This guide shows how to bring up a Raspberry Pi Zero, Zero W, or Zero 2 W without needing to attach a keyboard/mouse/monitor. For older Pi OS releases, basic settings can be configured by editing text files directly on the SD card using an editor on your main PC prior to first boot. For newer Pi OS releases, the rpi-imager tool can be used to both burn the OS image and configure settings.

Suggested Items

If you need to troubleshoot for any reason, this item is your best friend. For $10, it makes working with a headless Pi Zero so much easier. It's also included with a lot of the kits.

This is a slightly fancier option specifically made for the Pi. It has the convenience of allowing you to use a standard micro USB cable. It was mainly designed for attaching to male headers, so if you've soldered on something different you'll have to find some way to jumper it.

Of course you'll also need an SD card for the operating system, a Pi Zero (plus WiFi adapter) or Zero W, and some form of header pins to access the GPIO.

• Male Headers
• Female Headers
• 90deg Female Headers

But I Want To Connect A Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor

That's fine but not covered in this guide. Troubleshooting HDMI issues, configuring display settings, and dealing with possible HDMI and/or USB cable and/or power problems are worth a separate guide.

Other Pi Models

This guide is targeted for the Pi Zero and Zero W as those models are more difficult to attach a keyboard / mouse / and monitor to. However, these setup instructions should also work on any Pi with WiFi. It has been tested to work with:

• Pi 3 Model B
• Pi 3 Model B+
• Pi 3 Model A+
• Pi 4 Model B

You can skip this section unless you have reason to believe your Pi Zero isn't alive.

The Pi Zero doesn't have much in the way of blinky LEDs to give you a warm fuzzy that it's doing anything or even alive. And if the GPU doesn't find a valid OS image, it doesn't even turn on the green ACT LED and looks totally dead. Typically this just means something is up with the SD card. Bad card. Bad image. Out of date image. Whatever. It does not mean the Pi Zero is dead.

Here's how to run a sanity check to verify if the Pi Zero is OK.

(taken from here and also provided here)

• Take your Zero, with nothing in any slot or socket (yes, no SD-card is needed or wanted to do this test!).
• Take a normal micro-USB to USB-A DATA SYNC cable (not a charge-only cable! make sure its a true data sync cable!)
• Connect the USB cable to your PC, plugging the micro-USB into the Pi's USB, (not the PWR_IN).
• If the Zero is alive, your Windows PC will go ding for the presence of new hardware & you should see "BCM2708 Boot" in Device Manager.
• Or on linux, run sudo lsusb or run dmesg and look for a ID 0a5c:2763 Broadcom Corp message. If you see that, so far so good, you know the Zero's not dead.

Below is a Pi Zero connected to a Linux computer via a USB cable and the resulting dmesg output. Note: there is no SD card installed, USB cable is in USB port, and there are no lights.

This is what a Pi Zero 2 W shows up as:

Here's what our Windows machine showed:

Looks dead, but it's not.

This guide uses Raspbian Lite as the starting point. Download the latest version from here:

You will get a .zip file. Unzip that and you should get a .img file. Then follow these excellent instructions to burn the OS image to an SD card:

You live in a world where an entire operating system can fit on a wafer thin piece of plastic smaller than your finger tip. And you can run this on a $5 (or $10) computer that is small enough to give away on the cover of a magazine. You should be amazed, excited, and happy about this.

Latest OS tested: Raspberry Pi OS Buster Lite 2021-05-07

If you burned the OS image successfully, you should see a folder named boot appear on your main computer. If it doesn't, try removing and reinserting the SD card. If it still doesn't, try burning the image again.

There are four text files we will create/edit in boot.

1. userconf.txt - user account id and password
2. wpa_supplicant.conf - wifi settings
3. config.txt - global system settings
4. ssh - an empty text file to enable ssh

We are going to edit these directly on the SD card before putting it in the Pi Zero. This way you can edit these files using your favorite text editor on your main computer. Try to avoid using a word processor though. A "text editor" edits text and nothing else, whereas a "word processor" allows for all kinds of formatting, like making text bold, inserting images, etc. 

Create User Account and Password

As of the bullseye release of the Raspberry Pi OS, the default account with username pi and password raspberry has been removed. This blog post has more information.

