Skip to content
The XG Series hardware appliances will reach end-of-life (EOL) on March 31, 2025. Click here to see the XG to XGS migration documentation.

Page permalink

Always use the following permalink when referencing this page. It will remain unchanged in future help versions.

https://docs.sophos.com/nsg/sophos-firewall/21.0/Help/en-us/webhelp/onlinehelp/index.html?contextId=virtual-software-macOS

Install Sophos Firewall on macOS

You can deploy a Sophos Firewall ISO image on a macOS server.

Download the ISO

To download the .zip file containing the software (ISO) image for deploying Sophos Firewall on a macOS server, do as follows:

  1. Go to Firewall Installers.
  2. Scroll to Software Installers: Firewall OS Software ISO for Intel Hardware.
  3. Click Download.

Prepare the USB drive

To prepare a USB drive to install the ISO, do as follows:

  1. Insert a standard USB drive that has the specified minimum space.
  2. Open the disk utility included in macOS.
  3. Locate the USB drive.

  4. Go to Partitions and make the following changes:

    • Volume scheme: 1 partition
    • Format: Free Space

  5. Select Apply.

  6. Open a terminal window and go to the ISO location.

  7. To convert the ISO file into a new format, run the following command, replacing SOPHOS_ISO with the name of the ISO you downloaded:

    hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o sf.img.dmg SOPHOS_ISO

    Here's an example:

    hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o sf.img.dmg SW-20.0.0_GA-222.iso

  8. This command converts and renames the ISO to sf.img.dmg.

  9. Run the diskutil list and locate the path of the USB drive.

  10. To write the converted ISO to the USB drive, run the following command, replacing PATH_TO_USB with the path to your USB drive:

    Tip

    For the imaging to work on your system, you may need to run sudo dd <rest of command>.

    dd if=./sf.img.dmg of=PATH_TO_USB bs=1m

    Here's an example where the USB path is /dev/disk9:

    dd if=./sf.img.dmg of=/dev/rdisk9 bs=1m

    Note

    The = path adds an r before the device path name. This is deliberate and enables RAW disk access. If you leave the r out, the process will be slower.

    The process will take a few minutes. When the command prompt appears, you can remove the USB drive.

Install Sophos Firewall

To install Sophos Firewall on the server, do as follows:

  1. You may need to change the BIOS settings for the USB drive to start.
  2. Connect a monitor, keyboard, and a serial cable to the server.
  3. Type y when prompted and press Enter.
  4. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
  5. When installation is complete, remove the USB drive and restart the server. A first-time restart will take a few minutes.

Configure Sophos Firewall.

To power on and configure the virtual firewall, do as follows:

  1. Enter https://172.16.16.16:4444 into your web browser to connect to the firewall.

  2. Select Start to open the setup assistant and complete basic setup and registration.

    Restriction

    The setup assistant won't start if you've changed the default password from the CLI console. You can complete the basic setup manually or reset the firewall to default to use the setup assistant.

To manage your Sophos Firewall licenses and subscriptions, see Licensing.