I am running HA OS 8.1 updated on 2022.5.5 running on an i5 NUC.
I am new to HA and all was going well with many integrations and general configurations working.
I am currently constructing a number of dashboards in which I wish to include picture cards containing my own pictures. I have set up Samba and used my other PC to populate the automatically-created by HA ‘media’ folder with some test pictures (small jpegs). The problem is I cannot work out how, assuming it is possible, to set the image path in the dashboard ‘picture card’ code to an image in this /media folder. I can see these pictures by clicking on the media sources folder within HA under Local Media though. I can also load pictures using a web URL but can’t set the path to the local images correctly. Have I missed something?
Hi,
To serve static content from your HA instance like pictures for picture entity cards please check the doc here : HTTP - Home Assistant
Short : create a www folder in the config folder. Place here your images, use as URL : /local/your_file.ext
You can also use sub-folder(s) in www with URL : /local/sub_folder/you_file.ext
Edit : BTW, welcome to HA
Keep your setup up to date, check your recorder config before your database size increase too much. HF !
I use the www folder
image: /local/folder xxx/picture.png
Thank you to all posters pointing me to using /local/myfilename as long as myfile has been added to the www folder. I will do that if that is the only solution. I just wondered what the auto-created media folder (that I can populate using Samba) is for if not for a convenient store of my local images and videos. I can see them in /media folder and view them, I just can’t seem to find the path to them when completing the Image Path (required) field of the Picture Card Configuration. Have I missed the point somehow?
P.S. I have now used the suggested path and it works fine thank you but I’m still not sure why the /media folder in HA seems unusable in this use case.
I’m struggling with the same issue. I tried to save my camera snapshots to /media folder, but then they were unavailable for picture card. But at least it was possible to attach the image to a companion app notification. But then I noticed that the image no longer required authentication!!! Nowhere in the documentation does it say that images in /media folder will be publicly available after they have been used in a notification!!!
Try this:
Then edit dashboard, add card by entity, search up the camera entity you created above, and add the suggested picture entity card to the dashboard.
I’m so sick of having this issue. Why can’t HA make this easy?
i know this is a very old thread and probably dead but for those who come after me: any media found in media > my media can be used, including nas drives you have linked. simply go to my media > image > click the play button > right click image > copy image link
use the path you copied in the image path box for picture cards.
Thanks! That worked perfectly.
Thanks, worked flawless 
Spoke too soon. My authentication tokens seem to be expiring after a short period every time I try the above, and I end up with this:
Replacing with a new copied image link from the media tab (containing a new token) fixes the issue, but only temporarily. Any idea what might be causing this?
Same, the URL changes after some time… Clicking the “old” url provokes a “authentication failed” event in home assistant… Any other ideas how to use images easily?
Edit: I go with the hosting my file in the /config/www/ directory like @hassiopi mentioned.
If you put the image in /config/www, then the image will be exposed to the internet. If someone gets the link to the image, they will have access…
The method I use is in this post:
Basically using the “gallery-card” installed via HACS. Then the gallery card will have access to the image stored in a directory not exposed to the internet.