2026.10.4
Home â–¸ Getting started

Onboarding Home Assistant

After you have installed Home Assistant on your device, there are three steps to complete the setup. The entire onboarding takes only a few minutes and is done in your browser. You don’t need to use the command line or write any code.

Step 1: Open the welcome screen

In your browser, open the address shown in your installation guide.

  • For Home Assistant Operating SystemHome Assistant OS, the Home Assistant Operating System, is an embedded, minimalistic, operating system designed to run the Home Assistant ecosystem on single board computers (like the Raspberry Pi) or Virtual Machines. It includes Home Assistant Core, the Home Assistant Supervisor, and supports apps. Home Assistant Supervisor keeps it up to date, removing the need for you to manage an operating system. Home Assistant Operating System is the recommended installation type for most users., this is usually http://homeassistant.local/.
    • If Home Assistant does not open at that address, try http://homeassistant.local:8123/.
    • Result: You now see the Preparing Home Assistant page, while Home Assistant downloads its latest version. This may take 20 minutes or more, depending on your hardware and internet connection. Once preparation is finished, the welcome screen is shown.
  • For Home Assistant ContainerHome Assistant Container is a standalone container-based installation of Home Assistant Core. Any OCI compatible runtime can be used, but the documentation focus is on Docker. [Learn more], this is usually http://YOUR_HOST:8123, where YOUR_HOST is the host name or IP address of the computer running Home Assistant Container.
    • Result: The welcome screen is shown.
  • If you run into issues with this step, refer to the installation troubleshooting.

Step 2: Create a new installation or restore a backup

On the welcome screen, choose whether to create an account for a new installation or restore a backup.

Screenshot of the Home Assistant welcome screen.

Creating an account for a new installation

To create an account for your new installation:

  1. On the welcome screen, select Create my smart home.

  2. Enter a Name, Username, and Password, and repeat the password under Confirm password to create the owner account of Home Assistant.

    • Make sure the username is lowercase and contains no spaces.
    • The Name is shown in the interface. You use the Username to log in.
    • Store the name, username, and password somewhere safe. There is no way to recover the owner credentials.

    Screenshot of the Create user account.

  3. Select Create account.

    • Result: The owner account of Home Assistant is created.
    • This account is an administrator account. It can always change all settings.

Restoring a configuration from a backup

To restore a backup of a previous installation:

  1. On the welcome screen, under Or restore, select Upload backup or Home Assistant Cloud.
  2. Refer to Restoring a backup during onboarding for the steps.

Step 3: Finish the setup

In this last step, you define the location of your home, choose the data that you want to share, and finish your setup.

The home location is used to configure the time zone, unit system, and currency. It is also used to create the home zone, which marks the area of your home with a default radius of 100 meters. You can use the home location and zone in automations, such as opening the shades at sunrise or starting the vacuum when you leave home. You can always change this information later in the settings.

  1. Enter the location of your home. Do one of the following:

    • Search for your address under Search address.
    • Select Detect at the end of the search field to let Home Assistant detect the location of your home. This makes a one-time request to an external service.

  2. Select Next.

    • If Home Assistant can’t determine the country from your location, it asks for your country, so that it uses the correct units. Select your country, and then select Next.

  3. On the Help us help you screen, select which information you are willing to share, and then select Next.

    Screenshot of the Help us help you screen with options to share basic analytics, usage, statistical data, and diagnostics.

    • Sharing is turned off by default. Sharing some of this data helps the Home Assistant project find out which platforms to support and where to focus its efforts.
    • The data is anonymized and aggregated. To see the charts made from this data, take a look at the analytics page.

  4. Review the final setup screen.

    • If Home Assistant has found compatible devices, you see We found compatible devices! and a list of the discovered integrationsIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more]. Some are already added, while others may need additional configuration.
    • If no compatible devices are found, you see All set! instead.

  5. Select Finish to complete onboarding and open the default dashboard.

  Concepts & Terminology