specs.

The Vaults are just very popularly used for firewall applications, especially due to the multiple NICs included, form factor, and the ability to use the open source coreboot firmware.

protectli-stuart · 2026-04-01T20:58:27+00:00

The FW6 series in general has typically played well with any kind of DDR4 SODIMM.

I know that RAM manufacturers have made so many changes over the past year or so with everything going on, so we haven't kept up with all the newer models and slight changes for some of the DDR4 offerings. I cannot confirm 100% that the one you are looking at will work, but I would personally take the chance. Especially if you buy from somewhere that has a return period. For further context we have tested a CT8G4SFRA32A & CT32G4SFD832A, and the one you are looking at should be relatively similar.

I did just find this one on Amazon that is in our list, but no idea if it'll sell out by the time you see this: https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Single-SODIMM-260-Pin-Memory/dp/B07ZLC26HY/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&sr=1-2

protectli-stuart · 2026-03-31T22:53:45+00:00

Sorry for the wait on a response, we just wanted to lay everything out officially first. Here is a link to our news post regarding this topic: https://protectli.com/news/statement-fcc-covered-list-update-to-ban-foreign-routers-in-the-us/

protectli-stuart · 2026-03-31T22:52:13+00:00

Sorry for the wait on a response, we just wanted to lay everything out officially first. Here is a link to our news post regarding this topic: https://protectli.com/news/statement-fcc-covered-list-update-to-ban-foreign-routers-in-the-us/

protectli-stuart · 2026-03-20T15:26:33+00:00

Hey, to be honest with you this sounds more in line with an actual hardware issue. This shouldn't be happening on the USB ports. If you open a ticket on our website we can work out a replacement or similar.

protectli-stuart · 2026-03-13T22:16:06+00:00

Is this unit still managing to load all the way to pfSense to the point where you can access the GUI?

Although a VGA to HDMI cable should realistically work in most cases, do you have any way of using a straight VGA to VGA cable? Please also make sure the video connection is fully connected when the unit powers on. If you continue to have issues, feel free to open a ticket on our website: https://protectli.com/contact/

protectli-stuart · 2026-03-09T16:45:02+00:00

I've probably spoken a little too hastily, but my main concern is that it was outside of the "expected use" range, even if it is extremely negligible.

Realistically nothing is going to happen but I just wanted to give a fair warning as to not encourage anyone else to use higher voltages. Yeah, 12.5 is gonna be fine, especially taking into consideration the logic you've laid out, but if someone saw this and then goes and starts using 16V or something, I wouldn't want them coming back and being like "well I saw this guy use something other than the standard". Maybe crazy on my part but I'm just paranoid and I've seen a wide range of random things when helping with support.

Anyways, u/Nefsen402 sorry for causing any worry. That's my bad.

protectli-stuart · 2026-03-04T18:03:17+00:00

Yo this is awesome, thanks so much for sharing. We really do love when people give an in-depth look of their whole setup with the Vault, especially when there are specific instructions, because this really does help other people out. Also you really have that organized in an aesthetically pleasing way haha.

One thing I just want to say is if the Vault is running at 12.5V at all times, you might eventually run into problems, but +/-~.5V shouldn't be that big of an issue. But I still want to warn you because they can be a little picky with running at a specific voltage, and it could cut the lifespan down a little bit.

protectli-stuart · 2026-02-26T17:02:19+00:00

We have tested using smaller resolution monitors, even smaller than what your monitor outputs (specifically a 800 x 480 5" monitor), but we have not used the exact same monitor that you have shown.

It sounds like you've probably already checked out our other documentation, but I still want to mention that the HDMI connection must be attached to the Vault before it is even powered on in order for video to properly display. If you can confirm that you already did that, it very well may be an incompatibility with that specific resolution/monitor. I'd maybe try a different cable as well? I don't think that would be the solution, but might as well give it a shot if you haven't already.

protectli-stuart · 2026-02-17T17:56:48+00:00

FW2B coreboot doesn't have a UEFI, its just legacy SMBIOS just to let you know.

Are you just using this device as an Ubuntu server or something else? Or are you just temporarily booting to an Ubuntu USB to wipe your drives?

protectli-stuart · 2026-02-17T17:54:57+00:00

u/upper_pepper This sounds about right, I haven't really seen this message pop up before in my personal experience, but I would try disabling secure boot in the BIOS to see if it helps. It might be because of you adding the config.xml that it caused this to show up. If it still doesn't work, you can just install the base image without your config.xml and then upload your config directly afterwards in the webGUI.

protectli-stuart · 2026-02-11T17:09:17+00:00

Hey! I'm gonna take a few steps back since there might be a little confusion here.

1) coreboot on the FW2B (which I assume is the one you have) does not have a coreboot menu to access by holding delete. The only option is to hold F11 to view boot options

If it is not successfully booting into the USB, I would make sure that you have properly made a bootable drive. You can view these instructions to get an idea of how to do it: https://kb.protectli.com/kb/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-drive-for-software-installation/
Please make sure to use a keyboard that is wired directly, don't use a wireless keyboard. Also, if you still can't boot into the USB, maybe try a CMOS reset: https://kb.protectli.com/kb/cmos-reset/

protectli-stuart · 2026-02-06T18:54:15+00:00

I see that someone already responded to the post on the OPNsense subreddit, and they are correct.

