New Setup

June 2026

I am using my raspberry pi for a hobby project and I want to update the OS and various things to prepare it for that. I am explaining the steps I took here.

Accessing the Raspberry Pi

I’ve had it unplugged for some time and I haven’t setup access with my new computer. Here are the steps I took to regain access:

• Plug in the raspberry pi and ethernet.
• Use old computer to ssh in. On old computer:
  • sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  • change PasswordAuthentication no to PasswordAuthentication yes
  • sudo service ssh reload
• Now from new computer:
  • ssh <username>@192.xxx.xxx.xxx (can use ping raspberrypi.local to find IP address reservation)
  • Now you can enter the password and you’re in
  • Exit out and back on new Mac: ssh-keygen when prompted put in ~/.ssh/pi (this creates a unique keypair just for the raspberry pi) and create a passphrase for it
  • Copy ssh key to pi: cd ~/.ssh then ssh-copy-id -i pi <username>@192.xxx.xxx.xxx
  • Add to Mac keychain: ssh-add --apple-use-keychain pi
  • Add this entry to nano ~/.ssh/config:

    Host pi
      Hostname 192.xxx.xxx.xxx
      User <username>
      AddKeysToAgent yes
      UseKeychain yes
      IdentityFile ~/.ssh/pi
    

  • Test in new terminal: ssh pi
• From pi, disable password ssh again:
  • sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  • change PasswordAuthentication yes to PasswordAuthentication no
  • sudo service ssh reload

Update the OS

I’m probably going to have to repeat the above steps again, but now I want to update the OS.

• First, ensure nothing necessary is on the pi as this will wipe the disk. If there is then copy it off.

Write to MicroSD

• Shutdown pi (on pi): sudo poweroff
• Pull the MicroSD card out of the back of the pi and insert in the adapter

• Download the raspberry pi imager for MacOS
• Follow the steps. I select Other > Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit) since I don’t need the desktop environment

• Customization:
  • Hostname: pi
  • Set appropriate capital/timezone/etc
  • Set username and password
  • Setup Wifi
  • Enable ssh and add public key from steps above
  • Keep raspberry pi connect disabled
• Write it! When it’s done disconnect it.
• Insert back into pi and power back on.
• Once on and give it a second, try ssh pi (you may need to remove the existing entries from .ssh/known_hosts)
• It works, but I get hit with: -bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale ...
• On pi do: sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8 followed by sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales - Use spacebar to select and enter to submit, follow the prompts. Exit and retry and they errors go away.

SSH Setup (again)

• Disable password auth:

  PasswordAuthentication no
  UsePAM no
  KbdInteractiveAuthentication no
  

• Reload: sudo service ssh reload
• Had to debug the wifi not working:
  • sudo nmtui
  • Activate a connection
  • Select wifi network and enter password
  • Then I had to recreate the address reservation record in Deco (Advanced > Address Reservation > Select from Client > Select pi > Edit the IP address to be what it was before)
  • To force it to update just unplug and replug in the pi
• I didn’t take any of the other steps on this page