Configure ssh on Raspberry Pi

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Configure SSH on Raspberry Pi

The rpi-imager allows one to enable SSH from GUI while flashing the OS on to SD card. But you can also ssh on Raspberry Pi in headless mode (ie, without a monitor) in case you forgot to enable ssh while flashing the OS.

Create the ssh file

Create a blank file on your PC/Laptop
Name it ssh (without any extension)
Copy and paste it in boot folder of sd card
When the Raspberry Pi boots, it looks for the ssh file
If it is found, SSH is enabled and the file is deleted
The content of the file does not matter; it could contain text, or nothing at all

Create the default user

Create a file called userconf or userconf.txt in the boot partition of the SD card
This file should contain a single line of text consisting of username:encrypted- password
format <desired username>:encrypted- password For instance if your desired user name is pi, the line of text would be pi:<encrypted- password>

Creating the encrypted password for the default user created above

You can create the encrypted password using openssl
For instance to encrypt your password ‘raspberry’, enter in the terminal echo raspberry | openssl passwd -6 -stdin
And we get the encrypted password something like this $6$JyfCNXDuUtIPcKzl$4XogJWqxHhYOqhL9AbebdZwx95jfcVlkSgaCnkEdib.o.qHZ4qT.abPMJ8oFKZ8a0Jd/YpKw3WDqwl8Muwcac1
Copy and paste the encrypted password after the colon (:) in the userconf file as shown below pi:$6$JyfCNXDuUtIPcKzl$4XogJWqxHhYOqhL9AbebdZwx95jfcVlkSgaCnkEdib.o.qHZ4qT.abPMJ8oFKZ8a0Jd/YpKw3WDqwl8Muwcac1
Save the userconf.txt file into the boot partition of the SD card