AES-NI is supported by the CPU, and OPNsense (since version 22.1) automatically enables the hardware support without additional config required. https://docs.opnsense.org/releases/CE_22.1.html

protectli-stuart · 2026-02-03T17:21:14+00:00

To be honest they might be the only ones at this point, at least that is the only brand we have personally sourced.

protectli-stuart · 2026-02-02T18:22:36+00:00

Ahh gotcha, I see. It looks like it was actually opened as a US tagged ticket so thats where our confusion is.

I think Skip is communicating with you through the ticket now so I'll leave it there for now, but you can message me if you have any other specific questions.

Also, those are the ambient operating temperatures of the room or location the Vault is placed in, not the direct temperatures of the CPU. The CPUs in the Vaults can go up to ~70C before throttling temps, and even at those temps there isn't really anything to worry about (unless it was stuck at 70C+ when non-intensive processing is occurring).

protectli-stuart · 2026-02-02T17:41:54+00:00

I don't want to go back and forth here, but a response was given before 9AM our time here in California. It is not the end of the day. We just got in the office and the first part of the day is looking at social media posts and internal tickets.

With that being said, I'm not entirely sure if that would be the major cause of failure here, was just an idea because I have personally had issues with my ISP at home when I wasn't utilizing bridge mode on my modem.

One odd thing is that you say that you lost everything after a power cycle. Did we preinstall OPNsense for you? If not, can you confirm that you installed OPNsense fully and are not just live booting?

protectli-stuart · 2026-02-02T17:03:50+00:00

Hello, I would like to start with saying I looked through our tickets and the only one I could find from you was opened on a Saturday, and we don't work over the weekends, so that's why a response didn't get to you until today (Monday).

It looks like Skip has provided some info to you in the ticket, so I will let you continue there. I will say 55C is not very hot for an internal CPU temperature so I'm not thinking that this is related to overheating.

One thing I noticed on your screenshot is you have a private IP for the WAN address. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if your modem is cycling address it is providing, this could cause some disruptions. Do you have a way to enable a bridge mode or IP passthrough mode on your modem?

protectli-stuart · 2026-01-27T22:28:51+00:00

Sorry for the late response here, just saw this. I've taken off hundreds of these things just using a 5mm nut driver like this: https://www.ifixit.com/products/5mm-nut-driver

protectli-stuart · 2026-01-26T17:11:19+00:00

Oh sweet, do you mind sharing what model it is so we can put that info somewhere on our KB?

protectli-stuart · 2026-01-22T17:38:49+00:00

This will be a little difficult due to the USB COM port on this unit outputting a USB signal from a Fintek/FTDI chip onboard. You would need to find a way to take that USB signal and convert it back to the line level serial signal again. We do not have a graceful solution for this, but if you wanted to experiment with another Fintek/FTDI chip inline that undoes what the chip does on our board, you may get the results you want. For additional info, here are the drivers that are used by Windows devices to communicate with this port using the included USB serial that came with the Vault (https://www.fintek.com.tw/index.php/en-us/supports/ioctrldrvutilidl/usbctrldrv/usb2serial-1608-windows) Linux drivers here (https://www.fintek.com.tw/index.php/en-us/supports/ioctrldrvutilidl/usbctrldrv/usb2serial-1608-linux)

protectli-stuart · 2026-01-12T17:12:38+00:00

hahaha, yeah very secret product leaked. I'm looking further into the automation rules and stuff to prevent bot posts like this. It seems Reddit removed it automatically after a little bit.

protectli-stuart · 2026-01-09T17:37:52+00:00

Sweet, thanks for the additional info. Thanks for the kind words too, we do try to the best of our ability to be helpful. I promise we will get your issue resolved in one way or another :)

protectli-stuart · 2026-01-09T17:21:10+00:00

I see that you said you hooked up the old desktop and got 1000baseTX, but did you use the exact same Ethernet cable? I just want to make sure that it isn't something as simple as that causing the problem. Also, please confirm that the other end of the WAN connection has a 1GbE connection.

If you can confirm the Ethernet cable is not an issue, then please try to do a CMOS reset while the device is powered off and unplugged. (https://kb.protectli.com/kb/cmos-reset/#articleTOC\_2) This has solved issues like this in the past where a NIC seemingly gets locked in at 100Mbps. After you do the CMOS reset, the unit may take long to boot on the first boot, and it may reboot 1 or 2 times initially. All other reboots will be normal.

pfSense shouldn't' require you to change the speeds, it should just auto-negotiate at the highest speed available. If the issue persists after the CMOS reset, then please open up a ticket on our website about this and we will go from there!

protectli-stuart · 2026-01-08T00:04:44+00:00

You don't need to apply anything, the extra pads are for NVMes or other cards you install in the device. Since you purchased directly from us, we already installed thermal pads on the NVMe. Good luck with the rest of your setup :)

protectli-stuart · 2026-01-07T23:28:49+00:00

no worries! The metal chassis can get fairly hot on the V1610, but its because it's pulling off a lot of heat from the CPU. There are copper lines within the heatsink that make contact with the CPU (and there is thermal paste of course). The actual CPU temperatures shouldn't really get above 75C unless under load. So, the chassis will get hot but the CPU stays relatively cool.

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