Basic Raspberry Pi Preparation For Any Headless Server Projects

Before you start any headless server (without monitor) project with Raspberry Pi, these are the basic preparation you need to perform.

1. Download the latest Lite version of Raspbian.
2. Unzip the image file.
3. Download and install Win32 Disk Imager tool.
4. Put in the Micro SD card into your (built-in or USB) card reader. Note the drive letter your PC assigns to the SD card.
5. If the SD card is not new, you might want to format it with SD Card Formatter first. Once it is formatted, you can close it.
6. Open the Win32 Disk Imager tool in step #3. Select the Drive letter from step #4. Click on the blue folder icon and select the the image file from step #2. Once you confirm everything is selected correctly, click on the Write button.
   
   
7. Wait for the process to complete. Click OK and Exit Win32 Disk Imager.
8. Enable SSH by placing a file named ‘ssh’, without any extension, into the boot partition of the SD card from File Explorer.
9. Eject the SD card/card reader safely from the PC.
10. Put the SD card into the Pi, plug in Ethernet cable and power it up.
11. Wait for it to boot up and then find out the IP address of the Raspberry Pi.
12. Download and install PuTTY.
13. In PuTTY, enter the IP address from step #11 in the Host Name field, Port: 22, Connection type: SSH. Click Open
    
    
14. Login with this credential…
    1. User: pi
    2. Password: raspberry
15. Go to sudo raspi-config and do these:
    
    1. Change User Password
    2. Network Options > Hostname > [hass or any name]
    3. Boot Options > B2 Wait for Network at Boot
    4. Localisation Options > Change Timezone > Asia > Kuala Lumpur
    5. Localisation Options > Change Wi-Fi Country > MY
    6. Advanced Options > Expand Filesystem
    7. Advanced Options > Memory Split > 16
    8. Finish and reboot
16. Finally update the system:
    1. sudo apt-get update
    2. sudo apt-get upgrade -y