How to flash raspbian on a Rasperry Pi

First you need some tools

1. balenaEtcher

2. raspbian iso

3. a pc

Estimate Time: 15-20 minutes

Let’s install etcher

go to the balena download page and retrive the suitable version for your needs.

Download the raspbian ISO

for this guide we’ll use the lite version ‘cause we don’t need a GUI

Now we have all we need!

Take you micro sd and insert it into the pc.

Then open balenaEtcher and select your iso image.

Then select the media you want to flash and click “Flash!”

Create ssh folder in boot partition

We have to activate ssh at the first boot because we want to use the Pi in headless mode (without keyboard and monitor).

To do that mount the sd card just flashed in your pc and open the boot partition.

create a folder named “ssh” and the job is done!

Configure wpa_supplicant for wifi connection

The Pi will connect to the lan via WiFi, so you need to setup the connection before the Pi boots.

To do that mount again the sd in your pc, but this time go into the root partition.

We’ll modify the file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf and add the ssid and password of the designed wifi network.

The file requires root permissions to be modified

Once you opened that the file, it has to look like these:

country=it
update_config=1
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

network={
 ssid="YOURSSID"
 psk="YOURPASSWORD"
}

After that you can finally put the sd in your Raspberry Pi and power it up!

First boot and basic config

When the pi ha booted up you have to find its ip address, to do it run the command ip-scan and connect your pc to the board via ssh

ssh pi@*pi ip*

The default password is raspberry

Once you’re connected, launch the command:

sudo raspi-config

This will prompt a menu from which we can change some important settings:

1. hostname —> the device name on the network

2. locale —> Country (language)

3. timezone

4. password —> change pi and root password

optionally we can enable the “wait for network at boot” which won’t fully boot the operating system until a Wi-Fi or cable connection is established.

Update and Upgrade

Another importat thing is to keep the software up-to-date, so we can run:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

to update the index of packages and upgrade the installed software.

Then we reboot the pi and we’re ready to rock!