Install Home Assistant on Raspberry Pi 5 (2026 condensed guide)

Also available in French.

Running Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi 5 is straightforward in 2026: Raspberry Pi Imager can write Home Assistant OS directly to microSD or NVMe. This page is a condensed path; for every option (remote access, HACS, add-ons, troubleshooting), use the official guide: Home Assistant installation and Home Assistant on Raspberry Pi.

Hardware choice: Home Assistant Green vs Raspberry Pi 5.

What you need

• Raspberry Pi 5 (4 GB is enough for most homes; 8 GB if you plan heavy video or many integrations)
• Official 27 W USB-C PSU (under-power causes random freezes)
• microSD (32–64 GB, quality brand) or NVMe + Pi 5 M.2 HAT for faster, longer-lived storage
• Ethernet cable (preferred over Wi-Fi for the hub—especially with Zigbee on 2.4 GHz)
• Optional: Zigbee USB coordinator—best Zigbee dongle (e.g. SONOFF ZBDongle-E: UK · US)

Search kits: Pi 5 4 GB on Amazon UK · Amazon US

1. Flash Home Assistant OS

1. Install Raspberry Pi Imager.
2. Choose device: Raspberry Pi 5.
3. Choose OS: Other → Home Assistant (pick the current HAOS build).
4. Choose storage: microSD or NVMe (via USB adapter or HAT).
5. Advanced options (gear icon): set hostname homeassistant, locale/time zone, and Wi-Fi only if you cannot use Ethernet.
6. Write and wait (~5–10 min).

For NVMe boot details and firmware requirements, follow Raspberry Pi NVMe boot documentation.

2. First boot and login

1. Insert storage, connect Ethernet, then power.
2. First boot can take 5–8 minutes (containers download).
3. Open http://homeassistant.local:8123 on the same LAN—or find the Pi’s IP on your router and use http://IP:8123.
4. Create the admin account, set home location (for sun automations), units (°C for UK/EU), finish onboarding.

3. Update and back up

• Settings → System → Updates—install Core, Supervisor and OS updates.
• Settings → System → Backups—create a full backup and download the .tar off-box before you experiment.

Official backup docs: Home Assistant backups.

4. Add Zigbee (ZHA)

1. Plug the coordinator via a USB extension away from the Pi and router.
2. Settings → Devices & services → Add integration → ZHA.
3. Select the serial port (/dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/ttyACM0 on many dongles).
4. Add device, put the sensor in pairing mode (e.g. Zigbee temperature sensor).

ZHA vs Zigbee2MQTT: comparison guide.

5. First automation (example)

When living-room temperature drops below 19 °C between 06:00 and 22:00, turn on a smart plug on a radiator—use the UI automation editor or YAML; see Home Assistant automations.

6. Go further (official docs)

Topic	Official link
Add-ons (ESPHome, File editor, Mosquitto)	Add-on store
HACS community store	hacs.xyz
Remote access (Nabu Casa, VPN)	Remote access
ESPHome devices	ESPHome

Related DIY on Raspberry Pi

• CO₂ sensor SCD41 + MQTT
• BME280 weather station + SQLite history
• Door reed notifications
• PIR motion lighting
• Backup power for Home Assistant

All smart-home guides