Installing Unraid
Flash, boot, and license
Use the official USB Creator, boot, claim the trial, and land in the web UI. The quick start guide is short and accurate - follow it. (Unraid Docs)
Build the array and pools
Assign one parity disk (two if you value uptime over capacity), add data disks, then create a fast pool for apps and downloads. XFS is still the default for array disks; Btrfs or ZFS is ideal for your cache/pool. Unraid 7.1 improves pool import and ZFS ergonomics. (Reddit, Unraid Docs)
Create core shares
Create three shares exactly like this: appdata, domains, system. Set appdata and system to use your pool (Prefer) so Docker metadata and your containers’ files live on SSDs. This is the one habit that prevents 90% of beginner pain. The “User Shares” doc explains how Unraid stitches storage together. (Unraid Docs)
Enable Docker the right way
Settings → Docker. Turn it on and point Docker’s data-root at your fast pool. On 6.12+ you can run Docker using a directory on Btrfs/ZFS rather than a loopback image; it’s simpler to manage and harder to fill accidentally. The Docker management page shows where to set this. (Reddit)
Network sanity: pick ipvlan
If you plan to use custom Docker networks or per-container IPs, set Docker’s network type to ipvlan. It avoids the macvlan call-trace issues that plagued older kernels and is the recommended path from the 6.12 upgrade guidance. 7.1.x also includes networking bugfixes. Settings → Docker → Advanced view. (Reddit, Unraid Docs)
Install the essentials (App tab)
Open Community Applications and add:
Fix Common Problems - automated linting for your server. (Unraid)
Appdata Backup/Restore v3 - schedule off-box backups of appdata and docker configs. (YouTube)
Unraid Connect - secure remote access, status, and oversight. (Unraid)
Optional GPU acceleration
If you have an NVIDIA card, install NVIDIA Driver and confirm nvidia-smi works. For Intel iGPUs, install Intel-GPU-TOP; for dashboards, add GPU Statistics. You’ll use --gpus all for NVIDIA containers or mount /dev/dri for Intel/AMD. (Unraid, GitHub, unraid.net)
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