There are two supported ways to install Home Assistant on Synology NAS: Home Assistant OS as a virtual machine in Virtual Machine Manager, or Home Assistant Container in Container Manager. Use the VM if your model supports Virtual Machine Manager, since only the VM gets apps (called add-ons before 2026.2), one-click updates through the Supervisor, and VM snapshots. If your NAS can’t run VMs, use Container.
Can You Run Home Assistant on Synology?
Yes, but the method depends on the model. Home Assistant OS needs Virtual Machine Manager, which Synology offers on most Plus models (including the neo+ models), the xs/xs+, FS, SA and DVA series, the HD6500 and the DS620slim. The j-series, the value models (DS124, DS223 and DS423), the play models and five Plus models (DS216+, DS216+II, DS716+, DS716+II and RS422+) cannot run VMM, so a DS220j can’t run the Home Assistant OS VM.
Container Manager runs on more models, including the DS120j, DS124, DS220j, DS223, DS223j, DS420j, DS423 and those five Plus models, so if yours is one of them, that’s how you’ll run Home Assistant on it.
VMM needs more than 2 GB of memory on the NAS, and VM data can only be stored on a Btrfs volume. Home Assistant’s own minimum for the VM is 2 vCPUs and 2 GB of RAM. The Synology Virtual Machine Manager package page lists every supported model.
Home Assistant OS or Container: Which to Install
For most people with a Plus model, the Home Assistant OS VM is the one to install, and Container is the pick when your NAS can’t run VMM or you don’t need apps.
Home Assistant OS is what Home Assistant recommends for most users. It includes the Supervisor, which keeps it up to date, and it supports apps. In my 2024 Synology smart home video I went with the VM mainly because the Supervisor comes with it, which in my opinion is the best way of running Home Assistant. Snapshots were the other benefit.
Home Assistant Container is the Home Assistant application on its own. It does not include apps and you update it yourself.
This guide used to call its VM method “Supervised”, but Home Assistant deprecated the Supervised and Core methods on May 22, 2025 (Home Assistant’s deprecation announcement), and they’ve been unsupported since release 2025.12. The VM steps were installing Home Assistant OS all along, which is still supported, so only the name changed.
Proxmox is another option. When I recorded my Proxmox services video in August 2025, it was my absolute favorite place to run Home Assistant, and rolling it back from a Proxmox backup had saved me countless times (how to install Home Assistant on Proxmox).
Install Home Assistant OS in Virtual Machine Manager
A Home Assistant Synology virtual machine is an import of the official VMware image, so there’s no installer to click through. Install Virtual Machine Manager from Package Center first and finish its setup, which creates the VMM storage on your Btrfs volume.
These screenshots are from 2022, and the CPU/memory and Other Settings screens showed the same fields when I did this again on DSM 7.2.1 in 2024. VMM 2.7 (July 2024) added the Q35 machine type, so leave any option these don’t show at its default.
Import the Home Assistant OS Image
1. Download the VMware ESXi/vSphere (.ova) image from Home Assistant’s alternative installation methods page (haos_ova-18.3.ova in October 2026), since Virtual Machine Manager imports OVA files.
2. Open Virtual Machine Manager, select Virtual Machine, then the arrow next to Create, and finally, Import.
3. Select Import from OVA files, then select Next.
4. Select Upload a file from PC, Browse to the .ova file you downloaded, then select Next.
5. Select your VMM storage, then select Next.
Configure the Virtual Machine
6. Set CPU(s) to 2 and Memory to 2 GB, leave the rest as default, then select Next. That’s Home Assistant’s minimum and what I gave it in 2024.
7. Leave the virtual disk at its default size (32 GB) and select Next.
8. Use the default VM network, select the gear icon, set the Model to e1000 (the adapter Home Assistant recommends), then select OK.
9. Select Next to continue.
10. In Other Settings, change the options below, then select Next.
- Autostart: Yes
- Firmware: UEFI (it starts on Legacy BIOS, and Home Assistant requires UEFI to boot)
- Virtual USB Controller: USB 3.0, but only if you’re passing a USB device like a Zigbee or Z-Wave stick to Home Assistant, then pick it under USB device. Otherwise, leave it Disabled.
