The 5 Minute Raspberry Pi Setup Guide without External Display, Keyboard or Mouse
By: Jayden Chua
Tags: Technology, Raspberry, DIY Projects, Raspberry Pi, Raspbian

Setup your raspberry directly from your Windows, macOS or Linux machine without the need for any extra I/O devices.

Overview

So I wanted to set up the new raspberry pi 4 that I purchased recently, but I forgot to purchase the micro HDMI cable?! I really didn’t want to pay for this cable since my raspberry was never every really going to need a display other than for the initial installation. So this guide will show you how to quickly set this up so you can get on with your projects.

Pre-requisites

Raspberry Pi (Any version) Computer (Windows, macOS or Linux) microSD card Router (cable or wifi)

Pre-Installation

Before we get started, I just wanted to explain quickly how this is going to be done. We’re going to burn the raspian image on to the the microSD, allow ssh to raspberry pi and finally setup the wifi configuration before we put the microSD card into the raspberry pi.

Rasbian

Ok, first, we need to download the rasbian image, next we need to burn it. So, go ahead and download the latest rasbian light image. The rasbian light was chosen instead because I didn’t need the GUI part, feel free to use a different version if you like.

Next, we need a tool to burn the image onto the microSD card. Here, we will use the opensource etcher tool that will work on all platforms.

Uncompress the rasbian zip file you downloaded and open your Etcher tool. It’s fairly intuitive, you select the image that you have unzipped, select the microSD that you have plugged into your computer and click flash!

SSH Access

Once the image has been burnt into the microSD card, we will want to create the SSH access.

To do this, plug your microSD card into your Windows, macOS or Linux machine. The name of the volume should be boot .

Create an empty file named ssh , that’s it.

Wifi Connection

Now, depending on how you plan to connect your raspberry pi to your network, you can choose to skip this part.

If you plan to allow your raspberry pi to automatically connect via wifi during the first boot, create a new file and name it wpa_supplicant.conf

Within the file, add the following configurations.

country=IE

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev

update_config=1



network={

scan_ssid=1

ssid="YOUR WIFI SSID"

psk="YOUR WIFI PASSWORD"

}

Login via SSH

Now that you have all the files ready, plug in your microSD card and turn on the power supply.

Next, we need to login via ssh to your raspberry pi. Linux and macOS users can use the default terminal application, and if you’re a Windows user, you can use Putty to login.

First we need to find your raspberry pi’s IP address. This can be done in a couple of different ways.

Log into your router to see the devices connected. Look for the device named raspberry. If you don’t have access to your router’s admin panel, consider using the Angry Ip Scanner application to find your raspberry ip address.

Once you get your raspberry’s IP address, login via ssh.

$ ssh pi@x.x.x.x

The default ssh password is raspberry . Done! You’re in.

What Next?

After installing Rasbian and your first successful ssh login, you can consider making some tweaks to your first headless raspberry pi.

References