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Automatic first boot configuration

Reading presets from local config

It is possible to configure your device automatically at first boot. Settings like: root password, IP address, connecting to wireless.

After flashing an image to boot media, mount it and add a file containing your config to /root/.not_logged_in_yet

Tip

You may also mount the image and edit it prior to flashing, if this is preferable.

Loading a remote config

It is also possible to load this config file from a remote server, as above, however the only directive you should include is:

/root/.not_logged_in_yet
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PRESET_CONFIGURATION="http://path/to/config/file"

Configuration directives

  • The directives in this file are specified using key="value" format.
  • To ask for a value interactively, leave it unset or comment out the directive.
  • For fully-unattended setup, specify all values
Configuration directive [default] | option Description:
PRESET_CONFIGURATION http://path/to/config/file See Loading a remote config
PRESET_NET_CHANGE_DEFAULTS [0] | 1 Change default network settings
if unset, no network changes will be applied
PRESET_NET_ETHERNET_ENABLED 0 | 1 Enable Ethernet, ignored if WiFi enabled
PRESET_NET_WIFI_ENABLED 0 | 1 Enable WiFi, takes priority over Ethernet
PRESET_NET_WIFI_SSID MySSID WiFi SSID
PRESET_NET_WIFI_KEY MyWPA-PSK WiFi Pre-Shared Key (Password), stored in plaintext
PRESET_NET_WIFI_COUNTRYCODE CC Country code, required for WiFi
e.g. GB, US, DE; see Wikipedia/ISO_3166
PRESET_CONNECT_WIRELESS Y | n Set to Y for interactive mode, n uses values from file
PRESET_NET_USE_STATIC [0] | 1 Use the static IP provided, DHCP is the default
Leaving any value unset will result in a broken config
PRESET_NET_STATIC_IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Static IPv4 address, dotted decimal notation
PRESET_NET_STATIC_MASK xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Subnet mask, typically 255.255.255.0
PRESET_NET_STATIC_GATEWAY xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Default gateway address
PRESET_NET_STATIC_DNS x.x.x.x x.x.x.x DNS Servers to use, separated by a space. If unsure:
CloudFlare is 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1
Google is 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
SET_LANG_BASED_ON_LOCATION Y | n “Set user language based on your location?”
PRESET_LOCALE locale Locale e.g. en_GB.UTF-8, de_DE.UTF-8, zh_TW.UTF-8
PRESET_TIMEZONE timezone Timezone e.g. Etc/UTC,
PRESET_ROOT_PASSWORD [1234] | password Preset root password
Stored in plaintext, SSH keys are safer!
PRESET_ROOT_KEY https://path/to/key.file Fetches public key from specified URL for root user
PRESET_USER_NAME username Username to create
PRESET_USER_PASSWORD password Preset created user password
Stored in plaintext, SSH keys are safer!
PRESET_USER_KEY https://path/to/key.file Fetches public key from specified URL for created user
PRESET_DEFAULT_REALNAME Real Name RealName to use for created user
PRESET_USER_SHELL shell Currently only bash (default) or zsh (armbian-zsh) supported

Sample config file

The following is an example configuration, it may be used as a template

/root/.not_logged_in_yet
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#/root/.not_logged_in_yet
# Network Settings
PRESET_NET_CHANGE_DEFAULTS="1"
## Ethernet
PRESET_NET_ETHERNET_ENABLED="1"     #   Ignored due to WiFi
## WiFi
PRESET_NET_WIFI_ENABLED="1"
PRESET_NET_WIFI_SSID="MySSID"
PRESET_NET_WIFI_KEY="MyWiFiKEY"
PRESET_NET_WIFI_COUNTRYCODE="GB"
PRESET_CONNECT_WIRELESS="n"
## Static IP
PRESET_NET_USE_STATIC="1"
PRESET_NET_STATIC_IP="192.168.0.100"
PRESET_NET_STATIC_MASK="255.255.255.0"
PRESET_NET_STATIC_GATEWAY="192.168.0.1"
PRESET_NET_STATIC_DNS="8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4"

# System
SET_LANG_BASED_ON_LOCATION="y"
PRESET_LOCALE="en_US.UTF-8"
PRESET_TIMEZONE="Etc/UTC"

# Root
PRESET_ROOT_PASSWORD="RootPassword"
PRESET_ROOT_KEY=""

# User
PRESET_USER_NAME="armbian"
PRESET_USER_PASSWORD="UserPassword"
PRESET_USER_KEY=""
PRESET_DEFAULT_REALNAME="Armbian user"
PRESET_USER_SHELL="bash"
Tip

If you want to use first run automatic configuration at build time, check this GitHub pull request.

tl;dr;

  1. Copy the template with cp extensions/preset-firstrun.sh userpatches/extensions/
  2. Edit the template userpatches/extensions/preset-firstrun.sh according to your situation
  3. Build your Armbian image using the additional parameter ENABLE_EXTENSIONS=preset-firstrun