How to Set Up Cooling in CoolerControl

To set up cooling in CoolerControl, start with the Auto-Create wizard: install the package for your Linux distribution, confirm your hardware is detected, and let the wizard build a working baseline configuration. From there, adjust fan and cooling settings to match your preferences and verify the result. The documentation's "Setting up cooling?" section is the entry point for this workflow.

Before You Start

The setup path assumes three things:

• CoolerControl is installed for your distribution. The "New here?" section of the docs links installation instructions per distribution.
• Your hardware is detected. The docs include an "Is my hardware supported?" check — confirm your fans, pumps, or AIO are visible before configuring anything.
• You have the privileges to change cooling settings. Fan and pump control typically requires elevated access; the docs cover this in the setup material.

If hardware isn't detected, configuration steps won't help — resolve detection first.

Step 1: Build a Baseline with Auto-Create

The documentation recommends the Auto-Create wizard as the starting point for a working setup. The wizard inspects detected hardware and generates a configuration that controls your fans and cooling devices.

What you do: open the Auto-Create wizard from the setup flow described under "Setting up cooling?" and let it run against your detected hardware.

What to expect: a baseline configuration that already controls your cooling devices — not a blank slate. Treat this as the reference point you adjust from, not the final state.

Step 2: Adjust Cooling and Fan Settings

Once the baseline exists, tune it:

• Fan curves — map temperature to fan speed so cooling responds to load instead of running at a fixed rate.
• Device assignments — confirm each fan, pump, or AIO is controlled by the profile you intend.
• Profiles — keep a quiet profile and a performance profile if your use alternates between idle and load.

Change one thing at a time and note the previous value, so you can revert if a setting behaves unexpectedly.

Step 3: Verify the Setup

Verification means observing behavior, not just saving settings:

1. Check reported sensors — temperatures and fan speeds should update and look plausible.
2. Apply load — run a workload and confirm fan speeds rise with temperature per your curve.
3. Return to idle — confirm speeds fall back rather than staying pinned.
4. Restart — confirm the configuration persists and is applied on boot.

If a fan doesn't respond, re-check detection and whether that device is assigned to an active profile.

Running a Server

The docs include a "Running a server?" section for headless or remote setups. If your machine has no local desktop session, follow that path rather than the desktop setup flow — the configuration concepts are the same, but access differs.

Where the Setup Documentation Lives

All of this is documented at docs.coolercontrol.org, organized by task:

Start with "Setting up cooling?" — it is the canonical reference for the wizard and the settings described above.