How to install Home Assistant on a Raspberry PI

In this guide we will go over how to install Home Assistant on a Raspberry PI.

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 4 (Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is ok too, but the Model A does not have enough RAM).
• Power Supply for Raspberry Pi
• Micro SD Card. Ideally get one that is Application Class 2 as they handle small I/O much more consistently than cards not optimized to host applications. A 32 GB or bigger card is recommended.
• SD Card reader. This is already part of most laptops, but you can purchase a standalone USB adapter if you don’t have one.
• Ethernet cable. Required for installation. After installation, Home Assistant can work with Wi-Fi, but an Ethernet connection is more reliable and highly recommended.

Software

Raspberry Pi Imager
Raspberry Pi OS – Raspberry Pi this is all you would need to get started.

WRITE THE IMAGE TO YOUR SD CARD

1. Head over to https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ and download and install the Raspberry Pi Imager on your computer as instructed.
   
2. Open the Raspberry Pi Imager and select your Raspberry Pi device. 
3. Insert the SD card into the computer. Note: the contents of the card will be overwritten.
4. Choose the operating system:
5. Select Choose OS.
6. Select Other specific-purpose OS > Home assistants and home automation > Home Assistant** OS (RPI**).
7. Choose the Home Assistant OS that matches your hardware (RPi 3 or RPi 4). 
8. Choose the storage: The SD card you just inserted into the computer.
9. To start the process, select Next.
   
10. This will wipe the SD card and Write the installer onto the SD card. Wait for verification to complete.
11. Eject the SD card.

START UP YOUR RASPBERRY PI

1. Insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi.
2. Plug in an Ethernet cable and make sure the Raspberry Pi is connected to the same network as your computer.
3. Connect the power supply to start up the device.
4. Grab a beer or a coffee while you wait for the first startup and install to complete.

ACCESS HOME ASSISTANT

Within a few minutes after connecting the Raspberry Pi, you will be able to reach your new Home Assistant.

• In the browser of your desktop system, enter homeassistant.local:8123, OR homeassistant:8123.
  Depending on network configuration, you might need to access Home Assistant on `http://X.X.X.X:8123` (replace X.X.X.X with your Raspberry Pi’s IP address).
• The times on this can be a bit unpredictable as internet speed, SD card speed and versions of the PI makes it a bit hard to give a specific timeline on how long this will take. Longer than 15 minutes then you may need to restart the process.
  • If it does not show up after 15 minutes , maybe the image was not written properly.
    • Try to flash the SD card again, possibly even try a different one.
  • If this did not help, view the console output on the Raspberry Pi.
    • To do this, connect a monitor via HDMI.

Congratulations! You finished the Raspberry Pi setup!