i’m actually running my home assistant instance on an old rasperry pi.
now i would like to move this instance to a i5, 8 GB, SDD-driven lenovo thinkcentre that i own anyway.
the question now is, what would be the best way to set up the new environment und migrate the installation?
Option 1:
Installation HAOS direct on the Thinkcentre.
i think that’s not an option, because i maybe would use the thinkcentre for other things and not just for HA…
Option 2:
Running Windows 11 on the Thinkcentre an use Docker Desktop to run a HA Container.
Disadvantage seems to be, that in this case, there are no Addons - right?
Advantage: lightweight…
Option 3:
Running Windows 11 on the Thinkcentre an use VMWare vSphere or Workstation an then running HAOS as a VM.
Advantage → Addons are (normal) available.
Disadvantage → seems a littlbe bit oversized to me?!
My primary goals are:
HA on my thinkcentre
Using Windows as OS (because license is included)
keep the flexibility the install any other, additional “things” on the same Hardware…
Although i to some point can agree upon your opinion, im curious about your “reasons” for “rejecting” option 3 ? , im sure there are alot of this particular setup out there, including my self, and although i do see some (few) “annoying” issues, it’s far more on the + side, if your are running Windows 10 Pro, and know/read up on windows system settings… If you don’t intend to use it as “just another surf/work platform” and are familiar with which services/processes you need to have running, i just find it very convenient as im familiar with the OS, and find it overall superior when it comes to hardware support, and “drivers” support.
Spite the years that Linux has been “on the battlefield”, it still lacks in user-friendly approach and utilities , actual to some point close to absurd ineffective and to some extend complicated, unless one read/learn about Core/programming/terminal-commands ( i know, one still gotta know some here, to deal with HA)
So maybe your statement “terrible” is abit excessive ?
Windows desktop will reboot to apply changes and updates, whether you want it to or not. With vSphere or Proxmox you’re in control.
USB passthrough to a VM on Windows desktop can also be … frustrating based on all the posts on Discord. Particularly when the device suddenly is no longer passed through for no apparent reason. USB passthrough on vSphere and Proxmox is well documented (though on Proxmox I’ve also seen people struggle for some reason).
Also, what hardware and drivers it supports are utterly irrelevant to Home Assistant if you’re running HAOS.
Im not much in Discord, only during 0b, But i think maybe above is to a vast majority Oracle Virtual Box, And not VMware, actually most here in the forum who have any problems with VM seems to be VB.
Anyway i have not had any problems with USB /Bluetooth passtrough in VMware.
Reboot, configurable in grp-policy editor for W10Pro (atleast) , but indeed i still find that few times my window-host have restarted (for unknown reasons) Edit: maybe powerloss, dunno
However, HA nowadays also seems to need “Reboot” every month, actually more often than an “ordinary windows machine”
Yes but i found my self VERY limited/confused with when i tried to go for ProxMox , i never got to the point of “additional” usb-support, mouse/keyboard/memory-stick worked fine, from the ports i used.
But beside the hassle of adding additional-disks, and the overall usability( of my laptop, which im using as server ) , i think ProxMox would benefit with it’s own builtin Browser and and easy options to add/install additional packets.
Thou i like ProxMox overall, i would prefer have it running in i.e a Debian installation, i just hate when i can’t get a good easy overview of my system, and i love “dragNdrop” backup And Notepad++ … no f… VI/NANO or similar
Just because you have a license to run Windows on it doesn’t mean you should.
?