PiKVM

pikvm.org

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🌐 Resources 🔗

• DIY PiKVM V2 quickstart guide

• pikvm/pikvm: Open and inexpensive DIY IP-KVM based on Raspberry Pi - Github

• How to Build a KVM Over IP with Raspberry Pi | Tom's Hardware

• Making a Wake-on-LAN server using Tailscale, UpSnap, and Raspberry Pi

• PiKVM Build • Chris Dzombak

• My Pi-KVM Build by Eric Lathrop

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RPi 4 PiKVM V2 DIY

🔬 Hardware

Raspberry Pi 4 board with 16GB MicroSD card.

• PiKVM SD card image used is the one For HDMI-USB dongle (or For HDMI-CSI bridge) - download here and flash the MicroSD card with RPi Imager tool

• RPi4 Power consumption ranging from 2.7W to 6.4W depending on the workload

For power supply and USB connectivity, I have chosen the "Variant #2: Power supply + Y-splitter based on power blocker" from the PiKVM v2 guide with:

• x1 Raspberry Pi Official USB-C Power Supply

• x1 USB C splitter (male->double females)

• x1 USB-A to USB-C cable (male-male)

  • 📌 as power blocker for the VCC of the USB-A male connector that goes into the PC/NAS, I've used a small piece of tape over the right-most pin on the connector to block the 5V pin (cut the single specific VCC wire inside the cable later)

Similar diagram as my setup:

USB Connections - Credit: Tom's Hardware

The "USB C to Double USB C Splitter" used:

• MOGOOD USB C Male to Dual USB C Female Splitter Adapter Female Y Cable

For the video capture device I've used an HDMI-USB dongle for my testing lab (changed with a HDMI-CSI bridge board later).

📌 Anyway, a HDMI-CSI bridge board is better for video encoding, resolution and latency.

Check Geekworm models here, and Amazon links:

• Geekworm Raspberry Pi HDMI to CSI CSI-2 C790 Adapter (Newer)

• Geekworm Raspberry Pi Hdmi to CSI-2 Module X630 with TC358743 Chip

On-boot configuration

• On-boot configuration & production deployment - PiKVM Handbook

Setup WiFi SSID & Password if necessary in the pikvm.txt file from the SD Card (on another PC), by adding the following variables:

WIFI_ESSID='mynet'
WIFI_PASSWD='p@s$$w0rd'

# On Windows PS - get WiFi config with
netsh wlan show profiles | Select-String "All User Profile" | ForEach-Object { $_.ToString().Split(':')[1].Trim() } | ForEach-Object { $p = $_; $out = netsh wlan show profile name="$p" key=clear; $pw = ($out | Select-String 'Key Content' | ForEach-Object { ($_ -split ':')[1].Trim() }) -join ''; [PSCustomObject]@{Profile=$p;Password=($pw -ne '' ? $pw : '(none)')} } | Format-Table -AutoSize

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PiKVM Shell commands

Authentication

• Check Authentication - PiKVM Handbook for SSH root access, default credentials and changing them

su - 
# use "root" as password

# Commands [root@pikvm ~]#

# Change Linux "root" password
rw
passwd root
ro

# Change web access "admin" password
rw
kvmd-htpasswd set admin
ro

# Update system
pikvm-update
# or
rw
pacman -Syy
pacman -S pikvm-os-updater
pikvm-update

[root@pikvm ~]# cat /etc/os-release
NAME="Arch Linux ARM"

Wake-on-LAN

• Wake-on-LAN - PiKVM Handbook

rw
nano /etc/kvmd/override.yaml

• (Extra) Disable "ATX" menu

kvmd:
    atx:
        type: disabled

• Configuration for single device WoL

###############
# Wake-ON-LAN #
###############

kvmd:
    wol:
        mac: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF # change this to desired MAC Address

kvmd -m # syntax check
systemctl restart kvmd

• Configuration for multiple hosts WoL

###############
# Wake-ON-LAN #
###############
kvmd:
	[...]
    wol:
        mac: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
    gpio:
        drivers:
            proxmox-asus:
                type: wol
                mac: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
            proxmox-k8:
                type: wol
                mac: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
            truenas:
                type: wol
                mac: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
        scheme:
            proxmox-asus:
                driver: proxmox-asus
                pin: 0
                mode: output
                switch: false
            proxmox-k8:
                driver: proxmox-k8
                pin: 0
                mode: output
                switch: false
            truenas:
                driver: truenas
                pin: 0
                mode: output
                switch: false
        view:
            table:
                - ["#1. Proxmox-K8", "proxmox-k8|Wake-on-LAN"]
                - ["#2. Proxmox-Asus", "proxmox-asus|Wake-on-LAN"]
                - ["#3. TrueNAS", "truenas|Wake-on-LAN"]

kvmd -m # syntax check
systemctl restart kvmd
reboot

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KVM Dashboard

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Mass Storage Drive

• Mass Storage Drive - exFAT USB thumb drive

Insert the USB into an RPi USB3 port.

Open the PiKVM Terminal/Shell. Use the following procedure.

• Identify the USB drive and its filesystem type using, ensuring it's recognized (e.g., exfat for Ventoy)

• Add a mount entry in /etc/fstab to automatically mount the USB drive at boot, with read/write access and permissive permissions

• Ensure the mount point exists and is writable, using mkdir, kvmd-helper-otgmsd-remount, or mount -o remount,rw as needed

• Manually mount or reboot the system to apply changes, allowing access to the USB contents under /var/lib/kvmd/msd/usb

su -
rw

# Check USB drive presence and FS type
lsblk -f
# e.g. Ventoy thumb drive
    sda
    |-sda1      exfat  1.0   Ventoy  4E21-0000
    `-sda2      vfat   FAT16 VTOYEFI 626B-4255

# Add mount entry
nano /etc/fstab

# Add the following line at the end of the file
# This says to mount it automatically, do not fail if it's missing, mount it read/write by default, and allow all users and groups access to it
/dev/sda1   /var/lib/kvmd/msd/usb   exfat  auto,nofail,rw,umask=0000  0 0

# Make the filesystem Read/Write
kvmd-helper-otgmsd-remount
# If this is not working, mount the /var/lib/kvmd/msd manually as following
mount -o remount,rw /var/lib/kvmd/msd

# Create dedicated mounting directory
mkdir -p /var/lib/kvmd/msd/usb
kvmd-helper-otgmsd-remount ro

# Reboot PiKVM or mount manually for testing
mount /var/lib/kvmd/msd/usb

ll /var/lib/kvmd/msd/usb
df -hT
	/dev/sda1      exfat      58G   52G  5.5G  91% /var/lib/kvmd/msd/usb

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Tailscale on PiKVM

• Tailscale VPN - PiKVM Handbook

  • read above docs for Tailscale Certificates

• Making a Wake-on-LAN server using Tailscale, UpSnap, and Raspberry Pi

# Tailscale
pikvm-update
rw

pacman -S tailscale-pikvm
systemctl enable --now tailscaled
tailscale up

reboot

ip addr show tailscale0

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