Try it on your computer

Windows 10 or 11

Windows has Ubuntu built in, through a free part of Windows called WSL. You turn it on once.

1. Open PowerShell as administrator

   Press the Start button, type PowerShell, right-click Windows PowerShell and choose Run as administrator.

2. Install Ubuntu

   Paste this and press Enter:

   wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04

   If Windows asks you to restart, restart, and the install carries on afterwards.

3. Choose an Ubuntu user name and password

   An Ubuntu window opens and asks for a user name and a password. These are only for Ubuntu on this computer. Remember the password: you type it in the next step.

   Later, to open Ubuntu again, press Start and type Ubuntu.

4. Install creekX

   In the Ubuntu window, paste this and press Enter:

   curl -fsSL https://creekx.io/get.sh | sudo bash

   Type your Ubuntu password when asked (nothing shows as you type; that is normal). Then answer creekX's questions: your email, a domain (press Enter to skip) and a password for creekX. It takes a few minutes.

5. Open creekX

   In your usual browser, go to http://localhost and sign in with the email and password you chose for creekX. Keep the Ubuntu window open while you use it: Windows pauses Ubuntu a while after its last window is closed.

6. Go live from OBS

   Install OBS Studio on Windows and follow From OBS or a phone app. Paste the server address exactly as creekX shows it.

When you are done

To remove creekX and the Ubuntu it runs in, open PowerShell and run the line below. It deletes everything inside that Ubuntu, including your creekX videos, so only run it if you do not use Ubuntu for anything else.

wsl --unregister Ubuntu-24.04

Mac

A free app from Ubuntu's makers, Multipass, runs Ubuntu on a Mac.

creekX runs on Intel and AMD processors today. On a Mac with an Intel processor this works. A Mac with Apple silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4 and later) cannot run it yet: try creekX on a small cloud server instead (Install on a server). To check, open the Apple menu, then About This Mac: it says "Intel" or "Chip Apple M…".

1. Install Multipass

   Download it from canonical.com/multipass and open the installer.

2. Make an Ubuntu machine

   Open the Terminal app, paste this and press Enter:

   multipass launch 24.04 --name creekx --cpus 2 --memory 4G --disk 30G

3. Step inside it

   multipass shell creekx

4. Install creekX

   curl -fsSL https://creekx.io/get.sh | sudo bash

   Answer its questions: your email, a domain (press Enter to skip), a password.

5. Open creekX

   When it finishes it prints an address like http://192.168.64.5. Open that address in your browser on the Mac and sign in. (Forgotten it? In a new Terminal window, multipass info creekx shows it as IPv4.)

When you are done

multipass delete --purge creekx

Linux

On Ubuntu 24.04

Install it directly. Open a terminal and paste:

curl -fsSL https://creekx.io/get.sh | sudo bash

Then open http://localhost. creekX runs as a service and starts by itself with the computer.

On any other Linux

Use Multipass to run Ubuntu 24.04 beside your system. Install it (on most systems: sudo snap install multipass), then follow the Mac steps above from Make an Ubuntu machine: the commands are the same.

What is different on a computer

• Going live from a browser needs https, which needs a domain and a server. On your computer, use OBS or another streaming app.
• Only you can watch. Your computer is not reachable from the internet, so a watch link works on this computer only. To share with others, use a server.
• Everything else works: streams, recordings, videos, captions, 24/7 channels, and sending to YouTube or Facebook.