---
layout: post
author: Sam Hadow
tags: sysadmin
---

I recently got a raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB of RAM and wanted to install Kodi on it. OSMC isn't available for the Pi 5, and I didn't want to use LibreELEC to still have a debian base and be able to run other scripts and services from the Pi. In this blog post I'll show you how I did this installation.

# steps

## 1. Preparing the base system

I decided to go with a minimal install of debian 13. In raspberry Pi imager it's in the "Raspberry Pi OS (other)" category. 

![1]( /assets/img/2025-12-27-installing-kodi-on-a-raspberry-pi-5/1.png )

![2]( /assets/img/2025-12-27-installing-kodi-on-a-raspberry-pi-5/2.png )

Unfortunately with the Pi 5, the configuration from the imager letting you configure a user and the SSH when flashing the micro SD card seems to be broken so I configured it manually after flashing the Pi 5 when booting it for the first time. It asks for the user creation and password and then I just enabled SSH with:
```bash
systemctl enable --now ssh
```
(the service is ssh and not sshd on the Pi, it's not a typo)

## 2. installing the required packages

First we need to install kodi and some packages to have sound and a minimal GUI support.

```bash
sudo apt install kodi weston mesa-utils mesa-vulkan-drivers pipewire wireplumber pulseaudio-utils
```

## 3. running Kodi

1. I first created a dedicated user and added it to the required groups to run Kodi as a systemd service:
```bash
sudo useradd -m kodi
sudo usermod -aG video,audio,input,render kodi
```

2. Then I enabled autologin for kodi on TTY1
```bash
sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d
```
and in this folder I created this file:
```ini
#/etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/autologin.conf
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --autologin kodi --noclear %I $TERM
```

3. Then I enabled lingering for Kodi (which is needed to start user systemd services even without a shell session)
```bash
sudo loginctl enable-linger kodi
```

4. Finally I created and enabled the service to start Kodi on boot:

First creating the folder:
```bash
sudo mkdir -p /home/kodi/.config/systemd/user
```
And then a service unit file:
```ini
#/home/kodi/.config/systemd/user/kodi.service
[Unit]
Description=Kodi Media Center (DRM/GBM)
After=systemd-user-sessions.service
Wants=systemd-user-sessions.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/kodi \
  --standalone \
  --drm \
  --tty=/dev/tty1

Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=3

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
```

After this making sure the ownership is correct:
```bash
sudo chown -R kodi:kodi /home/kodi
```

And then to enable the service:
```bash
sudo systemctl --user --machine=kodi@.host daemon-reload
sudo systemctl --user --machine=kodi@.host enable kodi
```

And Finally:
```bash
sudo reboot
```

## 4. checking logs

To check Kodi related logs, we can use the following command:
```bash
sudo journalctl _UID=$(id -u kodi)
```
It'll show all the journalctl logs from the kodi user.