Quick Start

The 10-minute happy path. If you hit anything that doesn’t match, fall back to the longer Getting Started walkthrough.

Before you begin

  • A Windows 11 PC that meets the System Requirements.

  • Local administrator access on that PC.

  • A second device on the same LAN to stream to (phone, tablet, TV, laptop, or just another browser).

1. Install LuminalShine on the host

  1. Grab the latest installer from github.com/NortheBridge/luminalshine/releases. The MSI bootstrapper (LuminalShineInstaller.exe) is the recommended package.

  2. Run it as administrator. Accept the defaults — they install the service, register it to start on boot, and install SudoVDA as the default virtual display driver.

  3. When the installer finishes, it opens the LuminalShine Web UI at:

    https://localhost:47990

    Your browser will warn about the self-signed certificate. That is expected on first run; accept it and continue.

2. Set your admin credentials

The first time the Web UI loads, it prompts you to create an admin username and password. These are:

  • Stored using TPM-bound credential sealing if your PC has TPM 2.0 (the default on modern Windows 11 hardware).

  • Falling back to Windows Credential Manager + an Argon2id-hashed password if no TPM is available.

Pick a password you can recover — there is no “forgot password” email flow. If you do lose it, the installer ships a Reset LuminalShine Admin Password shortcut.

3. Install a Moonlight client

On the device you want to stream to, install Moonlight from moonlight-stream.org — it has builds for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, TVs, handhelds, and more.

If you’d rather not install anything, skip this step and use the WebRTC client built into the LuminalShine Web UI — see step 5.

4. Pair the client

  1. Open Moonlight on the client device. It should auto-discover the host on your LAN. If not, type the host’s IP manually.

  2. Tap the LuminalShine host. Moonlight shows a 4-digit PIN.

  3. Back in the LuminalShine Web UI on the host PC, go to PIN in the sidebar and enter the PIN.

  4. Pairing succeeds — Moonlight now shows the list of apps configured on your host (defaults include Desktop and Steam).

Pairing happens once per client. Subsequent connections are automatic.

5. Start streaming

With Moonlight: tap Desktop (or any app) on the client and the stream begins.

With the built-in WebRTC client: in the Web UI on the host, click WebRTC in the sidebar, pick an app, and click Connect. The stream renders in the same browser tab — no client install required.

That’s it. You’re streaming.

What to do next

  • Tune the stream. Bitrate, codec (H.264 / HEVC / AV1), HDR, and frame pacing all live under Configuration → Video in the Web UI, and are documented in Configuration.

  • Add games. Configuration → Applications lets you add custom launches; Steam and Playnite integration auto-import your library.

  • Set up a virtual display. If you’d rather not stream your real desktop, the SudoVDA driver lets you spin up a dedicated streaming display at any resolution / refresh rate. See Configuration → Virtual Display.

  • Hit problems? Check Troubleshooting or the logs at %ProgramData%\LuminalShine\sunshine.log.