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| 1 | +import {Note} from "@/components/mdx"; |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +# How to Set up NetBird to Access Your Home Network |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +This step-by-step guide describes how to quickly get started with NetBird and access your home network remotely. |
| 6 | +You will achieve a secure connection between your entire home network and NetBird, enabling remote devices to access |
| 7 | +local network resources through a routing peer using the [NetBird Networks feature](/how-to/access-home-network). |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | +## Download and Install NetBird |
| 10 | +<br/> |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +<Button href="https://app.netbird.io/install" arrow="right" children="Download NetBird" /> |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +## Connect Your Laptop |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +NetBird comes with a Desktop UI application that can be found in the systray. If it hasn't automatically started, look for `NetBird` in the application list, run it, and click `Connect`: |
| 17 | + |
| 18 | +<p> |
| 19 | + <img src="/docs-static/img/getting-started/systray.png" alt="login-to-netbird" className="imagewrapper"/> |
| 20 | +</p> |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +<Note> |
| 23 | + Alternatively, you can run the `netbird up` command in the terminal. |
| 24 | +</Note> |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | +At this point a browser window pops up starting an interactive SSO login session that will register your laptop. You will be prompt to sign up and confirm your device registration: |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +<p> |
| 29 | + <img src="/docs-static/img/how-to-guides/access-home-network/login-screen-dark.png" alt="login-to-netbird" className="imagewrapper"/> |
| 30 | +</p> |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | +After the registration is complete, proceed to the [**NetBird dashboard**](https://app.netbird.io/) to confirm that your laptop is in the network. You will see it in the `Peers` view. |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +## Create a New NetBird Network |
| 35 | +1. Go to the **Networks** tab in the side bar |
| 36 | +2. Click **Add Network** and give it a name such as “Home LAN", and optionally add a description. |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +<p> |
| 39 | + <img src="/docs-static/img/how-to-guides/access-home-network/add-network-home-lan.png" alt="add-network-home-lan" className="imagewrapper"/> |
| 40 | +</p> |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +## Define Your LAN as a Network Resource |
| 43 | +1. Click **Add Resource**. |
| 44 | +2. Enter a name like "Home Subnet" and the CIDR of your home network into the Address field (e.g., 192.168.1.0/24). |
| 45 | +3. Assign it to a Destination Group, create one called "home-lan" so you can write access policies using this group. |
| 46 | +4. Click **Add Resource**. |
| 47 | + |
| 48 | +<p> |
| 49 | + <img src="/docs-static/img/how-to-guides/access-home-network/add-resource-home-network.png" alt="add-resource-home-network" className="imagewrapper"/> |
| 50 | +</p> |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | +<Note> |
| 53 | + Alternatively, if you do not want to allow access your entire home subnet, you can get more granular by only |
| 54 | + allowing |
| 55 | + access to a single static IP address for your added resource (e.g., 192.168.1.50/32). |
| 56 | +</Note> |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +## Create an Access Control Policy |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | +To allow access to resources in your home network, you need to create an access control policy that defines which |
| 61 | +peers can access the network. |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | +1. After adding your resource, click **Create Policy**. |
| 64 | +2. Set Source to the group of NetBird peers you want to allow access (e.g., "All Users" or a specific group like "Home Users"). |
| 65 | +3. Set **Destination** to the "home-lan" group you made. |
| 66 | +4. For **Protocol**, choose All. |
| 67 | +5. Name it "Home LAN Access" and click **Add Policy**. |
| 68 | + |
| 69 | +<p> |
| 70 | + <img src="/docs-static/img/how-to-guides/access-home-network/add-policy-home-lan.png" alt="add-policy-home-lan" className="imagewrapper"/> |
| 71 | +</p> |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +## Add Your User to the Home User Group |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +In order to access your home network, you need to add your users to a group that is used in the access control policy, |
| 76 | +you've previously created. |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | +1. Go to the **Team** tab in the side bar. |
| 79 | +2. Find your user row and click on the **GROUPS** column in the table. |
| 80 | +3. Add "Home Users" by typing it in the input box and pressing Enter. |
| 81 | + |
| 82 | +<p> |
| 83 | + <img src="/docs-static/img/how-to-guides/access-home-network/add-user-group.png" alt="add-network-home-lan" className="imagewrapper"/> |
| 84 | +</p> |
| 85 | + |
| 86 | +## Choose or Add a Routing Peer in Your LAN |
| 87 | + |
| 88 | +1. Click **Add Routing Peer**. |
| 89 | +2. Pick any always-on machine on your home network (Windows, Linux, Mac, Docker, Raspberry Pi). |
| 90 | +3. Install the NetBird agent on it using a [one-off setup key](/how-to/register-machines-using-setup-keys#types-of-setup-keys) using the CLI installer. |
| 91 | +4. Ensure this machine has access to both the internet and your LAN subnet. |
| 92 | +5. Choose this machine as your routing peer and click **Continue** and **Add Routing Peer**. |
| 93 | + |
| 94 | +<p> |
| 95 | + <img src="/docs-static/img/how-to-guides/access-home-network/add-routing-peer-home-network.png" alt="add-routing-peer-home-network" |
| 96 | + className="imagewrapper"/> |
| 97 | +</p> |
| 98 | + |
| 99 | +<p> |
| 100 | + <img src="/docs-static/img/how-to-guides/access-home-network/add-routing-peer.png" alt="add-routing-peer-home-network" |
| 101 | + className="imagewrapper"/> |
| 102 | +</p> |
| 103 | + |
| 104 | +## Test the Connection |
| 105 | + |
| 106 | +1. Pick any IP within your Home LAN, such as the IP of your NAS, printer, or another service and run: |
| 107 | + |
| 108 | + ```bash |
| 109 | + ping 192.168.x.x |
| 110 | + ``` |
| 111 | + |
| 112 | +2. A successful ping response confirms that your routing peer is correctly routing traffic to resources in your home network. |
| 113 | + |
| 114 | +That’s it! You’ve successfully mapped your entire home LAN into a NetBird Network. Any peer included in your access policy |
| 115 | +can now securely access resources in your home subnet via your designated routing peer, without the need to open router ports or install software on every device. |
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