Solel//dev docs

Your first sign-in

The first time anyone opens a new server, asks them to set it up. Whoever does becomes the owner, who runs the server along with any admins they choose. It takes a few minutes.

Set up the owner account

  1. Open the address the installer printed, such as http://192.168.1.20:8080.
  2. You: enter your name, as people at home know you. Solel suggests a username from it, which you can change: 2 to 32 letters, numbers, dots or dashes. An email address is optional. Choose Next.
  3. Password: choose one of at least 10 characters. A few words together works well. Choose Set up my server.
  4. Recovery: Solel shows your password recovery codes. Nobody can reset the owner's password, so these are your way back in if you forget it. Copy, download or print them, keep them somewhere safe, then choose I've saved them. They aren't shown again.
  5. Privacy: read what stays on the server, what goes out on its own, and what never does. Choose Next.
  6. Moving in: choose Bring my things in to start bringing your things from Google, or Not now, go to my desktop. You can start any time from Settings › Moving in.

On your desktop

Your desktop greets you with a card of what's left to make the server ready: set your server's address, add the people at home, bring your things from Google and add a second step to sign-in. Each one opens the right part of Settings, and gets a tick once it's done.

Reinstalling?

If a disk with a backup of an earlier server is plugged in, the first screen offers to pick that server back up instead. Choose Pick it back up and everyone signs in as they did before. Files and photos come back too if they're still on this server's disk. See Back up to another drive.

Signing in after that

Sign in with your username and password. If you add an authenticator app or a passkey in Sign-in and security, Solel asks for it as a second step, and a passkey can sign you in on its own. Passkeys belong to your server's own address, so they work once it has a name rather than an IP address; see Your domain and HTTPS.

If you forget your password, choose Forgotten your password? on the sign-in screen and enter one of your recovery codes.

If someone invited you

Open the invite link, then choose your name, a username and a password. Each link works once, for a week, so ask for a new one if it has run out.

Next

Set up your household to bring everyone else in.