Sunshine/docs/getting_started.md

Getting Started

The recommended method for running Sunshine is to use the binaries included in the latest release, unless otherwise specified.

Pre-releases are also available. These should be considered beta, and release artifacts may be missing when merging changes on a faster cadence.

Binaries

Binaries of Sunshine are created for each release. They are available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Binaries can be found in the latest release.

@tip{Some third party packages also exist. See Third Party Packages for more information. No support will be provided for third party packages!}

Install

Docker

@warning{The Docker images are not recommended for most users.}

Docker images are available on Dockerhub.io and ghcr.io.

See Docker for more information.

Linux

CUDA Compatibility

CUDA is used for NVFBC capture.

@tip{See CUDA GPUS to cross-reference Compute Capability to your GPU.}

CUDA Compatibility

CUDA Version	Min Driver	CUDA Compute Capabilities	Package
11.8.0	450.80.02	35;50;52;60;61;62;70;72;75;80;86;87;89;90	sunshine.AppImage
			sunshine-ubuntu-22.04-{arch}.deb
			sunshine-ubuntu-24.04-{arch}.deb
12.0.0	525.60.13	50;52;60;61;62;70;72;75;80;86;87;89;90	sunshine-debian-bookworm-{arch}.deb
12.5.1			sunshine.pkg.tar.zst
12.6.2	560.35.03		sunshine_{arch}.flatpak
			Sunshine (copr)

AppImage

@caution{Use distro-specific packages instead of the AppImage if they are available.}

According to AppImageLint the supported distro matrix of the AppImage is below.

• ✖ Debian bullseye
• ✔ Debian bookworm
• ✔ Debian trixie
• ✔ Debian sid
• ✔ Ubuntu noble
• ✔ Ubuntu jammy
• ✖ Ubuntu focal
• ✖ Ubuntu bionic
• ✖ Ubuntu xenial
• ✖ Ubuntu trusty
• ✖ CentOS 7

Install

1. Download sunshine.AppImage into your home directory.

   cd ~
   wget https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine/releases/latest/download/sunshine.AppImage
   

2. Open terminal and run the following command.

   ./sunshine.AppImage --install
   

Run

./sunshine.AppImage --install && ./sunshine.AppImage

Uninstall

./sunshine.AppImage --remove

ArchLinux

@warning{We do not provide support for any AUR packages.}

Install Prebuilt Packages

Follow the instructions at LizardByte's pacman-repo to add the repository. Then run the following command.

pacman -S sunshine

Install PKGBUILD Archive

Open terminal and run the following command.

wget https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine/releases/latest/download/sunshine.pkg.tar.gz
tar -xvf sunshine.pkg.tar.gz
cd sunshine

# install optional dependencies
pacman -S cuda  # Nvidia GPU encoding support
pacman -S libva-mesa-driver  # AMD GPU encoding support

makepkg -si

Uninstall

pacman -R sunshine

Debian/Ubuntu

Install

Download sunshine-{distro}-{distro-version}-{arch}.deb and run the following command.

sudo dpkg -i ./sunshine-{distro}-{distro-version}-{arch}.deb

@note{The {distro-version} is the version of the distro we built the package on. The {arch} is the architecture of your operating system.}

@tip{You can double-click the deb file to see details about the package and begin installation.}

Uninstall

sudo apt remove sunshine

Fedora

@tip{The package name is case-sensitive.}

Install

1. Enable copr repository.

   sudo dnf copr enable lizardbyte/stable
   

   or

   sudo dnf copr enable lizardbyte/beta
   

2. Install the package.

   sudo dnf install Sunshine
   

Uninstall

sudo dnf remove Sunshine

Flatpak

@caution{Use distro-specific packages instead of the Flatpak if they are available.}

Using this package requires that you have Flatpak installed.

Download (local option)

1. Download sunshine_{arch}.flatpak and run the following command. @note{Replace {arch} with your system architecture.}

Install (system level)

Flathub

flatpak install --system flathub dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine

Local

flatpak install --system ./sunshine_{arch}.flatpak

Install (user level)

Flathub

flatpak install --user flathub dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine

Local

flatpak install --user ./sunshine_{arch}.flatpak

Additional installation (required)

flatpak run --command=additional-install.sh dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine

Run with NVFBC capture (X11 Only)

flatpak run dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine

Run with KMS capture (Wayland & X11)

sudo -i PULSE_SERVER=unix:/run/user/$(id -u $whoami)/pulse/native flatpak run dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine

Uninstall

flatpak run --command=remove-additional-install.sh dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine
flatpak uninstall --delete-data dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine

Homebrew

@important{The Homebrew package is experimental on Linux.}

This package requires that you have Homebrew installed.

