How to install XUI One: requirements, steps and hardening (2026)

This guide shows how to install XUI One on a fresh Ubuntu server in 2026: what the server needs, what the installer does, the first login, and the hardening steps that most tutorials skip. It replaces our 2023 installation article, which walked readers through a cracked build. We no longer do that, and we explain why below. If you only need the day-to-day commands after installation, jump to the XUI One panel commands reference.

A clear statement first. XUI One is proprietary, closed-source software. Its availability has changed several times since 2022; whether the vendor sells new licenses right now is something you check with the vendor, not with a blog. Cracked builds exist and are easy to find. They are modified binaries from an unknown source, installed as root, with full access to your subscriber database and your payment data. We do not link them and this guide does not cover them. If you choose to run XUI One, licensed or otherwise, you do so at your own risk. If you are weighing it against the panel it replaced, read XUI One vs Xtream UI first.

What you need

Hardware

XUI One itself is light. What costs resources is streaming, and that depends entirely on how many channels you restream or transcode and how many clients watch. For a main server that runs the panel, the database and a modest number of streams, a sane 2026 starting point is:

Component	Minimum for a panel-only main server	Realistic for panel plus streams
CPU	2 dedicated cores	4 to 8 cores; more if you transcode
RAM	4 GB	8 to 16 GB
Disk	40 GB SSD	NVMe, sized for your VOD library plus logs
Network	1 Gbit/s	1 Gbit/s unmetered or better; the bottleneck for live streams

These are our numbers, not the vendor’s. Transcoding is CPU-bound and changes the picture completely; if you plan to transcode, test with your real channel list before you commit to a server.

Operating system

The installer is built for Ubuntu LTS and bundles its own nginx, PHP and MariaDB. Three notes for 2026:

• Ubuntu 20.04 is out. Our 2023 guide used 20.04 because that is what the installer supported then. Standard support for 20.04 ended in 2025. Do not install a panel that handles customer data on an OS that no longer receives security updates.
• 22.04 and 24.04. Which of these your XUI One build supports depends on the release you have. The bundled binaries link against specific library versions; an installer that was never tested on 24.04 can fail with missing libraries or run and crash later. Read the release notes of your build, and check your version before you order the server.
• Clean install only. No Plesk, no cPanel, no existing nginx or MySQL. The installer assumes it owns the machine.

Access and network

• Root SSH access to the server.
• A public IPv4 address. IPv6-only hosting does not work with the typical client apps.
• A domain name if you want TLS, which you do. Point an A record at the server before you start.
• The ports you plan to use for the admin interface, the client API and streaming, open in any provider-level firewall. The defaults in the builds we have seen are 8080 for the admin interface and separate ports for clients; check your version.

Installation steps

Step 1: Prepare the server

Log in as root and bring the system up to date:

apt update && apt upgrade -y
reboot

Set a hostname and the time zone while you are at it. EPG data, log timestamps and the expiry of subscriber lines all depend on the server clock; use timedatectl set-timezone and make sure NTP is active.

Step 2: Get a release you trust

Obtain the release archive through the vendor or your license. Note its checksum (sha256sum xuione.zip) and keep it with your documentation. If the archive you hold comes from a forum thread or a file host, stop here. You cannot verify what is inside, and nothing later in this guide fixes that.

Step 3: Upload and unpack

Copy the archive to /root on the server (scp or rsync), then unpack it:

apt install zip unzip -y
cd /root
unzip xuione.zip
cd /xuione

The archive in the releases we have seen extracts to /xuione at the root of the filesystem, not under /root. Check your version if cd /xuione fails; ls /root will show you where it went.

Step 4: Run the installer

chmod +x install
./install

The installer asks for the role of this server. Pick main server for your first installation; load balancers are installed later from the panel, not from this script. It then installs its bundled components under /home/xui, creates the xui system user, sets up MariaDB with a random password and starts the xuione service.

At the end it prints the MySQL credentials and the initial access code. Save them now. The credentials are written to /home/xui/config/config.ini, but the access code is easier to lose, and the panel has no /admin URL without one. (If you lose it anyway, the tools rescue command described in the commands reference gets you back in.)

