HA in miniPC with Docker, can´t find any entities

Installation
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I installed HA in Docker on Windows 11 (miniPC). I had my problems, as a beginer, but finally everithig works… except that it doesn’t locate any entities (which I know work because I started in HA with a virtual machine on my Mac without any problem). My devices are wifi (tapo, shelly and others). When I entered the very first time to :8123 HA didn´t searched for entities, nor finds them later manually.

I suppose the problem is network access, but everything seems fine with the network, the computer and the devices. The respective apps or Alexa have no problem with the devices.

On the installation instructions I read the Exposing devices section. When I add, as suggested, “docker run … --device /dev/ttyUSB0:/dev/ttyUSB0 …” to the docker terminal it responds “invallid reference format” (form c:\xxx) or bash: docker: command not found (from yyy:/config#)

What can be my problem?

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How? Docker desktop? Then read be sure to use host networking and read Host network driver | Docker Docs

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Can I pass through a USB device to a container? :

Unfortunately, it is not possible to pass through a USB device (or a serial port) to a container as it requires support at the hypervisor level.

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I think that could be the majority of your problems.

I’ve not heard of many success stories using Windows to host HA. It’s always recommended to use a Linux machine based install. especially since…

Why do you want to switch to Windows if you already had a running system?

it might not be worth the effort as a beginner to jump into something as fraught with complications as this type of install seems to be.

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I have reinstalled docker to version 4.34 and thanks to that I applied the new enable host networking option.
I have reinstalled the HA container via stacks.
Now I have been able to remove the line “ports: - ‘8123:8123’” (before it was mandatory to enter in :8123) and it connects to me through localhost:8123, but despite that changes HA can’t find my devices

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I am considering changing the installation method since apparently I can’t get it to work with docker desktop. I think I’m giving up.

I’m only going to use the minipc for home automation, but for example I want to manage the cameras with frigate and I read that in that case it was better not to install Homeassistant OS on the minipc. I also read that virtual machines sacrifice more capacity than docker.

Do I insist on the docker route or do I look for another resource from those listed?

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You know, you get the minipc with Windows 11 loaded and it seems easier to continue with that (it’s less “scary”) than to install an operating system that I don’t know :wink:
But given what I have seen, I will seriously consider that option.
This process has taken me a long time, but I am also learning a lot.

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There is a nice guide in the ‘community guides’ section to install proxmox and HA in proxmox.

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And that’s the beauty of it. You get to expand your horizons a bit. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Before I close this post I want to tell you what I finally did. I think its interesting for those beginners like me, in order to avoid the same mistakes.
Finally I installed proxmox in my MiniPC. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it is installing a Debian/Linux-based operating system, like Windows or macOS on a “normal” computer. This has allowed me to install containers or virtual machines (for my computing level it is the same) of Home Assistant, zigbee2MQTT and Docker (for the future?). With this the system works perfectly, although there is a lot to read and, thanks to this, a lot to learn. You have to have time and not be very sensitive to failures!