Raspberry Pi Zero Headless Setup via USB

In order to set up your Raspberry Pi Zero headlessly, you'll need to configure both ends of the connection - your Ubuntu host machine and the Pi Zero itself. One common issue that arises is not being able to connect to the Pi Zero via SSH due to a lack of IP address retrieval on the Ubuntu machine. To fix this, simply set static IP addresses on both ends.

I'd also recommend exploring 'VNC Viewer', a free software that allows you to run your pi as a virtual machine inside your mac, using only the IP address obtained after establishing an SSH connection.

After following Hewitt's instructions, you may encounter another issue: modifying the cmdline.txt file. Be cautious with this step, as the formatting is very particular in this file.

To proceed:

1. Eject your MicroSD card and boot it up in your Pi! Make sure to plug the USB cable from your mac into the USB input of your Pi - this can also power it.

2. Once booted, you should now be able to open up Terminal, and using `ping raspberrypi.local`, you can see the RPi's IP address.

3. Using this address in Terminal, type `ssh`. It should ask you for a password, which will default to 'raspberry'.

4. You can now eject the card and boot it on your RPi.

Finally:

1. Open up the cmdline.txt file using 'get info' to remove the extension, and it should appear as an EXEC file.

2. Open up the boot partition on the micro sd with Finder and in the config.txt file add `dtoverlay=dwc2` to a line at the bottom and save it.

3. Create a new file called ssh using TextEdit and save it onto the boot partition.

By following these steps, you should be able to set up your Raspberry Pi Zero headlessly via USB.

Raspberry pi zero headless setup usb