A reader of the old guide asked where the MySQL data for a reseller panel lives, having looked for a credentials folder under /tmp. There is no such folder in current builds; config.ini is the place.

Step 5: Activate and log in

Open http://your-ip:8080/youraccesscode (replace the port if your build uses another one). The panel asks for your license key, validates it against the vendor and shows the login page. The default admin account in the builds we know is admin / admin. Log in, open the admin profile and change the password before you do anything else.

Then create a new access code with a random name under Management → Access Control → Access Codes, confirm it works, and delete the one the installer created. The admin path of a panel should not be guessable.

Step 6: Add load balancers (optional)

Load balancers are additional servers that serve streams while the main server keeps the database and the admin interface. You add them from the panel under Management → Servers; the main server connects over SSH and installs the load balancer role. The load balancer needs the same clean Ubuntu baseline and must be able to reach the main server’s MySQL port. If it comes up as offline, the init-script procedure in the commands reference shows the cause.

Post-install hardening

The installer gives you a working panel, not a secure server. Do these on the day you install.

SSH

• Create a non-root user with sudo, add your public key, and disable password authentication (PasswordAuthentication no in /etc/ssh/sshd_config).
• Disable root login over SSH once the sudo user works.
• Install fail2ban or an equivalent; a panel server gets brute-forced within hours of getting a public IP.

Firewall

Allow only what the panel needs. With ufw:

ufw default deny incoming
ufw allow 22/tcp
ufw allow 8080/tcp          # admin, or whatever port you use
ufw allow <client-port>/tcp  # the ports your clients connect to
ufw allow from <lb-ip> to any port 3306 proto tcp   # one rule per load balancer, if MySQL is exposed
ufw enable

Adjust the MySQL port to what your build uses; some builds run MariaDB on a non-standard port. Never expose MySQL to the whole internet. If you have no load balancers, MySQL does not need to listen on the public interface at all.

TLS

Put certificates on the admin and client ports. The panel supports certificates per port; where you upload them depends on your build, so check your version. The Admin API sends its key in the URL, which is one more reason not to run anything over plain HTTP.

Backups

A panel is a database with some config around it. Dump the xui database daily with mysqldump, copy /home/xui/config/, and ship both off the server. Test a restore once. A backup that was never restored is a hope, not a backup.

Updates

The OS gets unattended-upgrades for security patches. Be careful with major library upgrades: the panel’s bundled binaries may stop starting after a do-release-upgrade. Snapshot the server before any OS upgrade, and update the panel only with releases from the same source as your original install.

Common errors

Symptom	Likely cause	What to do
./install: Permission denied	Script not executable	chmod +x install
Installer stops at package installation	Another apt process running, or a stale dpkg lock	Wait for unattended-upgrades to finish, then retry; remove /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend only if no apt process is running
Installer ends with library errors	Ubuntu version not supported by this build	Check your version’s release notes; reinstall on the supported LTS
Panel does not come up after install	Service failed to start	/etc/init.d/xuione start and read the output
Access code returns 404	nginx code config missing	/home/xui/tools access, then service xuione reload
“You do not have access” at login	Access code belongs to a reseller or API group	Use an admin code or create one with tools rescue
License invalid after activation	Server cannot reach the vendor’s license endpoint, or the key is used on another server	Check outbound HTTPS and DNS; reissue the license in the vendor panel
MySQL access denied	Credentials in config.ini differ from the database user	Correct the [Encrypted] section and restart
Load balancer offline	IP mismatch, firewall, or MySQL grants	Run the init script on the load balancer; tools mysql on the main

Most of these have a longer treatment in the commands reference.

Should you install XUI One at all in 2026?

That depends on what you want from a panel. XUI One is capable software with a large installed base, and operators who hold a license and know Linux run it well. It is also closed, unevenly available, and yours to maintain: OS upgrades, backups, TLS renewals, load balancer troubleshooting and security all land on you. Its predecessor Xtream UI is unmaintained; XUI One is maintained only as far as the vendor decides. Our guides index covers the alternatives, including hosted panels where the vendor runs the servers. Pick with your eyes open, and whatever you pick, start with the backups.