Manage host
Run the host from your phone or laptop: everything its own window does, from any device you choose.
Manage host lets a phone, tablet or computer do everything the host’s own window does: choose or rename the shared drive, let new devices in, add profiles, and change any setting. Changes reach every device at once.
For a host with no screen, or in Docker, it is how the host is managed. For a host with a window, it means you don’t have to walk over to it.
Let a device manage the host
- A host with no screen: the device that set it up with the setup code manages it already.
- On Windows or a Linux desktop: in Basalt Host, open the device’s options in the device list and choose Let it manage the host.
- From a device that already manages it: in Manage host, under Devices, turn on Manages this host for another device.
The device then shows Manage host: in the sidebar on a computer, and under More on a phone or tablet.
Let two devices manage a host with no screen, such as your phone and a laptop. If one is lost or reset, the other can still manage it.
What it can do
| Section | What is there |
|---|---|
| The drive | What the host shares: Choose a folder… browses the host’s folders, or pick a drive from the list. Rename this drive changes the name devices see |
| Joining | Ask for a PIN when pairing, and the PINs of devices asking to join right now |
| Devices | Every paired device: rename it, Can change files or read only, Manages this host, or Remove from this host |
| Profiles | Add and remove profiles, Reset PIN, Require a profile, Who can add profiles, and profiles from other drives asking to be let in |
| Library | Recognise films and series, Download posters, a TMDb key, and Sections on your devices |
| Conversion | Convert video for devices that can’t play it, how many devices at once, and measuring what the host can do |
| Updates | The host’s version, Update automatically, and updating it now |
| About this host | Its name, address, what it runs on, and its identity |
Each setting is explained in Host settings.
Share a folder
- In Manage host, choose the drive at the top, or Choose what it shares on a host that shares nothing yet.
- Pick a drive from the list, or choose Choose a folder… and tap through the host’s folders to the one you want.
- Name it, and share it.
On a host with no screen, a folder only shows if the host is allowed to read it: see Let it read your files. In Docker, the folders to choose from are those mounted under /media.
Let a new device in
When a device asks to join, its PIN shows under Joining on every device that manages the host. Read it out, and type it on the new device. Or decline it.
What a device can’t do from afar
A host is never left with nobody to manage it. From Manage host, you can’t remove the only device that manages the host, or stop it managing: let another device manage it first. On a host with a window, its own window can always do it.
If the only managing device is lost, see If the device that manages it is lost.
Is it safe?
Only devices the host lets manage it see Manage host at all, and the host checks every request itself: a device that doesn’t manage it is refused, whatever it asks. Every request travels over the same encrypted connection, signed in with that device’s own key.
A device that manages the host can update it, but only ever to the newest official release. It can never choose what is installed.
Something unclear, or not covered here? Ask in Help and setup, where the community and Refora Technologies answer, or write to us, and we will improve this page.