Install Nalvo Node with a USB stick

Install Nalvo Node on a computer with an NVIDIA GPU and connect it to your fleet.

Making a new stick erases the USB stick. Installing Ubuntu erases the computer disk you choose. Unplug any disk with data you want to keep before installing.

Make the stick on Windows

Wait for the maker to report the USB is ready before moving it. Download, verification and writing progress advance in the maker automatically; opening this guide alone does not prove the stick is ready.

  1. On the Windows PC, open Make a Nalvo node, download Nalvo Node Maker and link it to your Nalvo account. Name the node when prompted.
  2. Insert a USB stick of at least 8 GB and follow the app's prompts. You can choose to copy this PC's current Wi-Fi so the node can connect without Ethernet. If the download is unavailable, use the command on the Make a Nalvo node page in Terminal (Admin). The process downloads Ubuntu, checks it, writes the stick and adds the Nalvo file. Allow about 10 minutes.
  3. Plug the stick into the GPU computer. Ethernet is faster. Use the BIOS and boot menu guide on your phone for your computer brand's keys and steps to turn Secure Boot off and boot from the stick. If Windows later asks for a BitLocker recovery key, get it at aka.ms/myrecoverykey.
  4. Type yes when the installer asks. If the computer has one empty disk, nothing else is asked; otherwise, choose the disk to erase.
  5. About 30 minutes later the node appears in the Fleet Manager, ready for Nalvo. On the first start it installs the NVIDIA driver and restarts once; leave it on while setup finishes.

If you choose to copy Wi-Fi, the stick carries the Wi-Fi password in encrypted form until installation finishes. The installer tries to remove nalvo-wifi.json.enc from the stick; if it cannot, delete that file before reusing or giving away the stick. The installer code needed to decrypt it is also on the stick, so anyone with the stick can recover the password. Keep it private.

Not on Windows?

Download Ubuntu Server 24.04.5 and the Nalvo installer file. Verify the ISO's SHA256 is 97f3d7ffb032c3eb3b23d2c8be9cc76e60c2c1f2c0146ba5ba9fe01cafae0fd8. Write the ISO as files to a FAT32 USB stick and copy autoinstall.yaml to the top folder, next to the casper folder. Connect Ethernet and use the BIOS and boot menu guide for your computer brand's keys and steps to turn Secure Boot off and boot from the stick, then follow the installer prompts. At the end, type the installer code from the Fleet Manager.

Network and troubleshooting

Nalvo works behind ordinary home routers.

For Nalvo rentals, the Fleet Manager prepares the node by itself (Docker, the network guard, a GPU check) and opens TCP ports 40000-40019 on your router automatically; the node card shows what it is doing. Windows PCs: see rent out a Windows PC.

If setup stops, details are in /var/log/nalvo/firstboot.log on the machine.

Back to the Fleet Manager