!! This setup is mainly meant for local testing by advanced users. Due to limitations on WSL's side (changing IP address, notably), selfhosting from it can be tricky and will not be described here.
- A dedicated or virtual private server with Debian 11 (Bullseye) <small>(with **kernel >= 3.12**)</small> preinstalled, 512MB RAM and 16GB capacity (at least)
- An x86 computer with [VirtualBox installed](https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads) and enough RAM capacity to be able to run a small virtual machine with 1024MB RAM and 8GB capacity (at least)
- Windows Subsystem for Linux, installed from the Optional Features menu of Windows
- *Recommended:* Windows Terminal (Preview) app, installed from the Microsoft Store. Much better than the standard Terminal, as it offers shortcuts to the WSL distros.
- An ethernet cable (RJ-45) to connect your server to your router. {% if rpi012 %} (Or, for Raspberry Pi Zero : and USB OTG or a wifi Dongle) {% endif %}
! N.B. : Installing YunoHost in a VirtualBox is usually intended for testing or development. It is not convenient to run an actual server on the long-term, because the machine it's installed on probably won't be up 24/7, and because Virtualbox adds an additional layer of complexity in exposing the machine to the Internet.
WSL is a nice feature of Windows 10, making Linux pseudo-distributions available through command line. Let's say pseudo, because even though they are not really like virtual machines, they rely on virtualization capacities that make their integration with Windows almost seamless.
Docker for Windows can now rely on WSL instead of Hyper-V, for example.
! Support for Raspberry Pi 0, 1 and 2 is unfortunately slowly dropping : building fresh images is complex, and RPi 0, 1 and 2 are ARM-32bit systems which will get more and more deprecated over time. Our pre-installed images are quite old. We recommend instead to [download the official Raspberry Pi OS Lite (**32-bit**, **Bullseye**)](https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspios_lite_armhf/images/?C=M;O=D) and installing YunoHost on top [using similar instructions as for other ARM boards](/install/hardware:arm)
<ahref="https://www.armbian.com/download/"target="_BLANK"type="button"class="btn btn-info col-sm-12"style="background: none;">[fa=external-link] Download the image for your board on Armbian's website</a>
! Current images are from Debian Buster (YunoHost v4.x) and will require that you perform a manual apt update command in SSH or CLI to continue updating.
! Answer Yes to the warning about switching from stable to oldstable.
If you are on GNU/Linux / macOS and know your way around command line, you may also flash your USB stick or SD card with `dd`. You can identify which device corresponds to your USB stick or SD card with `fdisk -l` or `lsblk`. A typical SD card name is something like `/dev/mmcblk0`. BE CAREFUL and make sure you got the right name.
Then run :
```bash
# Replace /dev/mmcblk0 if the name of your device is different...
[Ventoy](https://www.ventoy.net/) is a nice tool that makes it really easy to put multiple linux images on a USB stick. When the computer refuses to boot from an image on a usb stick, Ventoy will usually be able to boot it anyway!
Later, when you'll boot the computer using this usb stick, Ventoy will appear and will list the images on the USB stick. Select the YunoHost image, then select GRUB2 launch option (or use whichever works for your computer 😉)
- Plug the ethernet cable (one side on your main router, the other on your board).
- For advanced users willing to configure the board to connect to WiFi instead, see for example [here](https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/configuration.html#connect-to-a-wireless-network) ([or here prior to YunoHost12/bookworm](https://www.raspberryme.com/configurer-le-wifi-sur-un-pi-manuellement-a-laide-de-wpa_supplicant-conf/).
- Plug the SD card in your board
- (Optional) You can connect a screen+keyboard directly on your board if you want to troubleshoot the boot process or if you're more comfortable to "see what happens" or want a direct access to the board.
- Power up the board
- Wait a couple minutes while the board autoconfigure itself during the first boot
- Make sure that your computer (desktop/laptop) is connected to the same local network (i.e. same internet box) as your server.
- Plug the ethernet cable (one side on your main router, the other on your server).
- Boot up your server with the USB stick or a CD-ROM inserted, and select it as **bootable device**. Depending on your hardware, you will need to press one of the following keys:
- N.B. : if the server was previously installed with a recent version of Windows (8+), you first need to tell Windows, to "actually reboot". This can be done somewhere in "Advanced startup options".
The YunoHost project simplified the classic installation as much as possible in order to avoid as many people as possible being lost with questions that are too technical or related to specific cases.
With the expert mode installation, you have more possibilities, especially concerning the exact partitioning of your storage media. You can also decide to use the classic mode and [add your disks afterwards](/external_storage).
2. Select your language, location, keyboard layout and possibly your timezone.
3. Partition your disks. This is where you can set up a RAID or encrypt all or part of the server.
4. Specify a possible HTTP proxy to use for the installation of the packages
5. Specify on which volumes grub should be installed
### Regarding partitioning
In general, we recommend against partitioning `/var`, `/opt`, `/usr`, `/bin`, `/etc`, `/lib`, `/tmp` and `/root` on separate partitions. This will prevent you from having to worry about full partitions that could crash your machine, cause app installations to fail, or even corrupt your databases.
For performance reasons, it is recommended to mount your fastest storage (SSD) on the root `/`.
