Install Home Assistant on N100&N150 Mini PC

Quick Summary (TL;DR):
To install Home Assistant OS directly on an Intel N100 or N150 mini PC, first configure the mini PC for UEFI boot and disable Secure Boot. Home Assistant OS does not use a conventional installer: you write the official Generic x86-64 HAOS image directly to the mini PC’s internal SSD. Home Assistant currently recommends booting an Ubuntu live USB, opening the Disks utility and restoring the HAOS image to the internal drive. Remove the USB drive, connect Ethernet, reboot and complete onboarding at homeassistant.local or the mini PC’s IP address. This procedure erases the target SSD completely, so back up anything you need before starting.

What You Need

• An Intel N100 or N150 mini PC with a compatible internal SSD.
• A USB flash drive for the temporary Ubuntu live environment.
• A second computer to prepare the Ubuntu USB.
• A wired Ethernet connection to your router or network.
• A monitor and keyboard for the installation stage.
• The current Home Assistant OS Generic x86-64 image.
• A current Ubuntu Desktop image.
• A USB-writing tool such as Balena Etcher or Raspberry Pi Imager for creating the Ubuntu live USB.

The mini PC does not need Windows or another operating system pre-installed. In fact, this guide assumes that Home Assistant OS will take over the internal drive completely.

Important: writing the HAOS image erases the selected target drive. If the mini PC contains Windows, recovery partitions or files you want to keep, create the required backups or recovery media first.

Before You Start: Check the Mini PC Hardware

Most recent N100 and N150 mini PCs are suitable for Home Assistant OS, but the processor alone does not guarantee compatibility. Home Assistant’s Generic x86-64 installation requires a 64-bit machine capable of booting in UEFI mode.

The boot drive must also use 512-byte logical sectors, either 512n or 512e. Home Assistant specifically warns that drives which support only native 4K logical sectors (4Kn) cannot be used as the HAOS boot medium.

That is not normally a problem with consumer NVMe and SATA SSDs, but it is worth checking if you are reusing enterprise storage or an unusual drive.

Should You Install HAOS Directly or Use Proxmox?

This guide installs Home Assistant OS directly on the mini PC. That is the simplest architecture when the machine’s main purpose is Home Assistant.

Installation	Best for	Main advantage
HAOS directly on SSD	Dedicated Home Assistant mini PC	Least maintenance and simplest recovery
HAOS in Proxmox VM	Home Assistant plus several server workloads	Virtualisation, snapshots and service consolidation
Home Assistant Container	Users already maintaining Docker	Fits an existing container host, but does not include the full HAOS/Supervisor app experience

If you bought an N100 or N150 mini PC only for Home Assistant, direct HAOS is usually the cleanest solution. You still benefit from the SSD, x86 hardware and CPU headroom without adding a hypervisor that also needs maintenance.

Configure the BIOS for Home Assistant OS

Home Assistant OS expects the mini PC to boot using UEFI. Before writing the image, enter the firmware setup and confirm the required settings.

Enter the BIOS or UEFI setup

Power on the mini PC and repeatedly press the firmware key. The exact key depends on the manufacturer, but common choices include:

• Delete
• F2
• F1
• F10
• Esc

If none of those works, check the mini PC manufacturer’s manual because some systems use a different key or a boot-menu shortcut.

Enable UEFI boot

Make sure the system is configured for UEFI boot. If the BIOS offers Legacy/CSM and UEFI options, use UEFI. Home Assistant’s Generic x86-64 documentation requires UEFI boot capability.

Disable Secure Boot

Disable Secure Boot. This is part of Home Assistant’s documented Generic x86-64 setup.

Check boot order

For the installation stage, make sure the system can boot from the USB flash drive. You can either temporarily move USB above the internal SSD in the boot order or use the mini PC’s one-time boot menu.

Optional: enable automatic power recovery

If the BIOS provides a setting such as Restore on AC Power Loss, Power On After Power Failure or similar, enabling it can be useful for a Home Assistant server. After a prolonged outage that completely drains a UPS, the mini PC can restart automatically when power returns.

This is not required for installation, and BIOS names vary between manufacturers, so treat it as an optional reliability setting rather than a universal step.

