[GH-ISSUE #2889] [guide] How to run Netbird inside of distrobox #6236

New Issue

saavagebueno · 2026-08-05T01:07:21-04:00

saavagebueno commented

2026-08-05 01:07:21 -04:00

Originally created by @Darin755 on GitHub (Nov 13, 2024).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netbirdio/netbird/issues/2889

Apologies if this is not a good place for this. I didn't know where else to put it. This is a guide on how to get the Netbird agent working inside Podman based Distrobox containers. I have been trying to do this for a while now and I finally got it working. This has been tested on Fedora 41 Silverblue.

Install Distrobox and Podman

I recommend you install them both from your distros official repos

Create the container (root is required)

distrobox create netbird --init --image debian:12 -a "--cap-add=NET_ADMIN" --additional-packages systemd --root
I am using Debian 12 here but you can use something else if you want

Enter the container

distrobox enter --root netbird

Install Netbird and bring it up

curl -fsSL https://pkgs.netbird.io/install.sh | sh
netbird up

That's it. The container has network privileges so you can use Netbird IPs outside the container.

To stop Netbird run distrobox stop --root netbird. To quickly start it run distrobox enter --root netbird -- exit

Also remember to upgrade the packages in the container from time to time

Originally created by @Darin755 on GitHub (Nov 13, 2024). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netbirdio/netbird/issues/2889 Apologies if this is not a good place for this. I didn't know where else to put it. This is a guide on how to get the Netbird agent working inside Podman based Distrobox containers. I have been trying to do this for a while now and I finally got it working. This has been tested on Fedora 41 Silverblue. 1. Install Distrobox and Podman - I recommend you install them both from your distros official repos 2. Create the container (root is required) - ```distrobox create netbird --init --image debian:12 -a "--cap-add=NET_ADMIN" --additional-packages systemd --root``` - I am using Debian 12 here but you can use something else if you want 3. Enter the container - ```distrobox enter --root netbird``` 4. Install Netbird and bring it up - ```curl -fsSL https://pkgs.netbird.io/install.sh | sh``` - ```netbird up``` 5. That's it. The container has network privileges so you can use Netbird IPs outside the container. To stop Netbird run ```distrobox stop --root netbird```. To quickly start it run ```distrobox enter --root netbird -- exit``` Also remember to upgrade the packages in the container from time to time

saavagebueno added the missing-docs label 2026-08-05 01:07:21 -04:00

saavagebueno commented

2026-08-05 01:07:22 -04:00

@mgarces commented on GitHub (Nov 18, 2024):

hey @Darin755 , thank you for your contribution! Do you want to add this documentation to our documentation repo or do you prefer if I pick this up and do it? Let me know if you need some help with that.

@mgarces commented on GitHub (Nov 18, 2024): hey @Darin755 , thank you for your contribution! Do you want to add this documentation to our [documentation](https://github.com/netbirdio/docs) repo or do you prefer if I pick this up and do it? Let me know if you need some help with that.

saavagebueno commented

2026-08-05 01:07:22 -04:00

@Darin755 commented on GitHub (Nov 19, 2024):

I don't know how your docs a structured. I can turn this into a guide pretty easily but I'm not sure if it should have its own page or be an addition to another page.

@Darin755 commented on GitHub (Nov 19, 2024): I don't know how your docs a structured. I can turn this into a guide pretty easily but I'm not sure if it should have its own page or be an addition to another page.

saavagebueno commented

2026-08-05 01:07:22 -04:00

@bprolifcdev commented on GitHub (Feb 3, 2025):

This worked perfectly , thank you

@bprolifcdev commented on GitHub (Feb 3, 2025): This worked perfectly , thank you

saavagebueno commented

2026-08-05 01:07:22 -04:00

@cgiAlexis commented on GitHub (Jun 10, 2025):

Carried out the steps on Fedora Bazite. Only added @distrobox: distrobox-export -b /usr/bin/netbird as a final command for ease of use. See merge request for documentation update

@cgiAlexis commented on GitHub (Jun 10, 2025): Carried out the steps on Fedora Bazite. Only added `@distrobox: distrobox-export -b /usr/bin/netbird` as a final command for ease of use. See merge request for documentation update

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Reference: DYNR/netbird#6236