If you have one or more hard drives to store data, you can choose to mount it on one of these folders depending on your usage.
| Path | Contents |
|--------|---|
| `/home` | User folders accessible via SFTP |
| `/home/yunohost.backup/archives` | YunoHost backups to be placed ideally elsewhere than on the disks that manage the data |
| `/home/yunohost.app` | Heavy data from YunoHost applications (nextcloud, matrix...) |
| `/home/yunohost.multimedia` | Heavy data shared between several applications |
If you want flexibility and don't want to (re)size partitions, you can also choose to mount on `/mnt/hdd` and follow this [tutorial to mount all these folders with `mount --bind`](/external_storage).
Be aware that if you encrypt all or part of your disks, you will have to type the passphrase every time you restart your server, which can be a problem if you are not on site. There are however solutions (quite difficult to implement) that allow you to type the passphrase via SSH or via a web page (search for "dropbear encrypted disk").
!!! If the YunoHost installer fails and you can't solve the issue, know that it's also possible to install Debian and then install YunoHost on top. See these instructions: https://yunohost.org/en/installing_debian
Next you need to [find the local IP address of your server](/finding_the_local_ip) to connect as root user [via SSH](/ssh) with the temporary password `1234`.
!!! **Note for advanced users concerned with the `curl|bash` approach:** consider reading ["Is curl|bash insecure?"](https://sandstorm.io/news/2015-09-24-is-curl-bash-insecure-pgp-verified-install) on Sandstom's blog, and possibly [this discussion on Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12766350&noprocess).
!!! If you are in the process of restoring a server using a YunoHost backup, you should skip this step and instead [restore the backup instead of the postinstall step](/backup#restoring-during-the-postinstall).
In an internet browser, type **{% if internetcube %}`https://internetcube.local`{% else %}`https://yunohost.local` (or `yunohost-2.local`, and so on if multiple YunoHost servers are on your network){% endif %}**.
!!! If this doesn't work, you can [look for the the local IP address of your server](/finding_the_local_ip). The address typically looks like `192.168.x.y`, and you should therefore type `https://192.168.x.y` in your browser's address bar.
You can perform the initial configuration with the web interface by typing in the address bar of your web browser **the public IP address of your server**. Typically, your VPS provider should have provided you with the IP of the server.
! During the first visit, you will very likely encounter a security warning related to the certificate used by the server. For now, your server uses a self-signed certificate. {% if not wsl %}You will later be able to add a certificate automatically recognized by web browsers as described in the [certificate documentation](/certificate). {% endif %} For now, you should add a security exception to accept the current certificate. (Though, PLEASE, do not take the habit of blindly accepting this kind of security alert!)
This will be the domain used by your server's users to access the **authentication portal**. You can later add other domains, and change which one is the main domain if needed.
- If you're new to self-hosting and do not already have a domain name, we recommend using a **.nohost.me** / **.noho.st** / **.ynh.fr** (e.g. `homersimpson.nohost.me`). Provided that it's not already taken, the domain will be configured automatically and you won't need any further configuration step. Please note that the downside is that you won't have full-control over the DNS configuration.
!!! Yes, you *have to* configure a domain name. If you don't have any domain name and don't want a **.nohost.me** / **.noho.st** / **.ynh.fr** either, you can set up a dummy domain such as `yolo.test` and tweak your **local**`/etc/hosts` file such that this dummy domain [points to the appropriate IP, as explained here](/dns_local_network).
[Since YunoHost 11.1](https://forum.yunohost.org/t/yunohost-11-1-release-sortie-de-yunohost-11-1/23378), the first user is now created at this stage. You should pick a username and a reasonably complex password. (We cannot stress enough that the password should be **robust**!) This user will be added to the Admins group, and will therefore be able to access the user portal, the web admin interface, and connect [via **SSH**](/ssh) or [**SFTP**](/filezilla). Admins will also receive emails sent to `root@yourdomain.tld` and `admin@yourdomain.tld` : these emails may be used to send technical informations or alerts. You can later add additional users, which you can also add to the Admins group.
This user replaces the old `admin` user, which some old documentation page may still refer to. In which case : just replace `admin` with your username.
! Reminder: YunoHost in VirtualBox will likely not be reachable from outside without further network configuration in Virtualbox's settings. The diagnosis will probably complain about this.
The diagnosis system is meant to provide an easy way to validate that all critical aspects of your server are properly configured - and guide you in how to fix issues. The diagnosis will run twice a day and send an alert if issues are detected.
!!! N.B. : **don't run away** ! The first time you run the diagnosis, it is quite expected to see a bunch of yellow/red alerts because you typically need to [configure DNS records](/dns_config) (if not using a `.nohost.me`/`noho.st`/`ynh.fr` domain), add a swapfile if not enough ram {% if at_home %} and/or [port forwarding](/isp_box_config){% endif %}.
!!! If an alert is not relevant (for example because you don't intend on using a specific feature), it is perfectly fine to flag the issue as 'ignored' by going in the webadmin > Diagnosis, and clicking the ignore button for this specifc issue.
Once you configured DNS records and port forwarding (if needed), you should be able to install a Let's Encrypt certificate. This will get rid of the spooky security warning from earlier for new visitors.
You now have a pretty well configured server. If you're new to YunoHost, we recommend to have a look at [the guided tour](/overview). You should also be able to [install your favourite applications](/apps). Don't forget to [plan backups](/backup) !
