Install Edera

The installer sets up the Edera runtime and configures your system. Your machine will reboot when it completes. With KVM, Edera runs on your current kernel and the machine does not reboot.

🚫

Disposable infrastructure only. There is no automated uninstall, and with Xen Edera modifies your bootloader. Only install on instances or VMs you can terminate and recreate.

Run the installer

ℹ️

The commands below are for the backend you chose on What is EderaON?: XenKVM. The installer defaults to Xen; KVM installs pass --hypervisor kvm.

EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=<your-key> /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/edera-dev/learn/main/getting-started/edera-on-installer/scripts/install.sh)"

EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=<your-key> /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/edera-dev/learn/main/getting-started/edera-on-installer/scripts/install.sh)" install.sh --hypervisor kvm

Verify UEFI boot

Xen requires UEFI. Run:

[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS

If the output is BIOS, Edera with Xen will not work on this machine.

Run edera-check

Verify your system meets the requirements before installing:

docker run --pull always --pid host --privileged \
  ghcr.io/edera-dev/edera-check:stable preinstall

docker run --pull always --pid host --privileged \
  ghcr.io/edera-dev/edera-check:stable preinstall --hypervisor kvm

If any required checks fail, resolve them before proceeding. Optional checks indicate features that won’t be available but won’t block installation.

Authenticate to the Edera registry

Set your license key as an environment variable, then authenticate:

export EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=<YOUR_LICENSE_KEY>

docker login -u license -p $EDERA_LICENSE_KEY images.edera.dev

Pull the installer image

docker pull images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview

Run the installer

docker run --rm --privileged --pid=host --net=host \
  --env 'TARGET_DIR=/host' \
  --env "EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=${EDERA_LICENSE_KEY}" \
  --env 'HYPERVISOR=xen' \
  --volume '/:/host' \
  images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview

docker run --rm --privileged --pid=host --net=host \
  --env 'TARGET_DIR=/host' \
  --env "EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=${EDERA_LICENSE_KEY}" \
  --env 'HYPERVISOR=kvm' \
  --volume '/:/host' \
  images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview

sudo podman run --rm --privileged --pid=host --net=host \
  --env 'TARGET_DIR=/host' \
  --env "EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=${EDERA_LICENSE_KEY}" \
  --env 'HYPERVISOR=xen' \
  --volume '/:/host' \
  images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview

sudo podman run --rm --privileged --pid=host --net=host \
  --env 'TARGET_DIR=/host' \
  --env "EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=${EDERA_LICENSE_KEY}" \
  --env 'HYPERVISOR=kvm' \
  --volume '/:/host' \
  images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview

The machine will reboot when the installer completes.With KVM, the machine does not reboot. Continue straight to verification.

Note: EDERA_LICENSE_KEY is automatically written to /var/lib/edera/protect/license.key during installation. You do not need to write the file yourself afterward.

Verify the installation

After reboot, SSH back in and verify:Once the installer finishes, verify:

# Check the daemon is running
sudo systemctl is-active protect-daemon
# Expected: active

# Confirm KVM device is present
ls /dev/kvm
# Expected: /dev/kvm

# Check you're running the Edera/Xen kernel
uname -r
# Expected: 6.x.y-edera

# Confirm Xen is present
ls /proc/xen
# Expected: capabilities  privcmd  xenbus

# Check the daemon is running
sudo systemctl is-active protect-daemon
# Expected: active

⚠️

activating is not the same as active. The daemon should become active within a few seconds. If it stays in activating, it failed to start — a missing or invalid license key is a common cause. Check logs with sudo journalctl -u protect-daemon -n 50.

Next: Run Edera →

Last updated on 2026-11-06