How to set up and connect to your Raspberry Pi

‘1. Download and launch Raspberry Pi Imager.

Raspberry Pi Imager lets you quickly install Raspberry Pi OS and other operating systems onto a microSD card for use with your Raspberry Pi.

Follow the download instructions to install Raspberry Pi Imager on your computer.

2. Select your Raspberry Pi device and click Next.

3. Choose an operating system.

Choose the recommended Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit), then click Next.

4. Select your storage device.

Make sure your SD card is connected to your computer for it to show up here. Select it, then click Next.

5. Customize the setup.

5.1 Choose a hostname for your Raspberry Pi, then click Next.

5.2 Choose a username and password for the user account on your Raspberry Pi, then click Next.

5.3 Choose Wi-Fi.

Enter the SSID and Password for the Wi-FiI network that your Raspberry Pi should connect to. Then click Next.

5.4 Enable SSH authentication.

Enable SSH authentication and select Use password authentication to log in using the same username and password we created in the previous step.

5.5 (Optional) Enable Raspberry Pi Connect.

Just like SSH authentication, Raspberry Pi Connect can be used to remotely connect to your Raspberry Pi over the internet. It is therefore marked as optional, and up to what you prefer.

Enable Raspberry Pi Connect then select Open Raspberry Pi Connect to add the device to your account.

Create an account if necessary, then select Create auth key and launch Raspberry Pi Imager.

The authentication token tying the device to your account will be automatically filled in, as seen in the image below. Then click Next.

6. Write image

In the last step, select Write to write the image to your storage device.

Wait for the writing to be complete. This will take a couple of minutes.

7. Input the SD card into your Raspberry Pi.

Once the write is complete, click Finish to close the program, then eject the SD card from your computer.

Ensure the Pi is powered off, then slide the card into the slot located on the underside of the board with the gold contacts facing upward (toward the green circuit board) and the label facing downward. Gently push until it clicks and sits flush, usually with the corner notch entering last.

8. Interact with the Raspberry Pi.

Now that you have set up the Pi, you have a few options for how to interact with it, either locally or remotely.

8.1 Connect your Pi to a display, keyboard, and mouse and use it like a regular computer.

8.2 Remotely control it over SSH.

You can access the terminal of a Raspberry Pi remotely from another computer on the same network using the Secure SHell (SSH) protocol.

Since you enabled SSH when setting up the Raspberry Pi OS, this is already enabled on the Pi.

8.2.1 Find the IP address of the Pi.

To connect to the Pi over SSH, you need the IP address.

Open a terminal window on your computer and enter the following command, replacing DevAcademy-Raspberry-Pi with the hostname you gave it during customization.

ping DevAcademy-Raspberry-Pi.local

ping DevAcademy-Raspberry-Pi.local

If the Raspberry Pi is reachable, ping will show its IP address:

Pinging DevAcademy-Raspberry-Pi.local [fa80::da4a:ddff:fe30:4a2a%16] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from fa80::da4a:ddff:fe30:4a2a%16: time=297ms
Reply from fa80::da4a:ddff:fe30:4a2a%16: time=7ms
Reply from fa80::da4a:ddff:fe30:4a2a%16: time=11ms
Reply from fa80::da4a:ddff:fe30:4a2a%16: time=7ms

Ping statistics for fa80::da4a:ddff:fe30:4a2a%16:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 7ms, Maximum = 297ms, Average = 80ms

The Raspberry Pi’s IP address is fa80::da4a:ddff:fe30:4a2a%16

8.2.2 Connect to the Pi over SSH.

Run the following command, replacing the the <ip address> placeholder with the IP address and <username> with the username you set during customization.

ssh <username>@<ip address>

ssh <username>@<ip address>

Remotely control the Raspberry Pi from your computer using SSH.

When the connection works, you will see a security warning. Type yes to continue. You will only see this warning the first time you connect.

Enter your account password when prompted.

You should now see the Raspberry Pi command prompt:

8.3 Remotely control it over Raspberry Pi Connect.

Go to and log in.

You should see the Raspberry Pi show up under Devices.

Click on Connect via and select Remote shell to open a shell to begin sending commands to the Pi.