11. Set the users that can manage the virtual machine, then select Next.
12. Check Power on the virtual machine after creation, then select Done.
13. The import takes a little while, then the virtual machine powers on by itself.
Open Home Assistant and Finish Onboarding
14. When the VM is running, Virtual Machine Manager lists the IP addresses assigned to it. Open the first one in a browser, with no port number on the end.
http://IP_ADDRESSNew Home Assistant OS installs since 2026.8 drop the port number by default, so 8123 is now the fallback. If the plain address doesn’t load, try one of these:
http://IP_ADDRESS:8123
http://homeassistant.local:8123NOTE: If you can’t connect, select Connect in Virtual Machine Manager to open the console and see what’s wrong. If something has gone wrong, shut the VM down and start it back up, which is also Home Assistant’s fix for the occasional e1000 “Detected Tx Unit Hang” error.
15. Home Assistant shows a preparing screen while it downloads the latest version (about 700 MB). It says this may take 20 minutes or more, and for me in 2024 it didn’t, but it’ll be a few minutes at minimum.
16. Select Create my smart home, enter your name, a username (lowercase, no spaces) and a password, then select Create account (or restore from a backup instead).
17. Set your home location, which also sets your time zone, units and currency, then select Next.
18. Choose what you’d like to share with Home Assistant (everything is off by default), then select Next.
19. Select Finish, and Home Assistant opens the default dashboard.
From here, installing HACS on Home Assistant and accessing Home Assistant remotely are what I’d look at next.
Take a Snapshot Before You Change Anything
If you’re ever looking to test something, shut Home Assistant down, take a snapshot and start it back up. If you run into any issues, you have a quick way of getting it back to its prior state.
1. In Virtual Machine Manager, select the Home Assistant virtual machine, then Shut Down.
2. Select Action, then Take a Snapshot, replace the description with what it’s for, and select OK.
3. Power the virtual machine back on.
You can take a snapshot while the VM is running, but it’s better to take it while it’s shut off. VMM keeps up to 32 snapshots per virtual machine (255 with VMM Pro) and can take them on a schedule.
Install Home Assistant Container in Container Manager
If your NAS can’t run VMM, this is the Synology Home Assistant Docker setup, since Container Manager is what Synology’s Docker package became with DSM 7.2. The latest release (24.0.2-1706, August 2026) needs DSM 7.4, and Package Center offers older DSM versions the build that fits them. These steps are Home Assistant’s own.
1. Open Package Center and install Container Manager.
2. In Container Manager, select Registry, search for homeassistant/home-assistant, select Download, choose the stable tag, and wait for the download to finish.
3. Select Image, select the homeassistant/home-assistant image, then select Run.
4. Give the container a name (homeassistant works), check Enable auto-restart if you want it back after a reboot, then select Next.
5. Under Volume Settings, select Add Folder, create a homeassistant folder in your docker shared folder with a config folder inside it, and select that config folder. Set the mount path to /config and leave it as Read/Write.
6. Under Environment, select Add and create a variable named TZ with your time zone as its value (for example, Europe/London).
7. Set the Network dropdown to host, then select Next.
8. Check Run this container after the wizard is finished, then select Done.
9. Open Home Assistant on port 8123 (the 2026.8 port change only applies to Home Assistant OS), and go through onboarding from step 16 above.
http://NAS_IP_ADDRESS:8123If the DSM firewall is on, open Control Panel, select Security, then Firewall, and Edit Rules. Select Create, choose Custom under Ports and add 8123. Set Source IP to Specific IP, then Select, choose Subnet and enter your network and prefix length (for example, 192.168.1.0 and 24). Leave Action at Allow, and drag it above any Deny All rule. Security settings change, and nothing here is guaranteed.
I set up Home Assistant on a Synology NAS with Docker the same way in 2021 on the old Docker package (config folder mapped to /config, host network, port 8123). My Synology Container Manager guide covers the newer interface.
Home Assistant says these GUI steps don’t set the container up to reach USB devices like a Z-Wave stick, so its alternative installation page has a docker run command with a device flag for that.
Update Home Assistant Container
To update, select Image, select the homeassistant/home-assistant image and Update, and wait for the download-finished notification. Then in Container, stop the homeassistant container, select Action, then Reset, and start it again. Home Assistant says you won’t lose any data, since your configuration stays in the folder you mapped to /config.