Install

brew update
brew upgrade
brew tap LizardByte/homebrew
brew install sunshine

Uninstall

brew uninstall sunshine

macOS

@important{Sunshine on macOS is experimental. Gamepads do not work.}

Homebrew

This package requires that you have Homebrew installed.

Install

brew tap LizardByte/homebrew
brew install sunshine

Uninstall

brew uninstall sunshine

@tip{For beta you can replace sunshine with sunshine-beta in the above commands.}

Portfile

This package requires that you have MacPorts installed.

Install

1. Update the Macports sources.

   sudo nano /opt/local/etc/macports/sources.conf
   

   Add this line, replacing your username, below the line that starts with rsync.

   file:///Users/<username>/ports
   

   Ctrl+x, then Y to exit and save changes.

2. Download and install by running the following commands.

   mkdir -p ~/ports/multimedia/sunshine
   cd ~/ports/multimedia/sunshine
   curl -OL https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine/releases/latest/download/Portfile
   cd ~/ports
   portindex
   sudo port install sunshine
   

Install service (optional)

sudo port load sunshine

Uninstall

sudo port uninstall sunshine

Windows

Installer (recommended)

1. Download and install sunshine-windows-installer.exe

@attention{You should carefully select or unselect the options you want to install. Do not blindly install or enable features.}

To uninstall, find Sunshine in the list here and select "Uninstall" from the overflow menu. Different versions of Windows may provide slightly different steps for uninstall.

Standalone (lite version)

@warning{By using this package instead of the installer, performance will be reduced. This package is not recommended for most users. No support will be provided!}

1. Download and extract sunshine-windows-portable.zip

2. Open command prompt as administrator

3. Firewall rules

   Install:

   cd /d {path to extracted directory}
   scripts/add-firewall-rule.bat
   

   Uninstall:

   cd /d {path to extracted directory}
   scripts/delete-firewall-rule.bat
   

4. Virtual Gamepad Support

   Install:

   cd /d {path to extracted directory}
   scripts/install-gamepad.bat
   

   Uninstall:

   cd /d {path to extracted directory}
   scripts/uninstall-gamepad.bat
   

5. Windows service

   Install:

   cd /d {path to extracted directory}
   scripts/install-service.bat
   scripts/autostart-service.bat
   

   Uninstall:

   cd /d {path to extracted directory}
   scripts/uninstall-service.bat
   

To uninstall, delete the extracted directory which contains the sunshine.exe file.

Initial Setup

After installation, some initial setup is required.

Linux

KMS Capture

@warning{Capture of most Wayland-based desktop environments will fail unless this step is performed.} @note{cap_sys_admin may as well be root, except you don't need to be root to run the program. This is necessary to allow Sunshine to use KMS capture.}

Enable

sudo setcap cap_sys_admin+p $(readlink -f $(which sunshine))

X11 Capture

For X11 capture to work, you may need to disable the capabilities that were set for KMS capture.

sudo setcap -r $(readlink -f $(which sunshine))

Service

Start once

systemctl --user start sunshine

Start on boot

systemctl --user enable sunshine

macOS

The first time you start Sunshine, you will be asked to grant access to screen recording and your microphone.

Sunshine can only access microphones on macOS due to system limitations. To stream system audio use Soundflower or BlackHole.

@note{Command Keys are not forwarded by Moonlight. Right Option-Key is mapped to CMD-Key.} @caution{Gamepads are not currently supported.}

Usage

Basic usage

If Sunshine is not installed/running as a service, then start Sunshine with the following command, unless a start command is listed in the specified package install instructions above.

@note{A service is a process that runs in the background. This is the default when installing Sunshine from the Windows installer. Running multiple instances of Sunshine is not advised.}

sunshine

Specify config file

sunshine <directory of conf file>/sunshine.conf

@note{You do not need to specify a config file. If no config file is entered the default location will be used.}

@attention{The configuration file specified will be created if it doesn't exist.}

Start Sunshine over SSH (Linux/X11)

Assuming you are already logged into the host, you can use this command

ssh <user>@<ip_address> 'export DISPLAY=:0; sunshine'

If you are logged into the host with only a tty (teletypewriter), you can use startx to start the X server prior to executing Sunshine. You nay need to add sleep between startx and sunshine to allow more time for the display to be ready.

ssh <user>@<ip_address> 'startx &; export DISPLAY=:0; sunshine'

@tip{You could also utilize the ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc files to set up the DISPLAY variable.}

@seealso{ See Remote SSH Headless Setup on how to set up a headless streaming server without autologin and dummy plugs (X11 + NVidia GPUs)}

Configuration

Sunshine is configured via the web ui, which is available on https://localhost:47990 by default. You may replace localhost with your internal ip address.

