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Install Tailscale on Linux

One-command Tailscale install that works on Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Arch, and most other Linux distros. Official install script from Tailscale.

Distrosubuntu, debian, fedora, opensuse, arch, raspbian, centos
Shellbash
Updated
Script
bash
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

What this does

Downloads and runs the official Tailscale install script, which detects your distro and configures the correct package repository (apt, dnf, zypper, pacman, etc.) automatically. Then brings Tailscale up and prompts you to authenticate.

Prerequisites

  • curl installed (sudo apt install curl / sudo dnf install curl)
  • Root or sudo access
  • A Tailscale account (free tier covers homelab use)

After running

  1. Follow the authentication URL printed to the terminal
  2. Approve the device in the Tailscale admin console
  3. Verify connectivity: tailscale status

Useful flags

# Enable subnet routing (expose your LAN to other Tailscale nodes)
sudo tailscale up --advertise-routes=192.168.1.0/24

# Act as an exit node
sudo tailscale up --advertise-exit-node

# Disable key expiry (recommended for servers)
sudo tailscale up --accept-dns=false

Then approve routes in the admin console under the machine settings.

Enable IP forwarding (required for subnet routing)

echo 'net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.d/99-tailscale.conf
echo 'net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding = 1' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.d/99-tailscale.conf
sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-tailscale.conf

Notes

  • The install script is open source: github.com/tailscale/tailscale
  • Tailscale uses WireGuard under the hood — kernel module or userspace depending on your kernel version
  • Service is managed by systemd: sudo systemctl status tailscaled
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