Raspberry Pi — How to Set Up a Headless

Without Ever Attaching a Monitor! RaspSeries # Episode 01

Published in

Jungletronics

6 min readMar 30, 2020

Edited July 2024 — Raspberry Pi Imager — This is all you need now. Awesome!

Hi, You now have your very own Raspberry Pi computer and I’m sure you can’t wait to get started with it.

Fig 0. **What type of board should I buy?** — https://prezi.com/view/TP7hq09Aq2DYNhadreXF

Unlike a regular PC, Raspberry Pi is supplied without an Operating System.

There are just a few steps needed to start with your Pi, so just follow them here:

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 - A Laptop - Mine is a Dell Inspiron 14 (Intel core i7, win10);
2 - Raspberry pi (any);) mine is one;
3 - Micro SD Card Reader All in One Type or similar;
4 - Micro SD Card 16 GB (c4) or 64 GB (c10) Kingston - Both worked!;
5 - USB Type-A to Micro-USB lead (Power Supply).
6 - RJ45 CAT5E cable internet CAT5 (2m) and ethernet connection;

List of programs:

1 - PuTTY;
2 - Advanced IP Scanner;
3 - SD Memory Card Formatter;
4 - Win32DiskImager;
5 - Raspbian Buster Lite (or new version, if available);
6 - Windows Explorer

Let’s get it on!

Video 1: It takes theses lessons below, one-by-one, step-by-step. Be welcomed!

STEP-BY-STEP

1° Step — Get an SD Card; preferably with 8GB or more;

Here I will demonstrate the installation of OS in the Raspberry Pi I in my 64 GB Micro SD Card;

2° Step — Plug it with a Micro SD Card Reader;

Note: Do not use SD Card Adapter, like this one below; this type of tool will likely to fail or make errors; Do not make this mistake! The responses invariably open up into a genuine dialogue: the disc is write-protected (?):/

Fig 3. Please, Do Not try to format your SD Card **with the Adapter** that cames with it **nor with win10 tool** (use SD Card Formatter instead, below is the link). I thought that my SD Card was **infected** **by a virus** — but it boils down to a ‘negative’ coronavirus test result though :/ **Have you ever lost an entire day with nothing?** I’ve lost one day long, so please, buy a decent SD Card Reader! Do Not use this:

3° Step — Format your SD Card;

use:

 SD Memory Card Formatter

Fig 5. Here is the process of formatting 64 GB SD Card to burn rasp onto it! Ensure your disk is formatted using **exFAT only**. If it’s in any other format, it will not function properly. I spent an entire day trying to make it work, only to find out the disk was not in exFAT. Be careful!

Fig 6. https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/

There are mainly three most used format: FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS:

The biggest advantage of the FAT32 file system is compatible with all kinds of operating systems and devices;
exFAT fixes the downsides of the FAT32 file system regarding maximum file size and partition size;
NTFS fixes the downsides of the FAT32 file system regarding maximum file size and partition size.

We are using the exFAT format;

4° Step — Download and Open Win32DiskImager and get OS lite version (Raspbian Buster Lite) from www.raspberrypi.org;

Now, you’ll need a tool to install the .img file to the SD Card. A popular tool is called Win32DiskImager, available at this address:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

Simply download this program file and follow the instructions to install it on your Windows computer. Here is the process:

Fig 7. Writing OS image to SD Card using Win32 Disk Image App from sourceforge.net; use Raspbian Buster **Lite** image from raspberrypi.org :)

Fig 8. https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

I’m Using 👉Raspbian Buster Lite from www.raspberrypi.org.

Fig 9. This is the version that I will use!

Why use the Lite version?

We won’t start a lxterminal on startup (no monitor, remember?).

We want Raspberry Pi to boot right to Command-Line Interface via SSH: 😃

CLI — Command-Line Interface

5° Step — **Important Note** open in Windows Explorer the image file you’ve just loaded to SD Card and ADD ssh File to the SD Card Root; this will enable SSH by placing a file named ssh (without any extension) onto the boot partition of the SD Card; Look How To accomplish it:

Fig 10. Save ssh empty file inside the image directory: This will tell to OS to use Secure Shell — SSH:)

6° Step — Now insert your SD Card into the SD Card slot of your Raspberry Pi:

Photo 1. How to insert an SD Card on pi I

7° Step — Now, connect you Raspberry Pi to your network using an RJ45 CAT5E Ethernet cable into your local router (I tried wifi dongle usb dealextreme but did not work via WLAN interface; We have to enable this interface as soon we boot:/);

8° Step — Get power!

Finally, connect your laptop to your rasp with a USB Type-A to Micro USB lead; Waiting all the light turned on and stabilize:

Photo 2. Pi I up and running headlessly!

9° Step — Now open Advanced IP Scanner and run it (you can run it even without installing it…); you’ll see Raspberry Pi Foundation IP entry:)

Raspberry PI IP : 192.168.0.21

10° Step — And finally open the PuTTY program and log in:

Fig 12. PuTTY accessing Raspberry PI via IP 192.168.0.21

Fig 13. When you run PuTTy for the first time you’ll see this WARNING!

Fig 14. Inside Raspberry PI via SSH! Hooray!

To open a new session on PuTTY, type:

login: pi
password: raspberry

Hit <ENTER>, and there you have it! You have pi under your command \o/

Just a quick recap:

1– Get an SD Card;

2– Plug it with a Micro SD Card Reader;

3– Format your SD Card;

4– Download and Open Win32DiskImager and get OS lite version;

5– Save ssh empty file inside the image directory;

6– Now insert your SD Card into the Raspberry Pi;

7– Use your RJ45 CAT5E Ethernet cable to get internet into your pi;

8– Get power supply, using a USB Type-A to Micro USB lead;

9– Open Advanced IP Scanner and run it; note the pi address;

10-Use PuTTY to access your pi via ssh.

That’s all for now!

Thank you for reading!

Download The 01_Guide PDF here!

Notes:

-Can’t type password? The reason for this is that in Linux when you type in your login password nothing comes up on the screen. All you have to do is type it and press <ENTER>;

-Occurs that when you run sudo raspi-config for the first time and run

Advanced Options > A1 Expand Filesystem to ensure that all of the SD Card is available, the system built 2 partitions: D:/ FAT 256M and E:/57.98GB.

Fig 15. Expanding filesystem to ensure the use of all SD Card

How to combine both partitions if you want to repeat all the process again?

Combine partitions in Disk Management

Press Windows and X on the keyboard and select Disk Management from the list.
Right-click drive D and select Delete Volume, disk space of D will be converted to Unallocated.
Right-click drive C and select Extend Volume.
Click Next in the pop-up Extend Volume Wizard window.