Installing Home Assistant Operating System

1. Download the Image: Visit the Home Assistant website and download the appropriate image for your system.

-Minimum  virtual system requirements:

2 GB RAM | 32 GB Storage | 2vCPU

2. Create a Virtual Machine:
   • VirtualBox:
     1. Create a new virtual machine.
     2. Select type Linux and version Linux 2.6 / 3.x / 4.x (64-bit).
     3. Under Hardware, select the amount of memory and number of CPUs. Then, select Enable EFI. (Make sure EFI is enabled. If EFI is not enabled, HAOS won’t boot.)
     4. Under Hard Disk, select Use an existing virtual hard disk file, select the unzipped VDI file from above.
     5. Then go to Network > Adapter 1. Choose Bridged Adapter and choose your network adapter.
   • VMwareWorkstation
     1. Start VMware Workstation and select Create a New Virtual Machine. 
     2. Select “I will install the operating system later”, then select Linux > Other Linux 5.x kernel 64-bit.
     3. Give the VM a name, home-assistant, and define an easy to reach storage location, such as C:\home-assistant.
     4. Specify the disk size and select Store virtual disk as a single file.
     5. Select Customize Hardware. Define the amount of memory and the number of cores the VM is allowed to use.
     6. Remove the New CD/DVD entry. It will not be used.
     7. Connect an Ethernet cable and make sure it is connected to your network.
     8. Under Network adapter, select Bridged: Connected directly to the physical network.
     9. Make sure the Replicate physical network connection state is not selected.
     10. Select Configure Adapters. Make sure all virtual adapters and Bluetooth devices are deselected.
     11. Select your host network adapter. Most likely, this is one of the first 2 checkboxes in the list: Select the one for Ethernet. The exact names of these adapters depend on your hardware.
     12. At the end of the wizard, select Finish.
   • Hyper-V:
     1. Create a new virtual machine.
     2. Select Generation 2.
     3. Select Connection > Your Virtual Switch that is bridged.
     4. Select Use an existing virtual hard disk and select the VHDX file from above.
     5. After creation, go to Settings > Security and deselect Enable Secure Boot
3. Start the Virtual Machine: Boot the virtual machine and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
4. Use Home Assistant: You will be able to reach Home Assistant on homeassistant.local:8123. If you are running an older Windows version or have a stricter network configuration, you might need to access Home Assistant at homeassistant:8123 or http://X.X.X.X:8123 (replace X.X.X.X with your ’s IP address).

Restoring the Home Assistant Blueprint provided by EffortlessHome

1. Download the Home Assistant Blueprint: Visit our website to download the EffortlessHome Assistant image.
2. Open the Home Assistant version installed above: Once you have opened Home Assistant, log in using your credentials. 
3. Navigate to the ‘settings’ in the bottom left. Once you have entered settings click on System>Backups
4. Now you are in the Backups tab: Click on the 3 dots in the top right, and select upload backup
5. Upload the ‘.tar’ file downloaded from our website.
6. Now you are all set! 

Installing Home Assistant Core

1. Enable WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux):

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

2. Install a Linux Distribution:
   • Visit the Microsoft Store and install a Linux distribution like Ubuntu.
3. Set Up Home Assistant Core:

Open your Linux distribution and update the package list:
sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

Install dependencies:
sudo apt-get install python3 python3-venv python3-pip

Create a virtual environment and install Home Assistant:
python3 -m venv homeassistant

cd homeassistant

source bin/activate

pip install homeassistant

4. Run Home Assistant:

Start Home Assistant with the following command:
hass