Install Tailscale on PiKVM

I’m a big fan of the PiKVM and use it with most of the “servers” I build from consumer-grade hardware in my homelab. Recently, I had to relocate one of these servers to a remote site and opted for Tailscale over traditional VPN solutions for secure access and management. While the server still had a PiKVM attached, I hadn’t found an effective way to connect to it remotely without introducing layers of complexity—something I wanted to circumvent. Since I’m already using Tailscale across several devices, I thought, why not add the PiKVM? As it turns out, setting up Tailscale on the PiKVM is straightforward and works flawlessly.

Log into your PiKVM and choose Terminal

Update the OS

To update, run following commands under the root user:

su -
[root@pikvm ~]# pikvm-update

Note: the default password is “root”

If you encounter an error like:

[root@pikvm ~]# pikvm-update
bash: pikvm-update: command not found

It’s most likely you have an old OS release. You can update the OS as follows:

[root@pikvm ~]# rw
[root@pikvm ~]# pacman -Syy
[root@pikvm ~]# pacman -S pikvm-os-updater
[root@pikvm ~]# pikvm-update

You will now be able to use the usual method with pikvm-update

Install Tailscale Client

su -
[root@pikvm ~]# rw
[root@pikvm ~]# pacman -S tailscale-pikvm
[root@pikvm ~]# systemctl enable --now tailscaled
[root@pikvm ~]# tailscale up

Authorize the installation

You will be presented with a URL to authorize the installation. Once you do, you will probably want to disable key expiry

Reboot and Enjoy.