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Headless Setup

"Headless" means no monitor, no keyboard — you set the Pi up from your regular computer and talk to it over SSH from then on. This is how nearly every Pi server runs, and it's easier than the desktop route.

What you need

  • The Pi board, its official power supply, a case (optional but wise)
  • A microSD card, 16GB minimum, 32GB+ better — buy a name-brand card (Samsung, SanDisk); counterfeit cards are the #1 cause of "my Pi is flaky"
  • A computer with an SD card slot (or a $10 USB reader)
  • Your Wi-Fi name and password (or an Ethernet cable)

Flash with Raspberry Pi Imager

Raspberry Pi Imager is the official tool (Windows, Mac, Linux). It handles the part everyone used to get wrong:

  1. Choose your Pi model → choose Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit) for a server (no desktop = less RAM, fewer updates; choose the full desktop image only if you'll plug in a monitor)
  2. Choose your SD card
  3. Click the gear icon (settings) before writing:
  4. Set hostname (e.g. pi-server)
  5. Enable SSH (this is the step people miss)
  6. Set username and password (the default pi/raspberry no longer exists — you create the user here)
  7. Configure Wi-Fi with your SSID/password (or skip if using Ethernet)
  8. Write, eject, insert into the Pi, power on

The gear-icon settings are the whole trick: hostname, user, SSH, and Wi-Fi are baked into the card before first boot. Two minutes of clicking saves twenty minutes of fumbling.

First connection

Give it a minute to boot, then from your computer:

ssh paul@pi-server.local

(.local uses mDNS — it usually just works on home networks. If not, check your router's client list for the Pi's IP address.)

Check:

Linux pi-server 6.6.XX ... aarch64 GNU/Linux

aarch64 confirms you're on the 64-bit OS. (If it says armv7l, you flashed the 32-bit image — reflash; 64-bit matters for Docker and modern software.)

Why 64-bit

The Pi 4 and 5 are 64-bit machines; the 32-bit OS exists for the oldest boards. On 64-bit you get: Docker images that actually exist, more than 3GB usable RAM, and software built this decade. There is no reason to run 32-bit on a Pi 4 or 5 in 2026.

Going further

  • Give the Pi a static DHCP lease in your router so its IP never changes — future-you will thank present-you.
  • For the essential first-hour configuration (raspi-config, updates, the must-change settings), see Pi OS Essentials.