---
layout: page
title: "Common tasks on Hassbian"
description: "Instructions on how to do common tasks on Hassbian."
date: 2016-09-26 21:00
sidebar: true
comments: false
sharing: true
footer: true
redirect_from: /docs/hassbian/common-tasks/
---

### {% linkable_title Login to the Raspberry Pi %}
To login to your Raspberry Pi running Hassbian you're going to be using a ssh client. Depending on your platform there are several alternatives for doing this. Linux and Max OS generally have a ssh client installed. Windows users are recommended to download and install the ssh client [Putty][ssh-putty].

Connect to the Raspberry Pi over ssh. Default user name is `pi` and password is `raspberry`.
Linux and Mac OS users execute the following command in a terminal.

```bash
$ ssh pi@ip-address-of-pi
```

Windows users start [Putty][ssh-putty], enter the IP address of the Raspberry Pi in the *Host name* field and port 22 in the *Port* field. Then click *Open* and a terminal window will open. Enter the credentials. Default user name is `pi` and password is `raspberry`.

Optionally, starting with Windows 10 anniversary update, you can use the built-in '[Bash on Windows][bash-windows]' to use SSH if you have enabled Developer mode and have installed the "Windows Subsystem for Linux (beta)" feature.

### {% linkable_title Start/Stop/Restart Home Assistant %}
Log in as the `pi` account and execute the following commands:

```bash
$ sudo systemctl stop home-assistant@homeassistant.service
```

Replace `stop` with `start` or `restart` to get the desired functionality.
To get the current state of the `homeassistant.service` replace `stop` with `status`.

### {% linkable_title Update Home Assistant %}

<p class='note'>
You can use `hassbian-config` to automate the process by running `sudo hassbian-config upgrade homeassistant`
</p>

Log in as the `pi` account and execute the following commands:

```bash
$ sudo systemctl stop home-assistant@homeassistant.service
$ sudo su -s /bin/bash homeassistant
$ source /srv/homeassistant/bin/activate
$ pip3 install --upgrade homeassistant
$ exit
$ sudo systemctl start home-assistant@homeassistant.service
```

This will in order do the following:

- Stop the Home Assistant service running on Hassbian
- Open a shell as the `homeassistant` user running the Homeassistant service and that has ownership over the Home Assistant installation.
- Change into the virtual Python environment at `/srv/homeassistant/` containing the Home Assistant installation.
- Upgrade the Home Assistant installation to the latest release.
- Exit the shell and return to the `pi` user.
- Start the Home Assistant service.

### {% linkable_title Manually launch Home Assistant %}
Log in as the `pi` account and execute the following commands:

```bash
$ sudo su -s /bin/bash homeassistant
$ source /srv/homeassistant/bin/activate
$ hass
```

This will start Home Assistant in your shell and output anything that ends up in the log and more into the console. This will fail if the Home Assistant service is already running so don't forget to [stop][stop-homeassistant] it first. If you want the log output to be colored, execute `hass --script check_config` first. This will install the `colorlog` module.

### {% linkable_title Check your configuration %}
Log in as the `pi` account and execute the following commands:

```bash
$ sudo su -s /bin/bash homeassistant
$ source /srv/homeassistant/bin/activate
$ hass --script check_config
```

This will output any errors in your configuration files to console.

### {% linkable_title Read the Home Assistant log file %}
Log in as the `pi` account and execute the following commands:

```bash
$ sudo su -s /bin/bash homeassistant
$ cd /home/homeassistant/.homeassistant
$ nano home-assistant.log
```

This will in order do the following:

- Open a shell as the `homeassistant` user.
- Change directory to the Home Assistant configuration directory.
- Open the log file in the nano editor.

Optionally, you can also view the log with `journalctl`.
Log in as the `pi` account and execute the following commands:

```bash
$ sudo journalctl -fu home-assistant@homeassistant.service
```

### {% linkable_title Edit the Home Assistant configuration %}

Log in as the `pi` account and execute the following commands:

```bash
$ sudo su -s /bin/bash homeassistant
$ cd /home/homeassistant/.homeassistant
$ nano configuration.yaml
```

This will in order do the following:

- Open a shell as the `homeassistant` user.
- Change directory to the Home Assistant configuration directory.
- Open the configuration file in the nano editor.

It's generally recommended that you read the [Getting started][configuring-homeassistant] guide for how to configure Home Assistant.

### {% linkable_title Change locale, timezone and keyboard layout %}

```bash
$ sudo raspi-config
```

[configuring-homeassistant]: /getting-started/configuration/
[ssh-putty]: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
[stop-homeassistant]: /getting-started/installation-raspberry-pi-image/#startstoprestart-home-assistant-on-hassbian
[bash-windows]: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/commandline/wsl/about
