I have an old PC that I want to use solely for HA and I want to run things headless. Also, I want to be able to use add-ons… So, I will have to install HAOS… But, it looks like there is no option for downloading a Linux-based HAOS image and flashing it to a hard drive.
It looks like I need to be running a KVM or similar hypervisor in order to install a Linux-based HAOS.
Am I mistaken?
Why is this?
Can you recommend a good solution?
Sure there is: https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/generic-x86-64
This requires a system that supports UEFI boot mode.
Also “Linux-based HAOS” is a bit of a misnomer. HAOS is the operating system (it is linux based but a very special flavour - buildroot).
Wow, thanks! I’m so glad that I was mistaken. I admit I would have expected this option to be in the Linux section of the installation options. But hey, I’m just glad I was wrong.
Thanks for the speedy response!
Make sure your system BIOS supports UEFI boot first.
Okay, will do. Also, I get it now… The Linux misnomer… Makes a bit more sense now.
Why not run HAOS in a virtual machine? It means you can use the box for other things as well. For example, I have another VM for ‘other’ docker containers like Plex server. I use VirtualBox and appreciate that a snapshot takes less than 10 seconds. I take one before tinkering or installing monthly updates so I can restore if I screw it up. It’s also handy to remotely “show” the HAOS VM to get to the HA CLI.
Because they said: