No monitor, keyboard, or mouse? No worry.

Setting Up

Setting up a WIFI connection on your Raspberr y Pi without a monitor can be a bit tricky, but it’s definitely doable. The first thing you’ll need to do is make sure that your Raspberr y Pi is up and running. You can do this by connecting it to a monitor and keyboard, or by using a remote connection program like Noobs or NOOBS lite. Once you’re up and running, let’s move on to setting up the wireless connection. This can be done in a few different ways, this guide will show you how to do it with WIFIManager

I’m one of the very few software developers who doesn’t have a spare HDMI monitor, keyboard, and ethernet connector readily available. Thus, setting up a new Raspberry Pi takes a considerable amount of time. Luckily, you can configure a WiFi connection to your Raspberry Pi without having to first connect to a monitor, keyboard, or mouse.

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is a small, affordable computer that can be used for a variety of tasks. It has an HDMI output so you can connect it to a monitor, and it also has a built-in WiFi adapter so you can connect to the internet without having to first connect to the ethernet. This makes it easy to set up a new Raspberry Pi, even if you don’t have an extra HDMI monitor, keyboard, or ethernet connection available.

What you’ll need:

 Table of Contents

WIFI SETUP STEPS:

• Put the Raspberr y Pi OS SD card to your computer.
• Navigate to the directory where the boot is situated.
• Add the wpaSupplicant file to your wpa_supplicant.conf file.
• Put your SD card into your Raspberr y Pi, boot, and connect your Raspberry Pi.
• Troubleshooting

1Put the Raspberry Pi OS SD card to your computer.

If you do not already have the Raspberr y Pi OS installed, go ahead and install it. Make sure that you insert an SD card wth Raspberry Pi OS into your computer using an SD card slot or SD card USB adapter.
You do not require the Raspberry Pi OS installed. Make sure to pull an SD card with Android OS into your computer through SD slot or SD card USB adapter.

2.Navigate to the directory where the boot is situated.

The SD card will be set up as a drive or directory named boot on your computer. Open this drive or directory with Finder (macOS) or Explorer (Windows).

3.Add the wpaSupplicant file to your wpa_supplicant.conf file.

Open a plaintext editor, such as Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac), and create a new file. and then add the following to it for Raspberry Pi OS, Raspbian Stretch, or Raspbian Buster:

country=US # Your 2-digit country code
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
network={
    ssid="YOUR_NETWORK_NAME"
    psk="YOUR_PASSWORD"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

Verifying that the file and name tags are correct is the final step in saving the file. If you’re saving the file through TextEdit on Mac, go to Format > Make Plain Text > and then select the wpa_supplicant.txt if it does not already exist.

[Connecting to unsecured networks] is resulting in damage.

For a Raspberr y Pi to connect to wireless networks without passwords, follow these steps:

country=US # Your 2-digit country code ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev # Include this line for Stretch network={ ssid=”YOUR_NETWORK_NAME” key_mgmt=NONE }

With this file in place, the plain text system’s configuration will automatically move when Raspbian is booted on the Raspberr y Pi.

4. Put your SD card into your computer, boot, and connect your Raspberry Pi.

Next, put the micro SD card into the Pi, boot it, and your Wi-Fi should be connected!
The wpa_supplicant.conf file should disappear from the SD card’s boot directory automatically—so if you don’t see it next time, that’s normal.

5.Troubleshooting

Consider these useful tips for managing a Pi: If your Pi has not connected to Wi-Fi, you may need to monitor your wpa_supplicant to ensure that the connection will be successful.

1. Double-confirm that the file was not written in any obscure character format.
2. Double-check that the .ini file has disappeared from your boot directory.
3. If you connect the Raspberry Pi to your TV or monitor via HDMI, make sure it is booting normally.
4. When used in conjunction with a Raspberry Pi Zero W, make sure you are connecting through a 2.4 GHz network (the Zero W isn’t designed to support 5G).
5. If you’re connecting to a Raspberry Pi Zero using a Raspberry Pi Zero W and not a low-end Zero, be sure to pay attention to that.

If you want to conduct a network operator with a Raspberry Pi device, see the guide on setting up a network monitor with a Raspberry Pi.