Create the Ubuntu Live USB

Home Assistant currently recommends using a live Ubuntu environment to write HAOS to the mini PC’s internal storage. Ubuntu runs temporarily from the USB stick; you do not install Ubuntu onto the mini PC.

1. Download the current Ubuntu Desktop ISO from Ubuntu’s official website.
2. Insert a USB flash drive into your existing computer.
3. Use Balena Etcher, Raspberry Pi Imager or another trusted imaging tool to write the Ubuntu ISO to the USB drive.
4. Safely eject the USB drive.
5. Insert it into the N100/N150 mini PC.

The contents of the USB flash drive will be erased when the Ubuntu image is written to it.

Boot Ubuntu Without Installing It

1. Connect a monitor, keyboard and Ethernet cable to the mini PC.
2. Insert the Ubuntu USB.
3. Power on the mini PC.
4. Open the boot menu if the machine does not automatically start from USB.
5. Select the UEFI entry for the USB flash drive.
6. When Ubuntu starts, select the option to Try Ubuntu rather than installing Ubuntu to the internal SSD.

The goal is simply to get a temporary Linux desktop with access to the mini PC’s internal SSD and the internet.

Download the Home Assistant OS Generic x86-64 Image

While running the Ubuntu live environment, open a web browser and go to Home Assistant’s official Generic x86-64 installation page.

Download the current Generic x86-64 HAOS image. Home Assistant changes the release version over time, so use the image linked by the current documentation rather than relying on an old version number copied from a tutorial.

The download is normally provided as a compressed .img.xz disk image.

Write Home Assistant OS to the Internal SSD

This is the critical step. You are going to restore the HAOS disk image onto the mini PC’s internal SSD. Everything currently on that SSD will be replaced.

1. Open Ubuntu’s Disks application.
2. Select the mini PC’s internal SSD in the left-hand device list.
3. Check the drive model and capacity carefully so you do not select the Ubuntu USB by mistake.
4. Open the drive menu.
5. Choose Restore Disk Image.
6. Select the Home Assistant OS Generic x86-64 image you downloaded.
7. Confirm the correct target drive.
8. Start the restore operation.
9. Wait until the write operation has completed.

Do not interrupt the mini PC or remove power while the image is being written.

Once the restore has completed, close the Disks utility and shut down the Ubuntu live environment normally.

First Boot into Home Assistant OS

1. Remove the Ubuntu USB flash drive.
2. Leave Ethernet connected.
3. Power the mini PC back on.
4. If necessary, enter the BIOS and make sure the internal SSD is first in the boot order.
5. Allow Home Assistant OS to start.

A monitor is useful for the first boot because you can see whether HAOS reaches its console successfully. After startup, a Home Assistant banner and console information should appear.

The first startup can take longer than later boots because the new HAOS installation needs internet access to retrieve the current Home Assistant components.

Open Home Assistant in Your Browser

From another computer or phone on the same network, try:

• http://homeassistant.local:8123
• http://homeassistant:8123
• http://IP-ADDRESS:8123

If your network resolves homeassistant.local correctly, the hostname is the easiest route. If it does not, open your router’s DHCP client list and find the IP address assigned to the mini PC.

Home Assistant’s documentation also notes that the interface may become reachable at homeassistant.local without explicitly entering port 8123, depending on the network. Using the explicit port is useful when troubleshooting.

Complete Home Assistant Onboarding

When the Home Assistant onboarding page opens, create the owner account and complete the basic location and unit settings.

If you are moving from another Home Assistant installation, this is also the point where you can restore a suitable backup rather than rebuilding the configuration manually.

For a fresh installation, allow Home Assistant to discover devices on the local network and then add integrations deliberately. Avoid installing every possible app immediately; confirm that the base system is stable first.

What to Do Immediately After Installation

• Install all available Home Assistant OS, Supervisor and Core updates.
• Create a full Home Assistant backup after the initial configuration.
• Store at least one backup somewhere other than the mini PC itself.
• Reserve the mini PC’s IP address in your router if you prefer predictable addressing.
• Configure automatic power recovery in the BIOS if appropriate.
• Check that the system restarts cleanly after a manual reboot.
• Only then add Zigbee, Thread, Z-Wave or other USB radio hardware.