To create a user account, a file named userconf.txt is created that contains the account username and encrypted password. The password must be encrypted, which can be a hassle. If you have access to a running Pi or other linux machine, can use the following:

The resulting contents of the userconf.txt file would then look like:

That will create a user account with username pi and password raspberry.

Configure WiFi

The Pi Zero W has built in WiFi so nothing additional is required. WiFi is only supported on 2.4 GHz band. If you are using the original Pi Zero, you will need some form of WiFi Adapter and a way to connect it: cable or adapter.

The WiFi configuration file does not exist and needs to be created. The name of the file should be wpa_supplicant.conf and its contents will get copied to the system folder at boot time. It will then be deleted. So this a one time only process. If you want to try again, you have to recreate the file and reboot.

The contents of the file should be as shown below. Replace YOURSSID and YOURPASSWORD with whatever is used for your network setup.

Like this:

On the country= line, if not in the US, replace with code for your specific country.

Save file and move on to next step. (more details here)

Enable UART

The file called config.txt already exists, we are just going to edit its contents. We will add some text to the bottom to enable the UART on the GPIO header pins. This allows a USB console cable to be attached later for troubleshooting.

Open the file in a text editor and add the following text to the bottom.

Like this:

Save it and move on to next step. (more details here)

Enable SSH

SSH used to be enabled by default, but was then (Nov 2016) turned off by default. This was due to security concerns since the pi user id and password are well known. However, you'll likely want this enabled so you can remotely connect to the Pi Zero.

To do so, we simply create a file called ssh. This file does not exist and needs to be created. It can be empty. The system looks for it at boot time and will enable ssh if it is there. It is then deleted. So just create a new file and save it as ssh to the boot folder.

Final Check

After the above steps, you should have the following files on the SD card in the boot folder.

Safely remove the SD card from the main computer and install it in the Pi Zero.

This approach uses the rpi-imager software created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. This allows configuring and writing the OS image all in one step. No text file editing required. This process can do all the same setup except for the UART enabling.

Information on installing and running rpi-imager can be found here:

Once you've installed rpi-imager and launched it, you should see the initial screen. Configuration settings are accessed via the Advanced Options by clicking on the gear icon:

The Advanced Options should look like this:

The top drop down lets you choose between applying the settings just once (for this session only) or every time you burn an image (to always use). The later can be useful so you don't have to type in the same information each time you burn an image.

And then you can just scroll through and enable any of the options you want and configure as appropriate. Be sure to scroll, there are more items than can fit in the small rpi-imager app window.

Set Hostname

This is the name the Raspberry Pi will show up as on your network. If nothing is done here, the default is raspberrypi.

Enable SSH

Not only can you enable SSH, you can set a new password to use as well. By default, SSH is disabled.

Set Username and Password

As of the bullseye release of the Raspberry Pi OS, the default account with username pi and password raspberry has been removed. This blog post has more information.

To create a user account, fill in the username and password. This can be whatever you want, including the old default pi:raspberry.

Configure WiFi

This sets up the Raspberry Pi to be able to connect to your local WiFi network. Type in your WiFi network name (SSID) and password. Be careful not to have any typos.

Don't forget to also set the country code.

Location Settings

This can be used to set time zone and keyboard layout.

Burn OS Image

Once done with the settings, click the SAVE button to get back to the main rpi-imager screen. Then, pick an OS image by clicking the CHOOSE OS button.

Most of these options will download the selected image from the internet before burning. If you want to instead use a specific OS image you've already downloaded, then scroll to the very last option - Use Custom.

Click CHOOSE STORAGE to pick the SD card to use. Be careful to select the correct device here.

Then click WRITE to start writing the image to the SD card. You'll be prompted to confirm before starting.

Click YES and away it goes. It will take several minutes to complete. Longer if it also has to download the image first.

Once done, you get this pop up, and...well...you're done.

How It Works

This process seems to rely entirely on creating a custom script called firstrun.sh in the /boot partition of the SD card. It does not create a wpa_supplicant.conf or ssh file. Nor does it alter config.txt.

Here are the contents of the firstrun.sh file created after the screen shots above and burning the OS image.

NOTE: The SD card has not been booted in a Pi yet.

