Once flashing is complete, unplug and replug the USB adapter. Launch Etcher, then select the zip file that you just downloaded, and choose the USB device carefully.Ĭlick Flash and the image should get written to the SD card shortly.

$ wget -O raspios.zip ĭ49d6fab1b8e533f7efc40416e98ec16019b9c034bc89c59b83d0921c2aefeef raspios.zip Flash the SD Cardĭownload Balena Etcher, choose the portable version from the dropdown. Optionally, you can download and verify the checksum too. Not having a desktop environment frees up valuable memory and CPU. If you don’t need a desktop environment, download the Lite version. The official image for Raspberry Pi in general is Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian), which can be downloaded here. Plug your microSD card into a USB adapter, then plug it into your computer.

These are all cheap and plentiful, some examples of adapters are here and here. You will need a microSD card and a USB adapter. This is far simpler than the alternative, which is to connect a keyboard and monitor to the Raspberry Pi Zero W to then set up WiFi and SSH. When working with a Raspberry Pi Zero W, as there is no network port, you will need to enable WiFi and SSH as well so that you can connect to it when it first boots. Preparing a Raspberry Pi Zero with WiFi and SSH Mendhak / Code Preparing a Raspberry Pi Zero with WiFi and SSH

Setup raspberry pi zero