How To Use The Raspberry Pi Imager
With the incredible versatility of the Raspberry Pi, it’s no longer surprising how popular this single-board computer is. It’s at the core of tons of cool and weird projects, like theRaspberry Pi-based Waldo finder,International Space Station tracker, and evendrive-thru signages.
But it’s not only the board’s versatility that makes it a go-to choice among hobbyists and professionals alike. Both beginner and advanced learners love how generally easy it is to start developing with Raspberry Pi. It features a user-friendly OS with a setup wizard. There are also tons of guidebooks and official tutorials available, on top of a starter kit that comes complete with everything you’d need to build a basic Raspberry Pi desktop.
However, to further streamline the Raspberry Pi development process, the Raspberry Pi Foundation decided to launch an official imaging tool in 2020 called theRaspberry Pi Imager. We’ll go over what this utility software is and how to use it.
What is the Raspberry Pi Imager?
Developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the Raspberry Pi Imager is a desktop program meant to make it easier to install an OS for the Raspberry Pi. Before, users need to go to the Raspberry Pi website (or the download page of another compatible OS) to get the OS file. Then, they need to download and install third-party software like Etcher to write the OS onto their microSD cards.
With Raspberry Pi Imager, however, you can skip downloading an .img file. The program handles the OS download for you, saving you time and effort. You won’t need to go scouring the web for other OSes, too, as the imaging tool can download other most commonly used OS options for Raspberry Pi, including Ubuntu, RetroPie, Home Assistant, and OSMC. The Raspberry Pi Imager is available for free for Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, and even theRaspberry Pi OS.
How to use the Raspberry Pi Imager for installing the Raspberry Pi OS
The Raspberry Pi Imager is generally intuitive and beginner friendly. Here’s how to use it for installing the official Raspberry Pi OS for your single-board computer:
Wait for the process to finish. You will see a notification pop-up whether the installation was successful or not.
How to use the Raspberry Pi Imager for installing another OS
If you don’t want to use the official Raspberry Pi operating system, follow these steps to use the Raspberry Pi Imager for installing another OS:
After the installation, you will also get a pop-up notifying you of the status of the installation.
How to use the Raspberry Pi Imager for formatting a microSD card
Apart from writing the operating system to your microSD card, you may also use the Raspberry Pi Imager to format the card as FAT32. This is particularly helpful for cases when you have an NTFS or exFAT card or simply want to erase the contents of the microSD card before writing a new operating system or after an OS installation fails. Here’s how to use the Raspberry Pi Imager for formatting:
Once that’s done, you will get a notification informing you whether the formatting process was successful or not. Click on the Continue button to exit.
