The installation of Home Assistant has many options depending on where and how you would like to run it!
The main options are:
- directly on your home linux computer
- through docker on a home computer
- directly on a Raspberry Pi 3 or above
Home Assistant doesn’t actually help itself here with all the options and there are some varying documentation that is not always applicable to all installation methods.
The easiest and most common is Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi – which will be described in this guide. The official instructions are well documented on their site.
Put simply, installation is as easy as:
- download the image from home-assistant.io/hassio/installation
- write the image to SD card via disk imaging software
- plug the SD card into the device – in this case Raspberry Pi 3
- power up and wait about 20 mins
- visit ‘http://hassio.local:8123’ in a browser
As part of the first time running of the Home Assistant software, Home Assistant will ask you to create an Administrator account for you to manage and operate your home automation.
Home Assistant will also ask you for a system name, location and allow you to add any smart objects immediately discovered. All of which can be changed or setup at any point.
Next: Step 3: Using