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 download one file, write it to a USB stick, and boot the spare machine from it once. It installs Ubuntu plus the whole MOS platform unattended.

Use a dedicated machine

The installer erases the disk it selects. Do not use your everyday computer, and disconnect any other drives you are unwilling to lose.

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, plus a free utility to write the stick: Rufus on Windows — a single file you run, with nothing to install — or balenaEtcher on macOS and Linux. Windows has no built-in way to write a bootable USB, so one of these is needed. Nothing else is.

Get the installer

1. Download the image. Open the latest release and use the download link at the top of the notes. It is about 3 GB.

2. Check it arrived intact. The release page shows a SHA256 line. Compare it against your copy:

   • Windows: certutil -hashfile my-own-suite-installer-vX.Y.Z.iso SHA256
   • macOS / Linux: shasum -a 256 my-own-suite-installer-vX.Y.Z.iso

   They must match exactly. This takes a minute and is worth doing — you are about to let this file install an operating system.

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

The image contains no password

Every download is identical, so it cannot contain a password — anyone with the file would have it. Your server generates its own login the first time it boots, and hands it to you once. That happens during install, below.

Prefer to build it yourself?

Everything is open source, so you can produce the same installer from the repository instead of trusting a download. You will need Git, Node.js 22, and Docker Desktop:

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

The result lands in infrastructure/self-host/output/. To 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 what you want before building.

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.

6. Save the server login. Once you are signed in, Suite Manager shows a Save your server login panel. This is the login for the machine itself — its screen and SSH — generated by your server on its first boot. It is the way back in if the suite ever stops responding. Copy it into your password manager, then confirm you have saved it: MOS deletes its copy and clears it from the server’s screen. The same login is also shown on a monitor plugged into the server, if you would rather read it there.

Continue with Your first sign-in.

Good to know

• Installation does not start automatically. The destructive install option must be chosen manually from the boot menu; the default entry boots normally.
• 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.
• Keep the server physically secure. The disk is not encrypted today, so anyone who walks off with the machine can read what is on it. Full-disk encryption is planned; until then, treat physical access to the server the way you’d treat physical access to a filing cabinet, and prefer a machine that isn’t easy to pocket. Apps that encrypt data on your device before sending it are unaffected.
• Setup happens over your local network, unencrypted. You create the owner account at http://home.mos.home/ before any certificate exists, so do this on a network you trust rather than shared or public Wi-Fi. Adding HTTPS below closes this.
• Some apps need HTTPS before they work at all. A fresh self-hosted suite is served over plain http://, and browsers withhold part of their cryptography from insecure addresses. Password managers are the clearest case — they will not work until your suite has a certificate. If that is what you came for, do the Cloudflare HTTPS setup first. Most other apps are fine on plain HTTP inside your own network.
• 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.