The Debian-based Rasperry Pi operating system (formerly known as Raspbian) is optimized to run on Raspberry Pi hardware. It bundles a lot of great software to get you started. This makes it a great operating system for Pi consumers, regardless of experience level. Installing the Raspberry Pi operating system has always been quite simple, but it only got easier with the 2020 version of the Raspberry Pi imager. Here we will show you how to configure the operating system Raspberry Pi on a Raspberry Pi.
ContentsWhat You'll NeedHow to use the Raspberry Pi ImagerHow to configure the Raspberry Pi OS with NOOBSCIt didn't work. What's wrong?The instructions below are for installing the Raspberry Pi operating system on a Pi that can be connected to a display and keyboard/mouse. If you want to do a headless install, you'll need to find instructions for enabling Wi-Fi and SSH by editing files on the system's SD card.
Before Raspberry Pi Imager came on the scene, flashing the Raspberry Pi OS to an SD card meant downloading the OS image from their site and using a third-party tool like BalenaEtcher to write it to an SD card. SD card. Pi Imager basically combines these two steps and streamlines the process. It finds the latest version of the operating system you install and writes it directly to the SD card.
3. Plug an SD card into your computer.
4. Launch Raspberry Pi Imager.
5. Choose your operating system. (Raspberry Pi OS is at the very top. The option to install a custom image from your computer is at the bottom.)
6. Choose the SD card you want to write the operating system to.
7. Check your final configuration.
8. Click "Write" and wait for the process to complete.
Once you have successfully installed the Raspberry Pi operating system on the SD card, you can remove it from your computer, put it in your Raspberry Pi and start. If all went well, this should take you directly to a fully functional desktop for initial setup.
The most important part of this setup is setting your password, so if you skip the initial help, be sure to do it in the settings later.
If you prefer to use third-party software, Balena Burner and Win32 Disk Imager work quite similarly. However, you will need to download the Raspberry Pi OS image first and use that as the source when writing to the SD card.
The new off-the-shelf software, or NOOBS, is an alternative way to set up a single Raspberry Pi. It basically puts all the operating system files on an SD card and lets you set up the one you want – Raspberry Pi OS, in this case. It's a bit slower and more convenient, but still a popular way to get a new Pi.
1. Download the NOOBS ZIP File.
2. Extract it using the extraction program of your choice. I use 7-Zip.
3. Format your SD card to FAT32. Windows only allows you to format drives up to 32GB with FAT32, so you can use the Raspberry Pi Imager or another program, like SD Memory Card Formatter, to format your card if it's larger than 32GB.
4. Once NOOBS has been extracted and the card has been formatted, simply move all files from the NOOBS folder directly to the SD card. Do not move the NOOBS folder itself, only the files it contains.
5. Eject the SD card from the computer, insert it into the Raspberry Pi and boot.
6. Choose an operating system from the list above. (Raspberry Pi OS is on top.)
7. Tap "Install" and wait for the system to complete the setup.
Once complete, your Pi should boot to the Raspberry Pi operating system desktop and walk you through some initial setup steps.
If something is wrong with your Raspberry Pi setup, don't worry, because you probably didn't brick it. It's not easy to accidentally break a Pi, and wiping the SD card and starting over won't have any ill effects. Make sure your SD card is properly inserted, your power supply is adequate, your HDMI cable is plugged into the first (left) port, and you are installing the latest version of the operating system. If the complete installation of Raspberry Pi OS repeatedly fails, try Raspberry Pi OS Lite instead. If in doubt, Google your problem. There are tons of people sharing experiences and advice online, and the more you do with your Pi, the more you rely on the collective experience of the community.
The good thing is that once you set up the Raspberry Pi OS on your Raspberry Pi, you can proceed with projects like turning your Raspberry Pi into a music server, wireless access point, or even a retro game console.