@attention{Ignore any warning given by your browser about "insecure website". This is due to the SSL certificate being self-signed.}

@caution{If running for the first time, make sure to note the username and password that you created.}

1. Add games and applications.

2. Adjust any configuration settings as needed.

3. In Moonlight, you may need to add the PC manually.

4. When Moonlight requests for you insert the pin:

   • Login to the web ui
   • Go to "PIN" in the Navbar
   • Type in your PIN and press Enter, you should get a Success Message
   • In Moonlight, select one of the Applications listed

Arguments

To get a list of available arguments, run the following command.

@tabs{ @tab{ General | @code{.bash} sunshine --help @endcode } @tab{ AppImage | @code{.bash} ./sunshine.AppImage --help @endcode } @tab{ Flatpak | @code{.bash} flatpak run --command=sunshine dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine --help @endcode } }

Shortcuts

All shortcuts start with Ctrl+Alt+Shift, just like Moonlight.

• Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N: Hide/Unhide the cursor (This may be useful for Remote Desktop Mode for Moonlight)
• Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F1/F12: Switch to different monitor for Streaming

Application List

• Applications should be configured via the web UI
• A basic understanding of working directories and commands is required
• You can use Environment variables in place of values
• $(HOME) will be replaced by the value of $HOME
• $$ will be replaced by $, e.g. $$(HOME) will be become $(HOME)
• env - Adds or overwrites Environment variables for the commands/applications run by Sunshine. This can only be changed by modifying the apps.json file directly.

Considerations

• On Windows, Sunshine uses the Desktop Duplication API which only supports capturing from the GPU used for display. If you want to capture and encode on the eGPU, connect a display or HDMI dummy display dongle to it and run the games on that display.

• When an application is started, if there is an application already running, it will be terminated.

• If any of the prep-commands fail, starting the application is aborted.

• When the application has been shutdown, the stream shuts down as well.

  • For example, if you attempt to run steam as a cmd instead of detached the stream will immediately fail. This is due to the method in which the steam process is executed. Other applications may behave similarly.
  • This does not apply to detached applications.

• The "Desktop" app works the same as any other application except it has no commands. It does not start an application, instead it simply starts a stream. If you removed it and would like to get it back, just add a new application with the name "Desktop" and "desktop.png" as the image path.

• For the Linux flatpak you must prepend commands with flatpak-spawn --host.

HDR Support

Streaming HDR content is officially supported on Windows hosts and experimentally supported for Linux hosts.

• General HDR support information and requirements:

  • HDR must be activated in the host OS, which may require an HDR-capable display or EDID emulator dongle connected to your host PC.
  • You must also enable the HDR option in your Moonlight client settings, otherwise the stream will be SDR (and probably overexposed if your host is HDR).
  • A good HDR experience relies on proper HDR display calibration both in the OS and in game. HDR calibration can differ significantly between client and host displays.
  • You may also need to tune the brightness slider or HDR calibration options in game to the different HDR brightness capabilities of your client's display.
  • Some GPUs video encoders can produce lower image quality or encoding performance when streaming in HDR compared to SDR.

• Additional information:

  @tabs{ @tab{ Windows |

  • HDR streaming is supported for Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA GPUs that support encoding HEVC Main 10 or AV1 10-bit profiles.
  • We recommend calibrating the display by streaming the Windows HDR Calibration app to your client device and saving an HDR calibration profile to use while streaming.
  • Older games that use NVIDIA-specific NVAPI HDR rather than native Windows HDR support may not display properly in HDR. }

  @tab{ Linux |

  • HDR streaming is supported for Intel and AMD GPUs that support encoding HEVC Main 10 or AV1 10-bit profiles using VAAPI.
  • The KMS capture backend is required for HDR capture. Other capture methods, like NvFBC or X11, do not support HDR.
  • You will need a desktop environment with a compositor that supports HDR rendering, such as Gamescope or KDE Plasma 6.

  @seealso{Arch wiki on HDR Support for Linux and Reddit Guide for HDR Support for AMD GPUs} } }

Tutorials and Guides

Tutorial videos are available here.

Guides are available here.

@admonition{Community! | Tutorials and Guides are community generated. Want to contribute? Reach out to us on our discord server.}

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