Home Assistant’s own backup guidance recommends keeping backups outside the device. A backup that exists only on the SSD you are trying to recover is not a useful disaster-recovery plan.

Adding a Zigbee or Thread USB Adapter

An N100/N150 mini PC normally has several USB ports, so adding a Zigbee, Thread or Z-Wave coordinator is straightforward. There are, however, two good practices worth following.

Use a short USB extension cable

Moving a 2.4 GHz radio away from the mini PC chassis and USB 3.x ports can help reduce local RF interference. This is particularly relevant for Zigbee radios operating in the 2.4 GHz band.

Do not move the radio unnecessarily

Once a coordinator is configured and stable, leave it connected consistently. If you later move Home Assistant into a virtual machine, USB device mapping becomes part of the migration plan.

Troubleshooting: Mini PC Says No Bootable Device

If the SSD was written successfully but the mini PC reports that no bootable drive exists, first re-enter the BIOS and confirm:

• UEFI mode is enabled.
• Legacy/CSM boot is not being forced instead.
• Secure Boot is disabled.
• The internal SSD is visible to the BIOS.
• The SSD or HAOS EFI entry is present in the boot order.

Some firmware does not automatically create the required EFI boot entry. Home Assistant documents a manual recovery method using efibootmgr from a UEFI-booted Linux live environment.

sudo efibootmgr --create --disk /dev/<drivename> --part 1 --label "HAOS" --loader '\EFI\BOOT\bootx64.efi'

Replace <drivename> with the correct Linux drive name, commonly something such as sda or nvme0n1. Be careful: choosing the wrong disk can create the boot entry on the wrong device.

The command only works correctly when the live Linux environment itself was booted in UEFI mode. Some BIOS interfaces also let you add a boot entry manually and point it to:

\EFI\BOOT\bootx64.efi

Troubleshooting: Home Assistant Boots but the Web Interface Does Not Open

If you can see the Home Assistant console on the mini PC but cannot open the interface from another device, troubleshoot the network before reinstalling HAOS.

• Confirm the Ethernet cable is connected to the correct port.
• Check the router’s DHCP client list for the Home Assistant IP address.
• Try http://IP-ADDRESS:8123 directly.
• Try another Ethernet cable or switch port.
• If the mini PC has two Ethernet ports, try the other interface.
• Allow enough time for the first startup to download Home Assistant components.

For initial installation, wired Ethernet is preferable to depending on Wi-Fi. It removes one variable and follows Home Assistant’s documented x86-64 startup path.

Troubleshooting: Ethernet Is Not Detected

N100 and N150 mini PCs are sold with a wide range of network controllers. Home Assistant OS includes support for many Intel and Realtek adapters, but compatibility should never be assumed from the processor model alone.

If neither Ethernet port appears to work, confirm the controller model from the mini PC’s specifications. If the network device is unusually new or unsupported, your options may include using a supported USB Ethernet adapter, updating to a newer HAOS release when driver support becomes available, or choosing a better-supported mini PC.

This is one reason hardware selection matters. Our Best Mini PCs for Home Assistant Compared guide treats networking and Linux/HAOS compatibility as buying criteria rather than looking only at the CPU.

Troubleshooting: The Installer Cannot See the Internal SSD

If Ubuntu’s Disks utility cannot see the internal drive, check the BIOS storage settings and confirm the SSD is physically recognised by the firmware.

Some PCs expose storage through modes intended for Windows installations. If your firmware offers storage-controller modes, consult the mini PC documentation before changing them. Do not blindly change RAID/VMD/AHCI settings on a system containing data you need, because doing so can make an existing operating system unbootable.

On a new dedicated Home Assistant mini PC with no data to preserve, the objective is simply for the live Linux environment to see the internal drive as a normal block device so the HAOS image can be written to it.

Alternative Method: Write HAOS to the SSD from Another Computer

Home Assistant also documents a second method where the target boot drive is connected directly to another computer and the HAOS image is written using Balena Etcher. This can be useful if the Ubuntu live method does not work for your hardware.

