--- title: I skipped buying a NAS and revived my old server with... description: An old HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L, once running Windows Home Server, was revived using OpenMediaVault (OMV), a free Debian-based NAS operating system. The... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-skipped-buying-a-nas-and-revived-my-old-server-with-openmediavault-jh1jyavmy twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I skipped buying a NAS and revived my old server with OpenMediaVault | daily.dev og:description: An old HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L, once running Windows Home Server, was revived using OpenMediaVault (OMV), a free Debian-based NAS operating system. The... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-skipped-buying-a-nas-and-revived-my-old-server-with-openmediavault-jh1jyavmy og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/JH1JyAvmY.png og:image:alt: I skipped buying a NAS and revived my old server with OpenMediaVault og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I skipped buying a NAS and revived my old server with OpenMediaVault **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An old HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L, once running Windows Home Server, was revived using OpenMediaVault (OMV), a free Debian-based NAS operating system. The writeup walks through creating a bootable USB installer with Rufus, wiping and formatting drives with ext4 through OMV's web interface, and setting up shared folders for file sharing with Plex or Jellyfin, turning otherwise obsolete hardware into a functional low-cost storage box. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How can I turn an old HP ProLiant MicroServer into a NAS using OpenMediaVault? Create a bootable USB drive with the OpenMediaVault ISO using Rufus default settings, boot the old server from it with a monitor briefly connected, then install OMV onto a small dedicated drive while leaving other drives free for storage. After noting the assigned IP address, disconnect the monitor and manage everything through the web interface, wiping drives, creating ext4 file systems, and setting up shared folders with user permissions. _daily.dev surfaces guides like this for anyone repurposing old hardware into a home NAS._ ### What are the minimum hardware requirements for running OpenMediaVault on an old server? OpenMediaVault runs comfortably on very old, low-power hardware. An HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L with an AMD Turion II dual-core 1.5GHz processor and 8GB of RAM handled it fine, since OMV is a lightweight Debian-based OS with minimal hardware demands, needing only working drive bays and a network connection to function as a NAS. _Weighing whether old hardware can still handle NAS duty is easier with real-world examples on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I turned my old Windows Home Server into a dumb NAS for Plex and Jellyfin](https://daily.dev/posts/i-turned-my-old-windows-home-server-into-a-dumb-nas-for-plex-and-jellyfin-wolbldpis) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [OpenMediaVault, a Linux-Based Solution for Building a NAS](https://daily.dev/posts/openmediavault-a-linux-based-solution-for-building-a-nas-xeh0covil) · The New Stack · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Forget Synology and DSM, this free NAS distro can revive old PCs as NAS servers](https://daily.dev/posts/forget-synology-and-dsm-this-free-nas-distro-can-revive-old-pcs-as-nas-servers-ztwqtei6g) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Here are Your Choices for an Open Source NAS Operating System](https://daily.dev/posts/here-are-your-choices-for-an-open-source-nas-operating-system-7xroska5w) · It's Foss · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [My Homelab Setup](https://daily.dev/posts/my-homelab-setup-f4kj2y1pz) · Hacker News · 4 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting), [#homelab](https://daily.dev/tags/homelab) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-skipped-buying-a-nas-and-revived-my-old-server-with-openmediavault-jh1jyavmy) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I skipped buying a NAS and revived my old server with OpenMediaVault","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-skipped-buying-a-nas-and-revived-my-old-server-with-openmediavault-jh1jyavmy","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-skipped-buying-a-nas-and-revived-my-old-server-with-openmediavault-jh1jyavmy"},"datePublished":"2026-09-29T14:02:38.869Z","dateModified":"2026-09-29T14:03:09.369Z","description":"An old HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L, once running Windows Home Server, was revived using OpenMediaVault (OMV), a free Debian-based NAS operating system. 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