Requirements

uinput

uinput is a required kernel module allows software running on Linux systems to create virtual input devices. It’s required by the streaming host and it’s the only hard requirement that we need in the host machine’s kernel.

Most Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu and Debian, already ship with it. You can easily verify that it’s installed by checking for the /dev/uinput device on your host:

ls -la /dev/uinput
crw------- 1 root root 10, 223 Jul 15 11:46 /dev/uinput

If it’s not there by default, consult your distro’s documentation for adding kernel modules. If you’re using unRAID, see our unRAID instructions. If you’re using some other platform and you’re having difficulty with this step, come chat with us about it on Discord; we’d be happy to try to help you get on the right track.

If you have issues with inputs (mouse, gamepad, etc) while streaming with GOW, it’s very likely that something is wrong with uinput.

Platform-specific requirements

  • Host Desktop

  • Headless

  • unRAID

Monitor

You must have a monitor connected, or alternatively a dummy plug.

User

You must have a user logged in. To make this easier for unattended systems, you might want to enable autologin.

Monitor

You must meet the monitor requirements detailed here: Monitor requirements.

Monitor

You must meet the monitor requirements detailed here: Monitor requirements.

uinput

unRAID before version 6.11.0-rc3 is missing the required uinput kernel module out of the box. If you are using an older version, we recommend installing the uinput plugin

docker-compose

unRAID doesn’t come with docker-compose, but you can easily install it by installing the docker-compose-manager plugin.

NVIDIA GPU

If you have an NVIDIA GPU you’ll also have to install the nvidia-driver plugin

After you’ve set up your host, you can install GoW.