For a removable M.2 SSD, this normally means removing the SSD from the mini PC and attaching it to another computer through a compatible M.2 enclosure or adapter. For SATA storage, a suitable SATA-to-USB adapter can perform the same role.

1. Remove the target SSD from the mini PC.
2. Connect it to another computer with the correct enclosure or adapter.
3. Download the current HAOS Generic x86-64 image.
4. Extract the downloaded .xz file if required by the imaging tool.
5. Open Balena Etcher.
6. Select the HAOS image file.
7. Select the mini PC SSD as the target.
8. Write and verify the image.
9. Safely eject the drive.
10. Reinstall it in the mini PC and boot using UEFI.

The risk in this method is obvious: selecting the wrong target in Etcher can overwrite a drive in your main computer. Check the model and capacity before starting the write.

Can You Install HAOS from a Normal USB Installer?

Not in the way you would install Windows or Ubuntu. Home Assistant OS currently has no integrated installer that boots from USB and then asks which internal drive you want to install to.

The HAOS disk image must be written to the actual boot medium. The Ubuntu live USB is therefore only a temporary environment used to access the internal SSD and write the image.

Can You Keep Windows and Dual-Boot Home Assistant OS?

That is not the intended direct-HAOS architecture. This procedure writes a complete disk image to the target SSD and replaces the existing partition layout.

If you want to keep Windows or run several operating systems on the same mini PC, a virtualised Home Assistant installation is usually more appropriate. For a dedicated Home Assistant appliance, dedicating the SSD to HAOS keeps the system much simpler.

How Much SSD and RAM Do You Need?

Do not size an N100/N150 mini PC like a desktop workstation just because the hardware can accept larger components. A dedicated Home Assistant installation is relatively modest.

For most users, the value of an SSD is durability and replaceability rather than extreme capacity. Likewise, large RAM configurations become important mainly when the machine hosts several virtual machines or unrelated services.

For workload-specific sizing, see How Much RAM and SSD Storage Does Home Assistant Need?.

N100 or N150: Does the Installation Change?

No. The HAOS installation process is fundamentally the same for an N100 or N150 mini PC. Home Assistant installs the Generic x86-64 image; there is no separate N100 image and N150 image.

The differences that matter during installation are the mini PC’s firmware, SSD, network controller and USB hardware rather than the small CPU difference.

If you are still deciding between processors, see our Intel N100 vs N150 vs N305 for Home Assistant comparison.

Installation Checklist

• Back up anything currently stored on the target SSD.
• Confirm the mini PC supports 64-bit UEFI boot.
• Confirm the boot SSD uses compatible 512-byte logical sectors.
• Enable UEFI boot.
• Disable Secure Boot.
• Create an Ubuntu live USB.
• Boot Ubuntu in UEFI mode.
• Download the current Generic x86-64 HAOS image.
• Restore the HAOS image to the internal SSD using Ubuntu Disks.
• Shut down and remove the Ubuntu USB.
• Connect Ethernet and reboot from the internal SSD.
• Open Home Assistant at homeassistant.local or the assigned IP address.
• Complete onboarding or restore a backup.
• Update HAOS and Home Assistant.
• Create an external backup before adding major integrations.

Final Thoughts

Installing Home Assistant OS on an N100 or N150 mini PC is slightly less convenient than buying Home Assistant Green because you have to configure the BIOS and write the operating-system image yourself. Once that initial work is complete, however, you get the same HAOS/Supervisor experience on a much more expandable x86 platform.

For a dedicated Home Assistant mini PC, keep the design simple: direct HAOS, wired Ethernet, a reliable SSD, an external backup and only the USB radios you actually need. The N100 or N150 already provides plenty of processor headroom, so reliability and recoverability matter more than squeezing every possible service onto the machine.

Continue the Home Assistant Hardware Series

• Home Assistant Green vs Intel N100/N150 Mini PC
• Intel N100 vs N150 vs N305 for Home Assistant
• Best Mini PCs for Home Assistant Compared

Datasheets & External Resources

• Home Assistant – Generic x86-64 installation
• Home Assistant – Installation options
• Home Assistant OS – Common tasks and backups
• Ubuntu Desktop – Official download
• Balena Etcher – Disk imaging tool