First-run setup

The first time you open Virtainer Lite in a browser, it takes you through a setup wizard instead of the console. The wizard is not optional: the host has no administrator account and no storage pool until you finish it.

Plan for the host to reboot at the end, and for the browser to lose the connection for a minute or two.

What the wizard asks for

1. Network

   Assign a role to each network interface the host found, and choose how the management address is configured. Exactly one interface carries the management network.

   If your change moves the host to a different address, Virtainer Lite applies it as a trial and reopens the wizard at the new address. Confirm from there within five minutes. If you do not, the host rolls the change back on its own, which is what saves you when a wrong address would otherwise leave the machine unreachable.

2. Storage

   Review the disks the host found and create a storage pool. This is where virtual machine disks, cached images, and data volumes live.

   You can skip this step and create the pool later from the Storage page, though nothing can be created until a pool exists.

3. Host

   Set the hostname and timezone, choose whether SSH access to the host is enabled, and optionally set the Linux root password. This step also creates the web account: the administrator username and password you will use to sign in from now on.

4. Finish and reboot

   Finishing the wizard reboots the host. The reboot is required, so the install-time boot settings are cleared and the host comes up in its normal running configuration.

The storage step erases disks

Creating a pool destroys everything on the disks you select. The wizard shows exactly which devices will be erased and asks you to acknowledge that list before it does anything. Read it. See Storage pools for the full flow.

After the reboot

Open the host’s address again and sign in with the web account you created. You land on the Dashboard, and the sidebar has the full console.

There is no activation step, no license key, and no product to register.

If the wizard reappears

The wizard only runs while setup is incomplete. If you see it again after finishing, the host was reset (see Danger Zone) or the setup never actually completed. Sign-in problems are different: those send you to the login page, not to the wizard.