I just bought a used Lenovo ThinkCentre tiny to exclusively run HA. I read this article:
If I got it right, I need to:
Is that it?
While I cannot comment on your specific HW I have setup HA on 3 different x86 machines(1 Intel NUC and 2 Beelink NUC like machines). The proccess I followed is what I found on the HA website:
1 created a bootable Linux USB (I use Mint).
2 make sure that the target PC is setup to boot from USB as the first option in the BIOS.
3 boot the target machine with the bootable USB installed.
4 download and install Balena etcher to the bootable USB.
5 launch Balena and select the URL for the x86 image from the HA website.
6 select as target the internal drive of the machine.
7 let Balena do it’s thing.
8 once Balena finishes, shutdown the PC, remove the USB, restart the PC and proceed with the HA startup. (I like to have a display attached so that I can monitor this part. No required as HA runs headless. You would have one connected for the prior steps so leave connected until this part finishes).
9 Login to the HA machine from another PC and start the onboarding once HA has started.
I skipped over the details but they are outlined on the HA website and I am writing this on my phone. I found those instructions straightforward. Good luck!
PS
I have created bootable USBs on both Windows and Linux PCs although I mainly do so now using Linux. As I run Mint personally I have a bootable USB ready to go always.
At this point I have Debian 11 installed on my Lenovo. I created a bootable USB drive with Balena Etcher on my Windows PC. I boot the Lenovo with HAOS drive, I got the prompt, and then did the Onboarding which ended up installing HAOS on my USB drive 
It looks like I have to either
Or
Any ideas?
To be clear, your intent is to run HAOS on the Dell. Note: this is all based upon this install method from the HA website, method 2 (same as you linked to so I believe we are on the same page).
- Copying a live operating system (e.g. Ubuntu) onto a USB device. Then, insert this USB device into your x86-64 hardware and start the Ubuntu.
- To use this method, follow the instructions of your Live distribution (e.g., this Ubuntu guide). Once you booted the live operating system, follow the steps described in the procedure below: Write the image to your boot media.
When you booted the first time, using the bootable Linux USB did you then download Balena Etcher to that USB? If so then the next step was to start Balena.
Once Balena is running you should select Flash from URL:
The next option in Balena is Select Target. Make sure you select the internal drive of the Dell. This will pull the latest image from HA and install it on that drive. This should completely overwrite any image on the Dell internal drive with the HAOS image. Maybe you selected the USB during this step and that installed the image. Make sure you have selected the correct target drive.
Once Balena is done you should have a prompt to restart the Dell and to also remove the USB. I am not sure it could happen but if you leave the USB installed maybe it directs the startup to install on the USB (I don’t know how this would happen and to my knowledge it should not be possible but…).
Hope this helps…
It did, many thanks! 
Excellent…good luck and enjoy HA.
@vazquezjm hey … just want to say that I spent 4 hours struggling like you 
same thing … installing HA in my pendrive 
until I saw this post and realized what I was doing wrong … thanks for this post
I have also installed HAOS on a few X-86 computers. I never used the Home Assistant method with a bootable USB disk.
I just flashed the boot device to HAOS with Balena, then install the boot device into the computer and boot. Works every time.
Glad to hear that! 
Just checking to see if I’m understanding things,
So … you installed Etecher on your windows PC, connected an external disc to the windows PC, and used Etcher to install HAOS directly onto the disc. Then you put the disc into another PC and booted to that disc?
Or am I reading this wrong?
Exactly, except that my boot drive is an M.2 SSD.
Make sure you get the real Etcher from etcher.io. The fake ones spawn ads.
Other than the way that you physically plug the disc in, does it make any difference what form it take, for example, once you’ve plugged it in, is the installation basically the same for an M.2 and an old 3.5" HDD?
As long as you can flash the boot device.
