I am setting up a pfSense box via COM port. Everything is installed and I am at the options menu via COM. The LAN has been assigned but the WAN has not (nothing is plugged in). I tried connecting my laptop via ethernet to the LAN port, then accessing the web gui (192.168.1.1). I am unable to access.
Is it possible to configure pfSense without connecting my modem to the WAN port? I would like to get everything configured before replacing my old router with my new pfSense box.
It should work just fine. Did you turn on DHCP on the LAN or set yourself a static address?
Yeah it works, better to disconnect your box from your network and plug your laptop into the LAN port. If you plug it into your network as @garethw says the WAN needs to be static or dhcp, internet access will be blocked due to the bogon networks so that setting somewhere in pfsense needs to be changed.
Very weird. After some more troubleshooting on my laptop, Windows gave me the option to troubleshoot my connection. It turns of DHCP was disabled on my laptop ethernet port. Not sure how that happen. I can now connect to the web gui.
Which netgate device are you setting up or is it a just a VM on a computer?