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Nextcloud on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS — Support & Quick Start

Nextcloud on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS — Nextcloud is the leading self-hosted content-collaboration platform: file sync and share, calendars, contacts, and office editing. Published by Derek Coleman & Associates Inc on the Azure Marketplace, deployed in your own Azure subscription.

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Known issue on the current image (as of 2026-09-15)

First boot aborts before Nextcloud is installed: no admin account and no /var/lib/nextcloud-firstboot-admin-pw are ever created, and http://<VM-IP>/ never shows the Nextcloud login. (image build tested: 2026.904.1807 (newest build at sweep time; the version the Marketplace publishes today is 2026.706.1720, not separately booted))

What you will see: `sudo journalctl -u firstboot` ends with `Main process exited, status=1` right after "Set mode for background jobs to 'cron'"; the credential file is absent; the same failure repeats on every boot.

Fix status: Fix merged 2026-09-16 (image-factory PR #206, proven on build 2026.915.1922: first boot completes, admin sign-in verified). Re-publication has NOT happened yet — the rebuilt image failed certification a second time and we are working the report — so the image you deploy today is still the one described above. No proven workaround on it; email support and we will walk you through a manual install or tell you when the fixed version is live. Track the fix.

Source: our 2026-09-15 image sweep of the newest published build. This notice is removed when a build that passes the same test is live on the Marketplace.

At a glance

Application ports80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS with a self-signed certificate until you run certbot)
Open in browserhttp://<VM-IP>/
Admin credential filesudo cat /var/lib/nextcloud-firstboot-admin-pw
Sign in asadmin
Service(s)apache2, mariadb, redis-server
Configuration/var/www/nextcloud/config/config.php (occ: sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ …); trusted_domains is set to the VM address at first boot
Logs/var/log/apache2/; sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ log:tail
VersionNextcloud 30 (latest 30.x at build; Apache 2.4, PHP 8.3, MariaDB, Redis)
PlatformUbuntu 24.04 LTS

Quick start

  1. Deploy from the Azure Marketplace (Get It Now → Create), choosing your SSH key at the Administration step.
  2. Allow inbound SSH (22) for yourself plus the application port(s): 80 and 443 (web UI) — restrict to your own IP where possible. The in-image firewall already allows them; only the Network Security Group (NSG) keeps them closed.
  3. Wait for first boot to finish, open http://<VM-IP>/ and sign in as admin (see First login below).
  4. Point a DNS name at the VM, run `sudo certbot --apache -d your.domain`, and add the domain to trusted_domains.

First login / credentials

This image generates its admin credential on the VM at first boot — nothing is pre-set. SSH into the VM with the username + key you chose at deploy, then print the generated credential:

ssh <your-username>@<VM-IP>
sudo cat /var/lib/nextcloud-firstboot-admin-pw

Sign in as admin.

  1. Print the generated admin password (first boot runs `occ maintenance:install` and can take several minutes).
  2. Open http://<VM-IP>/ and sign in as admin.
  3. Change the password (Settings → Security) and delete the file. Add your domain to trusted_domains (occ config:system:set trusted_domains 2 --value=your.domain) before switching DNS.

Sign in as admin (unless noted), then change the password immediately. The file is root-only and can be deleted once the password is stored securely.

Troubleshooting

SymptomCheckFix
PDF, SVG, HEIC, TIFF, PSD or EPS files show a file-type icon instead of a thumbnail`php -m | grep -ci imagick` prints 0Expected on images 2026.917.1723 and later: ImageMagick is not shipped, because its Ubuntu 24.04 security fixes are available only through Ubuntu Pro. PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, WebP, Krita, MP3 cover art, Markdown/text and OpenDocument thumbnails render with GD. The admin overview's note that imagick is needed for favicon generation is informational.

Still stuck?

Email support@dcassociatesgroup.com (response within 1 business day) or send a message via the contact form. Include the offer name, VM size, region, and any log output — sudo journalctl -u <service> -n 100 usually tells the story.