A small file server with OpenMediaVault

Who it is for

This is for a household that wants a shared folder for photos, scans, and installer files, available to a few computers on the home network. It is not a replacement for a multi-bay server, and it is a poor place for the only copy of anything. One disk that several computers can open is the job.

Source tutorial: The ULTIMATE Raspberry Pi 5 NAS. That video builds storage with a third-party SATA hat. You do not need that hat. This guide follows the OpenMediaVault install, which works with an ordinary USB disk. OpenMediaVault source tutorial: Raspberry Pi 4 OpenMediaVault NAS.

Steps

1. Follow the current Raspberry Pi install guide, not an old video. As retrieved 29 Sep 2026, that guide is OpenMediaVault 8 on Raspberry Pi OS Lite, 64-bit (Debian Trixie): https://wiki.omv-extras.org/doku.php?id=omv8:raspberry_pi_install. It was revised 13 Sep 2026. Use Raspberry Pi Imager 2.x. Choose Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit), the port of Debian Trixie with no desktop. Desktop images are not supported.
2. In the imager, set a hostname, a user, and a password, and enable SSH with password authentication. Do not configure Wi-Fi. Do not run the Raspberry Pi configuration tool before OpenMediaVault is installed. Name the SSH user something other than admin. The installer creates a web login called admin, and the guide says the first password is openmediavault.
3. Boot on Ethernet. Find the address in the router's DHCP list and reserve it.

4. Sign in over SSH and run the commands printed in that guide, in order. As of the 13 Sep 2026 revision they are:

   sudo apt-get update
   
   sudo apt-get upgrade -y
   
   sudo wget -O - https://github.com/OpenMediaVault-Plugin-Developers/installScript/raw/master/preinstall | sudo bash
   
   sudo reboot

   Then, after it is back:

   sudo wget -O - https://github.com/OpenMediaVault-Plugin-Developers/installScript/raw/master/install | sudo bash

   Leave the session open until the script finishes. It reboots the Pi. If the wiki's commands have changed, use the wiki.

5. Browse to the Pi's address. The guide says the web user is admin and the first password is openmediavault. Change that password before you do anything else.
6. Continue at "Initial Configuration" in the Getting Started with OpenMediaVault 8 guide linked from the same install page. The shape of the job is: mount the USB disk, not the SD card; make one shared folder; turn on Windows-style file sharing; open that share from a computer. Keep a second copy of anything you would be angry to lose. The install page also points at a card-cloning note. Use it once the share works.