Install on your own hardware

This path gives you full physical ownership: a machine in your home, running your suite, with no monthly bill. You build a bootable USB stick on your everyday computer, boot the spare machine from it once, and it installs Ubuntu plus the whole MOS platform unattended.

Caution

The installer erases the entire disk of the machine it installs onto. Use a machine you can dedicate to being your server, and double-check nothing you need is still on it.

What you need

• The server-to-be: a 64-bit PC, mini PC, or old laptop with 4 GB+ RAM. Old machines work well — this is a great second life for retired hardware.
• A USB stick: 8 GB or larger (it will be overwritten).
• Your everyday computer with Git, Node.js 22, and Docker Desktop installed (Docker assembles the installer image), plus Rufus on Windows or balenaEtcher elsewhere to flash the stick.

Build the installer

No configuration files, no editing — two commands and a flash.

1. Get the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/rpuls/my-own-suite.git
   cd my-own-suite
   npm ci

2. Build the USB installer image (make sure Docker Desktop is running):

   npm run installer:usb

   The first run downloads the official Ubuntu Server 24.04 image (~3 GB) and verifies its checksum, then produces:

   infrastructure/self-host/output/my-own-suite-selfhost-installer.iso

   At the end, the build prints a generated login password for the server machine — save it somewhere safe. You’ll rarely need it: your owner account and everything else about your suite is set up in the browser after install, never in config files or a terminal.

3. Flash the stick. Write the ISO to your USB stick with Rufus (choose ISO mode if asked) or balenaEtcher.

Optional: pin your own values

If you’d rather choose the machine’s login password yourself — or change the timezone or the local domain (default mos.home, fine for almost everyone) — copy infrastructure/self-host/autoinstall/installer-config/selfhost-installer.env.template to selfhost-installer.env in the same folder and uncomment the values you want before building. Entirely optional.

Install the server

1. Boot the spare machine from the USB stick. Plug it in, power on, and open the boot menu — usually by tapping F12, F2, or Del right after power-on (the exact key flashes on screen or is in the machine’s manual). Pick the USB stick.

2. Choose “Install My Own Suite (ERASES DISK)” from the menu. This is the point of no return for the machine’s old contents. Everything after this is unattended — the machine installs Ubuntu, reboots, and then installs the MOS platform on first boot. Plug it into your router with a network cable if you can; go make coffee.

3. Find the machine on your network. After 15–30 minutes, open your router’s admin page and look for a new device called mos in the connected-devices list. Note its IP address (something like 192.168.1.42).

4. Teach your network the suite’s name. Your suite lives at mos.home, and your network needs to know that name points at the server. Two options:

   • Quick (one computer): add lines to the hosts file on the computer you’ll use, e.g. 192.168.1.42 home.mos.home — plus one line per app you install later (192.168.1.42 seafile.mos.home, and so on).
   • Proper (whole household): add a wildcard DNS rule *.mos.home → 192.168.1.42 in your router, AdGuard Home, or Pi-hole. Every device in the house can then reach the suite, and new apps work with no extra steps.

5. Open your suite at http://home.mos.home/ and create your owner account. Continue with Your first sign-in.

Good to know

• The USB stick is safe by design. The install option must be chosen manually from the boot menu — the default entry boots normally, so a forgotten stick can’t wipe a machine by accident.
• Give the server a stable IP. In your router, reserve the server’s IP address (often called “DHCP reservation”) so your DNS rules never go stale.
• Backups: Connect an encrypted USB or external drive directly to the MOS machine; do not keep the only backup on its internal disk. See Back up and restore.
• Next step — a real domain with HTTPS. Own-hardware installs unlock the built-in Cloudflare HTTPS setup: your suite on home.yourdomain.example with a real certificate, still completely private to your home network.