Using Raspberry Pi Imager

Overview

Raspberry Pi is a very popular Single Board Computer (SBC) that can be used for a range of purposes, including Internet of Things (IoT) projects as well as general computing experiments.

In this article, we will show step-by-step how one can install the official Raspberry Pi OS (Debian Linux) on the Raspberry Pi SBC.

Raspberry Pi OS Setup

If one is using older versions of the Raspberry Pi SBC (upto Raspberry Pi 1 through 4), one can only use a MicroSD card as the boot device. However, with Raspberry Pi 5, one can also use an NVMe SSD (using an M.2 HAT) as the boot device.

In this article, we will look at the following THREE cases:

• Case 1 :: Raspberry Pi 5 with an SSD boot device

• Case 2 :: Raspberry Pi 4 with a MicroSD boot device

• Case 3 :: Raspberry Pi 1 with a MicroSD boot device

In order to flash the Raspberry Pi OS on the supported boot device, one can make use of a Ubuntu 24.04 LTS based Linux desktop to install the imager utility by executing the following command in a terminal window:

$ sudo apt install rpi-imager -y

To launch the Raspberry Pi Imager utility, execute the following command in a terminal window:

$ sudo rpi-imager

• The following illustration depicts the imager screen:

  

  Figure.1
  
  



Case 1 :: Raspberry Pi 5 with SSD




• Click on the Raspberry Pi 5 option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.2
  
  

• Click on the CHOOSE OS option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.3
  
  

• Click on the Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit) option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.4
  
  

• Ensure the SSD device is attached to the desktop. In this case it is a 256 GB NVMe SSD. Now, click on the CHOOSE STORAGE option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.5
  
  

• Click on the SSK Storage 256 GB option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.6
  
  

• Click on the NEXT button as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.7
  
  



Case 2 :: Raspberry Pi 4 with MicroSD




• Click on the Raspberry Pi 4 option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.8
  
  

• Click on the CHOOSE OS option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.9
  
  

• Click on the Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit) option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.10
  
  

• Ensure the MicroSD device is attached to the desktop. In this case it is a 32 GB MicroSD. Now, click on the CHOOSE STORAGE option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.11
  
  

• Choose the Generic MassStorageClass - 30.9 GB option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.12
  
  

• Click on the NEXT button as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.13
  
  



Case 3 :: Raspberry Pi 1 with MicroSD




• Click on the Raspberry Pi 1 option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.14
  
  

• Click on the CHOOSE OS option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.15
  
  

• Click on the Other general-purpose OS option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.16
  
  

• Click on the Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy, 32-bit) Lite option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.17
  
  

• Ensure the MicroSD device is attached to the desktop. In this case it is a 32 GB MicroSD. Now, click on the CHOOSE STORAGE option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.18
  
  

• Choose the Generic MassStorageClass - 30.9 GB option as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.19
  
  

• Click on the NEXT button as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.20
  
  



Common for Case 1, Case 2, and Case 3




• We need to customize the Raspberry Pi OS and hence click on the EDIT SETTINGS button as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.21
  
  

• In the GENERAL tab, enter the hostname, the username & password, the desired locale settings and finally click on the SAVE button as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.22
  
  

• In the SERVICES tab, enable ssh and click on the SAVE button as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.23
  
  

• To apply the customizations, click on the YES button as depicted in the following screen:

  

  Figure.24
  
  



Case 1 :: Raspberry Pi 5 with SSD




• In the next screen, click on the YES button to begin the OS installation as shown below:

  

  Figure.25
  
  



Common for Case 2 and Case 3




• In the next screen, click on the YES button to begin the OS installation as shown below:

  

  Figure.26
  
  



Case 1 :: Raspberry Pi 5 with SSD




• Once the Raspberry Pi OS installation and verification completes, click on the CONTINUE button as shown below:

  

  Figure.27
  
  



Case 2 :: Raspberry Pi 4 with MicroSD




• Once the Raspberry Pi OS installation and verification completes, click on the CONTINUE button as shown below:

  

  Figure.28
  
  



Case 3 :: Raspberry Pi 1 with MicroSD




• Once the Raspberry Pi OS installation and verification completes, click on the CONTINUE button as shown below:

  

  Figure.29
  
  

This completes the Raspberry Pi OS install on the chosen boot device !!!

© PolarSPARC