UniFi Tutorials

Unifi Cloud Controller Adoption Using SSH

In this Tutorial I will be showing you how to adopt New Unifi Devices to your Unifi Cloud Controller using the SSH Method.

We will first start off by:

  1. Download and install Advanced IP Scanner.

  2. Open the Advanced IP Scanner and run a scan to locate all your New Unifi devices.
    • Note: Make sure network discovery is enabled on your computer

  3. Within Advanced IP Scanner make sure to notice the IP addresses that each Unifi Device is using.

  4. Download, install, and run: PuTTY

  5. Enter the IP address of the UniFi device, Port 22, Connection type: SSH, and click “Open”

  6. Login using the default username is ubnt and password is ubnt.

  7.  In that same console window type without quotes  “set-inform” followed by the server address http://yourdomain:8080/inform” 
    • Make sure to use a DNS name instead of an IP address. 
    • Make sure to use http:// instead of https:// and use :8080/inform, at the end of the domain, example: http://unifi.patrickdomingues.com:8080/inform.

  8. Log into your Unifi Cloud Controller and create your new site if needed. You should notice your new devices will now show up for adoption on ALL sites in your UniFi Cloud Controller, use the sites drop down in the upper right corner to switch to the site you want the device to be adopted in, then click “Adopt”

  9. The device status should change from “Pending” to “Adopting”, and then “Provisioning” fairly quickly.

  10. The device will receive its new configuration from the UniFi Cloud Controller and reboot, afterwards the status should change to “Connected”

  11. Once that is done you can upgrade the device firmware, and begin configuring your network under Settings and remember to set a monthly schedule for auto firmware updates.

I hope this article was helpful, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. If you would like to be notified of when I create a new post, you can subscribe to my blog alert.


Discover more from Patrick Domingues

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

author avatar
Patrick Domingues

1 Comment

  1. Thank you very much for this tutorial.
    I got into a situation where I could not adopt a US-8-150W (6.4.18.14328) switch with a Windows hosted 7.3.83 controller.
    You auto made the difference!

Leave a Comment

Stay Informed

Receive instant notifications when new content is released.