Raspberry Pi

1. Install pivpn:

curl -L https://install.pivpn.io | bash

2. Follow prompts (wireguard, port 51820, use pi-hole, ddns)

3. Create VPN profile for each end device you intend to connect with

pivpn add

ignore the client ip (just press enter)

name the profile after the device

4. Install wireguard on the end device you wish to connect with (windows app, app store, etc.)

5. Copy profile from /home/$USER/configs to end device

6. Create tunnel from config file in wireguard

7. Connect

1. Install pi-hole

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

2. Follow prompts (static IP, wlan0, OpenDNS, StevenBlack's Unified Hosts List, web interface, enable query logging - anonymous/full)

3. When complete, copy the admin password and IP address

4. Change the password

sudo pihole setpassword

5. Set the pi-hole IP address as the DNS provider in the router settings from the web UI (typically 192.168.1.1)

6. Reserve pi-hole IP address in router (LAN Setup)

7. OPTIONAL, Enable iCloud Private Relay:

sudo nano /etc/pihole/pihole.toml

find the line that says BLOCK_ICLOUD_PR=true and change it to BLOCK_ICLOUD_PR=false

1. Install Samba

sudo apt-get install samba samba-common-bin

2. Create a directory to share

sudo mkdir -m 1777 /share

3. Edit the config file

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Append the following lines to the end of the file

[Share]

Comment = Pi shared folder

Path = /share

Browseable = yes

Writeable = yes

create mask = 0777

write mask = 0777

public = yes

guest ok = yes

4. Create a user

sudo smbpasswd -a pi

(change "pi" to a username of your choice)

5. Restart the service

sudo samba restart

6. Connect on end device

For windows:

Open file explorer, go to "This PC", right click and select "Show more options", "Add a network location"

\\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\share where xxx is the ip address of the raspberry pi

Or, in cmd:

net use * \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\share /p:yes

1. Download the .deb Armv7 file from PlexTV via the web browser on the target device

2. Navigate to the directory and unpack the file

sudo cd /home/$USER/Downloads

sudo dpkg -i filename.deb where filename.deb is the filename as shown in /home/$USER/Downloads

(16 June 2025) currently: sudo dpkg -i plexmediaserver_1.41.9.9961-46083195d_armhf.deb

3. Access the web interface

http://127.0.0.1:32400/web/

4. Create an account if needed

5. Before adding libraries, if using an external drive, follow the instructions for mounting an external drive below

   1. Plu-in the external drive

   2. Create a directory to mount the drive

sudo mkdir /mnt/External

5. 3. Change ownership of the drive

sudo chown $USER:$USER /mnt/External

5. 4. Get UUID

sudo blkid

find the device that matches the external drive and copy the UUID

5. 5. Edit the /etc/fstab entry to add the external drive

sudo nano /etc/fstab

go to the bottom of the file and add the following

#External Drive

UUID=yourexternaldriveuuid /mnt/External ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=022,fmask=133,nofail 0 0

5. 6. Mount the device first using 

systemctl daemon-reload

then

sudo mount -a

6. Now add the libraries from the external device (Movies, /mnt/External/Movies, etc.)

7. Scan library

8. Download plex on end device and login using account created in step 4

This assumes you have a shared folder in windows, for this example it is called "C:\shared".

1. Install cifs

sudo apt install cifs-utils

2. Create a mount point

sudo mkdir /mnt/shared

3. Mount the shared folder with persistent credentials

sudo nano /etc/fstab

and add the following at the end of the file

//xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/C/shared /mnt/shared cifs credentials=/home/$USER/.smbcredentials,uid=pi,gid=pi 0 0 where xxx is the ip address of the windows computer, and C is the drive letter of the shared folder

4. Create a credentials file

sudo nano /home/$USER/.smbcredentials

Add the following lines

username=user

password=pass

where user is the username (sometimes an email address) of a valid windows user that can access the shared folder, and pass is the password for that user

5. Save and exit

ctrl+o, enter

ctrl+x

6. Modify the file permissions

sudo chmod 600 /home/$USER/.smbcredentials

7. Mount the folder

systemctl daemon-reload

sudo mount -a

sudo reboot