OpenMediaVault on an Intel NUC6i7KYK

Building an OpenMediaVault (OMV) server using your Intel NUC6i7KYK (Skull Canyon) is a great idea—it’s a powerful and compact machine, perfect for a home NAS or media server. This can basically work in a VM/Physical Hardware/SBCs. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you up and running:

What You’ll Need

1. Intel NUC6i7KYK (Skull Canyon)
2. Storage drives: M.2/NVMe for the OS, external USB/Thunderbolt/Network drives, or SATA via USB enclosure.
3. USB stick (8GB or more) for the OMV installer
4. Monitor, keyboard, and mouse (just for installation)
5. Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection (Ethernet preferred)
6. Another computer for downloading and flashing OMV

Step 1: Prepare Installation Media

1. Download OMV ISO:
   • Go to https://www.openmediavault.org/download.html
   • Download the latest stable ISO (currently based on Debian)
2. Create a bootable USB:
   • Use Rufus (Windows) or balenaEtcher (Mac/Linux/Windows)
   • Select the OMV ISO and target USB drive

Step 2: Prepare the NUC

1. Enter BIOS (press F2 during boot)
2. Set:
   • Boot mode: UEFI
   • Boot order: USB drive first
   • Enable virtualization (optional, if you want to use Docker/VMs later)
   • Disable Secure Boot (recommended)
3. Save and exit

Step 3: Install OMV

1. Boot from the USB
2. Follow the OMV installation steps:
   • Choose the target drive (ideally an SSD or NVMe, not your data drive)
   • Set hostname, password, etc.
3. After installation, remove the USB drive and reboot.

Step 4: First Login and Configuration

1. Find the IP address of the NUC (via router or console)
2. Open browser on another device:
   • Go to http://<NUC_IP>
3. Login:
   • Username: admin
   • Password: openmediavault

Step 5: Configure OMV

• Change admin password under System > General Settings
• Add storage:
  • Go to Disks, check that drives are detected
  • Wipe and format (EXT4 recommended)
  • Mount drives under File Systems
• Create shared folders
• Enable services: SMB, FTP, NFS, etc. under Services
• Add users if needed

Step 6: Optional Features

• Docker/Portainer: Add the OMV-Extras plugin and install Docker & Portainer for apps like Plex, Nextcloud, etc.
• Remote access: Use Tailscale or OpenVPN for secure access from outside
• RAID (if applicable): If using multiple external drives, consider software RAID via OMV

Performance Tips

• Enable hardware acceleration for Plex using the integrated Intel Iris Pro GPU
• Use SSD for OS and media cache/transcoding
• Use wired Ethernet for best performance

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