# Setting up Immich
# Setup
## Set up the server
### Step 1 - Download the required files
Create a directory of your choice (e.g. `./immich-app`) to hold the `docker-compose.yml` and `.env` files.
Move to the directory you created
```
mkdir ./immich-app
cd ./immich-app
```
Download [`docker-compose.yml`](https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml) and [`example.env`](https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/example.env) by running the following commands:
You can alternatively download these two files from your browser and move them to the directory that you created, in which case ensure that you rename `example.env` to `.env`.
### Step 2 - Populate the .env file with custom values
Default environmental variable content
```
# You can find documentation for all the supported env variables at https://docs.immich.app/install/environment-variables
# The location where your uploaded files are stored
UPLOAD_LOCATION=./library
# The location where your database files are stored. Network shares are not supported for the database
DB_DATA_LOCATION=./postgres
# To set a timezone, uncomment the next line and change Etc/UTC to a TZ identifier from this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones#List
# TZ=Etc/UTC
# The Immich version to use. You can pin this to a specific version like "v2.1.0"
IMMICH_VERSION=v2
# Connection secret for postgres. You should change it to a random password
# Please use only the characters `A-Za-z0-9`, without special characters or spaces
DB_PASSWORD=postgres
# The values below this line do not need to be changed
###################################################################################
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_DATABASE_NAME=immich
```
- Populate `UPLOAD_LOCATION` with your preferred location for storing backup assets. It should be a new directory on the server with enough free space.
- Consider changing `DB_PASSWORD` to a custom value. Postgres is not publicly exposed, so this password is only used for local authentication. To avoid issues with Docker parsing this value, it is best to use only the characters `A-Za-z0-9`. `pwgen` is a handy utility for this.
- Set your timezone by uncommenting the `TZ=` line.
- Populate custom database information if necessary.
### Step 3 - Start the containers
From the directory you created in Step 1 (which should now contain your customized `docker-compose.yml` and `.env` files), run the following command to start Immich as a background service:
Start the containers
```
docker compose up -d
```
All of this documentation can also be found on [https://docs.immich.app/overview/quick-start/](https://docs.immich.app/overview/quick-start/)
# Docker install 1st
Before you install Docker Engine for the first time on a new host machine, you need to set up the Docker `apt` repository. Afterward, you can install and update Docker from the repository.
1. Set up Docker's `apt` repository.
```bash
# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
# Add the repository to Apt sources:
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.sources <
To install the latest version, run:
```console
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
```
>
Note
The Docker service starts automatically after installation. To verify that Docker is running, use:
>
> ```console
> sudo systemctl status docker
>
> ```
>
> Some systems may have this behavior disabled and will require a manual start:
>
> ```console
> sudo systemctl start docker
>
> ```
3. Verify that the installation is successful by running the `hello-world` image: