How to Setup Raspberry Pi Without Monitor and Keyboard

Raspberry Pi is a small single-board computer that runs Linux based operating system called Raspbian.

This instruction will show you how to setup Raspberry Pi (any model) without using Monitor and Keyboard. I will use my Raspberry Pi 3 B+ with Raspbian Buster (release in july 2019).

Hardware Required:

Raspberry Pi (any model)

Laptop or Desktop

SD Card or USB Flash Drive

Network Cable (Ethernet RJ45)

Power Supply for Raspberry Pi

Software:

Raspbian OS - https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

SD Card Formatter - https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/eula_wi...

Win32 Disk Imager - https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

Putty - https://www.putty.org/

VNC Viewer - https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/viewer...

1. Plug your SD Card or USB Flash into Computer

2. Open SD Card Formatter

3. Select your SD Card or USB Flash

4. Click Format

We'll use Win32DiskImager to write RaspbianOS into SD Card or USB Flash.

1. Open Win32DiskImager

2. Under Image File, Select RaspbianOS (.img) that you just download and unzip

(mine is ../2019-07-10-raspbian-buster.img)

3. Under Device, Select your SD Card or USB Flash

4. Click Write

It would take around 10 minutes to progress.

Next, we create an empty file and named it SSH with no extension. This would enable SSH interface on Raspberry Pi which allow Raspberry Pi to communicates with our PC through Ethernet Port.

1. Go to SD Card or USB Flash directory

2. Right Click > New > Text Document

3. Type SSH with no extension

4. Unplug your SD Card or USB Flash from Computer

1. Plug one side of Network Cable to the computer

2. Plug another side of Network Cable to Raspberry Pi

3. Insert SD Card or USB Flash to Raspberry Pi

4. Power up Raspberry Pi

This step, we'll use Putty to communicates with Raspberry Pi through SSH. Then use it to enable VNC Server on Raspberry Pi.

1. Open Putty

2. Under Host Name, Type raspberrypi.local

3. Under Port, Type 22

4. Click Open

Let's login to our Raspberry Pi in a Terminal Window which just pop up

login as: pi

pi@raspberrypi.local's password: raspberry

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo raspi-config

Now we'll get into configuration (use arrow key to move and Enter to choose)

1. Choose 5 Interfacing Options

2. Choose P3 VNC then Choose Yes to enable (Would you like the VNC Server to be enable?)

VNC has been enabled so let's to the last step

Now we can use our PC to remote Raspberry Pi with VNC viewer through Network Cable or Wireless (if we connect both of them to the same WiFi).

1. Open VNC Viewer

2. In the box, Type raspberrypi.local

A window will pop up and ask you to enter username and password

Username: pi

Password: raspberry

Now finish the setup and enjoy you day.