Software installation¶

• Begin by selecting Browse Software in the main menu list and hit Enter.

• Scroll through the list of available software - for more details check the DietPi software list.

The list of optimised software is long. You either browse the list or use the option Search Software.

• To install software on your DietPi, select it in the list and press Space to add it to the installation list. If you change your mind, hit Space again to remove it.

• Once you’ve selected the software you wish to install, press Tab to switch to the confirmation options at the bottom. Select OK, then hit Enter to confirm.

• To begin installing your software, select Install from the main menu list, then hit Enter. DietPi will ask you to confirm your choice(s). Select OK, then hit Enter to begin the installation.

The software you selected will begin to install at this point. Once the process is completed, you may be asked to restart your device. Press OK to confirm.

DietPi supports a large number of software titles. Instead of scrolling through the Browse Software list to find a specific software title, you may use the Search Software option. Type in the software ID or any keyword from its title or description and you’ll get a list filtered by matching results.

This lets you select your preferred SSH server. Also you can uninstall any SSH server to save memory and to exclude any external ssh based access.

Various logging methods can be selected from lightweight to full. If you don’t require log files, get a performance boost. If you need full system logging features, DietPi can do that too.

The Log System can be changed at any time by selecting a different “Log System” from the menu.

See log system choices for further details.

In DietPi, we class user data as:

• Data storage for applications. Some examples are ownCloud/Nextcloud data store, BitTorrent downloads and SQL data store.
• The location where your File Server choice will point to, if you install one, like Samba Server or ProFTPD.
• The location where you can upload and store your media content, for other applications to use, like Kodi, Emby or Plex.

For all software you install in dietpi-software, you can access your user data with /mnt/dietpi_userdata. Regardless of where the data is physically stored, a symlink will automatically be created for you if needed.
To check where the physical location is, you can run the following command:

readlink -f /mnt/dietpi_userdata

You can move your user data to another location (e.g. USB drive). Simply run dietpi-software and enter the User data location menu option:

• If you need to setup a new external drive, select Drive Manager to launch DietPi-Drive Manager.
• Use the List option to select from a list of mounted drives, or, select Manual for a custom location.

DietPi will automatically move your existing user data to your new location.

Install software item(s) which have been selected via Browse Software list, via Search Software, or via the SSH Server, File Server or Log System choices.

Select one or more software items which you would like to be removed from your DietPi system.

Although we enable forced encryption on all our BitTorrent clients, if you wish to ensure complete privacy and piece of mind for all your downloaded content, using a VPN is critical.
You can use any VPN provider you want, but DietPi-VPN specifically supports ProtonVPN and NordVPN.

Simply run dietpi-vpn to use the GUI, allowing you to setup your connection and provider.
DietPi will also automatically start and connect the VPN during system boot if you select autostart.

DietPi-VPN comes with an optional killswitch that will shut off your internet in the case of you losing your connection to the VPN sever. This will still allow access from your LAN and allow you to fix any problems using SSH, if needed.