This is just a bash script that will get copied over and run (with elevated privileges!) the first time the Pi is booted (run). It's sort of a rubber ducky hacker style approach.

OK. Let's power it up.

With the SD card inserted, apply power via a USB cable to the PWR IN connector as shown.

You should see some activity on the green LED light. This means the Pi Zero found a good OS image and is booting.

After a minute or two, you can try and ping the Pi Zero to see if it has connected to your network. You can access the Pi Zero using mDNS style addressing.

Windows users will require some additional setup. Read here. Also, the ping options on Windows are different, so the above would be:

You should also be able to ssh into the Pi Zero.

The default password is raspberry.

Done?

If that worked, then you're pretty much done. The Pi Zero has connected to your network, and assuming your network is connected to the Internet, so is the Pi Zero. If you want, you can read the Suggested Initial Setup section for some suggested first steps.

If that did not work, it's time to troubleshoot. Go to the Using A Console Cable to Troubleshoot section.

Where you go next is entirely up to you and what your plans are. However, it's a good idea to start by running a system update first. Connect to the pi via ssh and run the following commands:

Both commands may take a while to complete. Raspbian Lite is a pretty minimal install, so your next steps are probably to install a bunch of packages. By running the above first, you will make sure to bring in the most up to date versions.

System Configuration

General system configuration is done by running the raspi-config utility.

This will bring up the main menu.

This is a good time to change the password to something other than the default.

You can also do other things like change the time zone, keyboard layout, hostname, etc.

Enable SPI and I2C

These are both used in a lot of projects but are disabled by default. It's a good idea to enable them now so you don't waste time later wondering why it's not working.

SPI

I2C

If you were unable to ping or ssh into the Pi Zero then you need to trouble shoot what's going on. This is where the USB Console Cable comes in handy.

There is already an excellent guide that goes over the basics of using a USB console cable with instructions on requirements for the various major operating systems. Read this first and then come back.

This guide will use screen on Linux for the examples, but since pretty much everything is command line based and just a bunch of text, it should look the same on all OS's.

Interfacing To Pi Zero

The Pi Zero leaves the GPIO header pins unpopulated. This is actually a great feature as it allows you to solder on whatever style makes most sense for your project.

In the image above there's (A) a Pi Zero with no header attached, (B) a Pi Zero W with male headers, (C) a Pi Zero with right angle female headers, and (D) a custom topper with serial pins indicated.

If you have male headers, you can connect the console cable directly. If you have female headers, just use some short lengths of prototyping wire.

Power Options

There are a couple of different ways to power the Pi Zero when using a console cable. Both options are shown below.

You should be able to power the Pi Zero directly from the USB cable (A). However, if you have other items attached to the Pi Zero that require more power, you may need to provide power through the micro-USB connector (B). In that case, do not connect the red power lead.

Booting With A Console Cable

Proper wiring is critical, esp. for the red power cable. Carefully examine the images below to insure you have the correct cable connections.

OK. Let's bring it up. Do things in this order:

1. Insert SD card into Pi Zero.
2. Connect the green, white, and black cable leads to the GPIO header. Leave red disconnected for now.
3. Insert USB console cable into host computer.
4. Launch whatever terminal program you use.
5. Make 110% sure you know where the 5V pins are on the GPIO header.
6. Swiftly and carefully attach the red cable lead to one of the 5V pins on the header. THIS IS THE SPARK OF LIFE! (or death if you chose the wrong pin)

You should now see some signs of life on the green ACT LED.

And in your terminal window, you should see boot messages scrolling by.

Eventually you should get to a login prompt.

Use the following user name and password to login:

• pi
• raspberry

And you're in.

What's next depends on what the problem is. We can't cover them all here. But now you have access to the Pi Zero and can navigate the system and edit things as needed based on whatever guidance you receive.

Some common basic commands are:

• dmesg to check the kernel log for anything odd
• ifconfig to see network status and settings
• lsusb to see what's connected to USB port
• lsmod to check for kernel modules

If you burned the image successfully, you should see a folder named boot appear. If it doesn't magically appear once the burn is complete, try removing and reinserting the SD card into your computer.

Find the file named config.txt and open it in a text editor.

Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following lines of text.

Save the file. Safely remove the SD card from your computer. Put the SD card in to the Pi Zero.

We're so close!