We remote into these systems to do whatever it is we need to do. When it comes to the Raspberry Pi, it is quite normal to want to have one running at all times without a dedicated display, keyboard, or mouse. Sensor units, weather stations, basically all Smart Home devices… all examples of Headless systems. Headless systems are more common than you might realise. As there’s no screen connected, there’s no reason to connect a keyboard or mouse, either. When someone refers to a computer as “headless,” they simply mean that it has no screen connected. Well, in this guide, we’re going to set up a Raspberry Pi using a PC or laptop – headless! What is Headless? When you’re setting up a Raspberry Pi, don’t you find it rather awkward having to make a monitor, keyboard, and possibly also a mouse available just for the sake of setting it up to run a service or process that doesn’t need these peripherals?

Enable 'P3 VNC' or 'I3 VNC' (depending on version)ĭefault username and password for the Pi: username: piĭoing the above looks like: Setting up VNC on your PC Using VNC Viewer to remote to the Pi.No Keyboard? No Mouse? No Monitor? No Problem!.

Run sudo raspi-config to bring up the configuration menu.Headless for VNC Setting up VNC on the Pi Enabling VNC server on the Pi. Also in the boot partition, create a file named wpa_nf and throw the following into it (with your own Wi-Fi name and password):Ĭtrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev.

In the boot partition of the SD card create an empty file just called ssh.Make sure you've already imaged your SD card.Headless for SSH Short video on how easy it is. Headless for just SSH ( skippable with v1.7 of the Raspberry Pi Imager).After writing this post, version 1.7 of the Raspberry Pi Imager released allowing you to set the headless SSH as part of the SD card imaging - essentially skipping the 'Headless for SSH' step below!

Raspberry pi zero w setup headless