This article covers setting up the Pi Zero W for headless SSH access over WiFi using Windows 10. The Mac OS version of these instructions can be found here: Setup Pi Zero W Headless Wifi (Mac).
Go to the official Raspberry Pi Downloads page. Click on Raspbian. Click on the Download ZIP button under ‘Raspbian Stretch with desktop’, and select a folder. Extract the files from the zip. Visit etcher.io. There you can download the Etcher SD card image utility. Disable Submenus from the WordPress Admin Panel. Jul 10, 2019.
Step 1. Download a Lite Raspbian Image
These instructions are for a Raspbian Stretch image that I downloaded from here:
I’m using the lite image (no desktop) version 4.9 from March 13, 2018.
Once you download the file, there is no need to unzip it. Just leave it in your Downloads folder and I’ll show you how to burn it to an SD card.
Step 2. Burn the Raspbian image to the SD card
To burn an image to the SD card you can use balenaEtcher (formerly known as just Etcher).
To run balenaEtcher is pretty straight forward.
Put a blank mini SD card and adapter into your Windows machine. No need to format it. You can use a new SD card right out of the package.
After you flash (burn) the image, File Explorer may have trouble seeing it. A simple fix is to pull the SD card out then plug it back in. It should appear with the name “boot” followed by a drive letter.
Step 3. Enable ssh
For security reasons, ssh is no longer enabled by default. To enable it you need to place a blank text file called “ssh” in the root of the boot SD by doing the following:
Step 4. Add Network Info
To add network info you need to create a second text file called wpa_supplicant.conf and place that in the root of the boot SD too.
Step 5. Eject the Disk
In File Explorer right-click on the boot SD and select Eject from the context menu.
The command won’t physically eject the disk/card. It’s more of a logical eject: meaning it’s safe to remove the card now.
Step 6. Install Bonjour
You can find Raspberry Pi’s on your network using their hostname followed by
.local (example: raspberrypi.local ). But to do that in Windows you have to install the Bonjour service first.
If you have iTunes installed on Windows you probably don’t have to do this. But if you don’t, browse to:
Download Bonjour Print Services for Windows v2.0.2 and run the installer.
Step 7. Boot the Pi Zero W
Step 8. Install Putty
If you already have Putty installed, skipped to the next step.
Step 9. Login over WiFi using Putty
This part assumes that ssh is enabled for your image and that the default user is pi with a password of raspberry.
NOTE: Your Windows machine must be on the same WiFi network that you configured the Pi for.
Congratulations! You can now access your Pi Zero W over wifi!
If you can’t connect, see the troubleshooting section near the end of this article. You may need to make some adjustments for your network.
Step 10. Change your Hostname and Password
Because your Pi is now on the network, you should immediately change the hostname and password.
At the Raspberry Pi command line type:
Select the options for changing the hostname and password. On a new image, I would also recommend expanding the file system (now under the Advanced options). Once the changes are made, reboot. This will cause your Raspberry Pi to lose the connection. After it has had time to reboot, connect again using Putty.
Step 11. Get the Updates
Once connected over WiFi, the next thing you should do is run some updates:
Tweet this!: Click here to tweet these steps.
Troubleshooting
If you have trouble connecting over wifi, see my instructions for accessing a Pi Zero over a USB cable: Headless Pi Zero SSH Access over USB (Windows). Once connected you should be able to fix any issues.
Here are some helpful commands for debugging network and wifi issues on your Pi:
Related articles
Here are some related articles that I wrote:
References
About the Author ![]()
Mitch Allen works for a robotics company in New England.
Updated for Raspbian Stretch
This tutorial will show you how to install Raspbian on Raspberry Pi Zero W on a Mac using the command line.
A Raspberry Pi Zero W has a built-in wifi and Bluetooth. There is no built-in storage, so you will have to use your own microSD card. Look for Class 10 cards with at least 8GB capacity, preferably a 16GB microSD card. You will install Raspbian on the microSD card.
Download the Raspbian Jessie image zip file from this link.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/
If you want the GUI version, download the zip file that says RASPBIAN STRETCH WITH PIXEL. If you want the non-GUI text-based version, download the zip file that says RASPBIAN STRETCH LITE.
After downloading the zip file, unzip it. Your image file will be either 2018-10-09-raspbian-stretch.img or 2018-10-09-raspbian-stretch-lite.img.
Create a directory ~/iso if it doesn't already exist. Move the Raspbian image file there.
Now, insert the microSD card into its adapter and into your computer. The card name show up on the desktop. My new PNY 8GB microSD card shows up as 'NO NAME'.
Write the image to the microSD card. If you want to do it using the command line, fire up Terminal if you're on a Mac or Linux.
Enter this to find the device list:
You will get something similar to this:
As you can see, the last line
/dev/disk2s1 represents the microSD card. The card is mounted as disk2. Let us unmount it first.
It will unmount the card. Now, write the image to the SD card. We will write the lite image. Make sure that you enter the of value to the right disk number, which in this case is disk2.
You will see output similar to this:
That means Raspbian is written successfully to your card.
If you do not want to enable SSH or wireless network, you may eject the card after issuing this command.
The output will be this:
Congratulations! You have installed Raspbian successfully!
Enable SSH on the Raspberry Pi
If your card is still in the computer, go to the next step. If you have removed the card, put it back into the computer. When the computer recognizes the card, it will show up as boot.
Double-click on boot and create an empty file named ssh* in boot. If you want to use the command line to create an empty file, follow this step:
If you're using a Mac, type this:
You will see an empty file called ssh under the boot partition of the card. SSH will be enabled on the next boot.
Connecting the Raspberry Pi 1, 2, 3 or Pi Zero W to the wireless network
Create a file called
wpa_supplicant.conf under boot and enter the contents as follows:
You have to customize the above file using your credentials. Make sure the values for
ssid , psk , key_mgmt are valid.
When everything is over, eject the card.
Now, put the card in the Raspberry Pi and turn on the Raspberry Pi. It will hopefully connect to the wireless network. You can connect to it using this command.
The default password is raspberry. After you login, be sure to change the password with a
passwd command.
Last Update: 06 November 2018 [Created on 23 May 2017]
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