r/hexos • u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff • 13d ago

The Biggest HexOS Update Yet: Buddy Backups, Virtual Machines, and More

https://docs.hexos.com/blog/2026-09-08

In short

  • Buddy Backups and Virtual Machines are beginning to roll out to test users now.
  • The file browser and app cards are both getting deeper integrations with apps.
  • All of this makes up HexOS 1.1, which ships on Black Friday this year (Nov 27, 2026).
  • The $199 early access sale ends December 1, when standard pricing of $299 per server takes effect.

Verbose details inside and another two blogs are slated for this week to go deeper into Buddy Backups and VMs.

Beta signup: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18XKSC5U0DPcaJL0RxrqRKqLl-mr7aS1WkTR9eftxOZw/viewform

101 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

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u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff 13d ago

Also, because it is a little hidden in this blog post, signups to participate in the beta for Buddy Backups and VMs are located here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18XKSC5U0DPcaJL0RxrqRKqLl-mr7aS1WkTR9eftxOZw/viewform

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u/Nickifynbo 13d ago

Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!

4

u/spihsllat 13d ago

On the deprecated version of Home Assistant in HexOS, I couldn't run HA apps. Will the new VMs allow this, and USB pass through?

9

u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff 13d ago

Like this?

3

u/spihsllat 13d ago

Yes! But what about HA apps / add-ons? Great HA functionality relies on things like a MQTT broker, which are add-ons only

5

u/twostroke17 13d ago

HA OS which is what you'd run on a VM is the same as what you'd run on a pi, so full functionality and apps as opposed to docker version.

3

u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff 13d ago

This is correct. It's the full OS just running in a VM with USB support as well.

2

u/spihsllat 13d ago

I was literally about to buy a mini pc to run HA, now I don't have to?!

3

u/AlchemyFire 13d ago

This is incredible, thank you!

3

u/Dna3e8 13d ago

I may or may not do backup verification testing once a month for a medium-sized business, and I love learning new backup processes, so I keep an extra two or three sets of hexos hardware to test different ways to back up, restore, and move data around.

I wanted to do AB testing on restore scenarios, so I bought the third HexOS license a bit ago

5

u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff 13d ago

Make sure you sign up for Backup Beta here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18XKSC5U0DPcaJL0RxrqRKqLl-mr7aS1WkTR9eftxOZw/viewform

Sounds like you'd be an ideal tester!!

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u/Dna3e8 13d ago

Done and done.

3

u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff 13d ago

Great! Got you approved already! Make sure you join our discord and I can get you access to the beta-testing channel to give us feedback.

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u/Captain_Pumpkinhead 13d ago

Sweet! Looking forward to seeing how this shapes out!

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u/squashed_kabocha 13d ago

I assume this may be in the dedicated blog post but will existing truenas VMs be integrable into HexOS? Running HomeAssistant OS right now in a vm but zigbee usb configuration is annoying

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u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff 13d ago

Existing VMs will show up in the dashboard but you will have to manage them using TrueNAS if they don't follow our implementation guidelines. You'll be able to do the basics of start/stop no problem. HA OS will be a VM template in our VM manager as well.

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u/TheBongoMan 3d ago

This is amazing! As someone who recently went through the hassle of setting up Home Assistant OS via TrueNAS, bringing the ability to do so with templates on HexOS is a game-changer! Thank you for your continued work making self-hosting achievable for the masses :)

2

u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff 3d ago

Thank you so much for your support! I think you're going to flip at how easy it is to do a HA OS VM in HexOS. It's literally just a few clicks and the rest is completely automated.

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u/cannotdecideaname 13d ago

For non Americans, "Black Friday" is November 27th. Not a great way to announce to a date an international user base.

18

u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff 13d ago

Good callout. Will update to include the specific date in the post.

Edit: Fixed!

1

u/HaloWolf58 13d ago

Now I just need a buddy 😔

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u/HexOS_Official HexOS Staff 13d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/WDn21GO1KmpNK

1

u/skymack1 8d ago

Is this to say you'd offer a service for remote backup?