Writing

I Gave My Old Laptop a Second Life as a Home Server

Sunday. Mar 8, 2026

Old laptop → home server (base setup)

I’m repurposing an old laptop as a local-only server. The goal is simple: a stable box on my LAN that can run Jellyfin, audiobookshelf, Immich, and a yt-dlp workflow later.

1. Install Debian

  1. Install Debian with a minimal profile.
  2. Set the hostname.
  3. Create a normal (non-root) user for administration.
  4. Reboot and log in.

2. Updated the system

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt install powertop vim

3. SSH

I start with password authentication to get my SSH key onto the server. From my main computer, I connect once using a password and use scp to copy my public key over. Then I verify that key login works from my main computer. Once the key works, I disable password authentication.

4. Make lid close not suspend

I want to close the lid and have the screen turn off without putting the server to sleep.

I edit:

sudo vim /etc/systemd/logind.conf

and add the following lines:

HandleLidSwitch=ignore
HandleLidSwitchExternalPower=ignore
HandleLidSwitchDocked=ignore

5. Folder organization

All media on this server goes under one root folder: /srv/media/.

sudo mkdir -p /srv/media

I use a shared group called media so permissions stay simple and consistent.

sudo groupadd -f media
sudo usermod -aG media "$USER"
sudo chgrp -R media /srv/media

6. Powertop autotuning

Powertop autotune on boot

I run powertop --auto-tune to apply a bunch of power-saving toggles (until reboot). Since this laptop is going to sit idle a lot, I make it automatic by running it at startup.

sudo powertop --auto-tune

Then I create a systemd service at /etc/systemd/system/powertop.service:

[Unit]
Description=Powertop auto-tune
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/powertop --auto-tune
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

and enable it:

sudo systemctl enable --now powertop.service

Next Steps

  1. Install Jellyfin
  2. Install audiobookshelf
  3. Install Immich
  4. Set up yt-dlp downloads