Solved: Can access HA from localhost but not IP address on same computer

Installation
1

Hi friends. I’ve installed HA Core v.2023.2.2 on WSL using the guide at home-assistant io installation windows #install-home-assistant-core
HA starts up ok and I can reach it at http://localhost:8123
However, I can’t reach it at http://192.168.1.178:8123
where 192.168.1.178 is the IP address of the PC running WSL / HA Core.
I want to be able to use the IP address so I can access it from other machines on my local network.
Can anyone help please?

1 Like
2

Assuming you haven’t changed the name under “Settings > System > Network”, you should also be able to access from “http://homeassistant.local:8123/” - does this work?

3

Hi Michael, thanks for your reply. No, I can’t access that either - only http://localhost:8123

4

it seems to be something related to wsl’s network setting, a quick way to test it is to go find some simplest web server and run it inside wsl, and see if u can open the webpage by IP address just like u tried with home assistant.

5

similar issue here: Access a web server which is running on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) from local network - Stack Overflow
u will need some bridge to do so I guess

6

If I do remember it’s on docker for Windows where you need to bind the port to LAN.

You may also need to check your firewall rules

7

Just out of curiosity, what’s the relevant purpose in running HA-Core, in WSL ? , to me it sounds/seems like trying to maximize the complexity, and obviously not do to “limited” hardware resources

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Hi Kerbal, thanks for your replies. I ran a webserver from wsl using the command python3 -m http.server and I could access it at 127.0.0.1:8000, but not 192.168.1.178:8000, so you’re right, it is WSL’s network settings. The SO link you found is exactly the same issue, so I’m going to read through the suggestions there and decide what to do next.

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Thanks Benoit, I’ve checked firewall rules but I think they’re ok.

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Hi Boheme, it’s a good question and I may have made the wrong choice! I was going with what seemed easiest and most appropriate for my situation. I’m running HA on a spare PC, as I can’t get a Pi at the moment, and I don’t want to take Windows off that PC. I chose Core rather than OS on a VM as I only wanted to install the absolute minimum and so didn’t want to install vm stuff. That will be the next thing to try though if I can’t get it working this way.

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Have you upgraded to WSL 2 ?

On my setup everything is run in Docker Desktop,.I had to upgrade to WSL 2 to make it work.

I use it for my dev environment but dockers containers to others machines if bound to 0.0.0.0

Can you send a screenshot of your UI, the one displaying binded ports?

12

OK, so thanks to Kerbal’s link (Access a web server which is running on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) from local network - Stack Overflow) I have managed to fix this.
I ran

netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=8123 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 connectport=8123 connectaddress=w.x.y.z

where w.x.y.z was the eth0 inet address shown by ifconfig, and I can access HA at 192.168.1.178:8123, both on this PC and another PC connected to same router. Result!

Reading through the SO page, it looks like I will need to set up a script so that this will be fixed every time the PC restarts, so that’s my next task.

Thanks all for your help.

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