This tutorial describes how to setup networking using the default network manager dhcpcd included in Raspbian since 2015-05-05 and Raspberry Pi OS. It applies to the Foundation releases of Raspberry Pi OS -Bullseye, Raspberry Pi OS -Buster, Raspbian Buster, Raspbian Stretch, Raspbian Jessie and the last Raspbian Wheezy. Bullseye & Buster settings are identical to Stretch.

If you are using an Ethernet connection with a router there should be no configuration required and it should work out of the box.

The Pi3B+ and Pi4 have Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and will only work on a Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T) router if a 8 wire CAT 5E cable is used. Earlier Pi models which only supported 100BASE-T work over 6 wire cable.

NOTE The Pi3/Pi Zero W inbuilt WiFi does not support 5GHz networks, and may not connect to Ch 12,13 on 2.4GHz networks until wireless regulatory domain is set.

WiFi on 5GHz enabled devices is disabled until wireless regulatory domain is set (Pi4B, Pi3B+, Pi3A+)

If you use the latest Raspberry Pi Imager there are advanced options, invoked by the magic key sequence: Ctrl-Shift-X. These enable you to set many initial options; hostname, username, password, ssh, WiFi Country Code etc during imaging. This should enable you to setup a headless system, without the need to edit any files.

If you are using WiFi and the GUI set up by following Using the Desktop

If you are using WiFi from the Command Line set up by following Using the Command Line This is the only way to set up a network which does not broadcast SSID.

This can also be used to setup a 'Headless' system e.g. using a serial console cable, but it MUCH easier if you can borrow a monitor and keyboard for setup. See below for another possible method using an Ethernet cable to a PC.

Raspbian, since May 2016, checks the contents of the boot directory for a file called wpa_supplicant.conf, and will copy the file into /etc/wpa_supplicant, replacing any existing wpa_supplicant.conf file that may be there. The file in the boot directory is then removed. This can be used to enable headless setup, using the wpa_supplicant.conf settings detailed below or Setting up a Raspberry Pi headless (You will probably want to enable ssh as well.)

NOTE the links to raspberrypi.org suggest using ifconfig - this is deprecated use ip a; ip r instead.

NOTE If you use the latest Raspberry Pi Imager the advanced options Ctrl-Shift-X make the above unnecessary.

If you just want to know the IP Address your Pi is using enter hostname -I on the command line.

As of the November 2016 release, Raspbian has the SSH server disabled by default. You will have to enable it manually.

Enter sudo raspi-config in the terminal, first select advanced options, then navigate to ssh, press Enter and select Enable or disable ssh server.

For headless setup, SSH can be enabled by placing a file named 'ssh', without any extension, onto the boot partition of the SD card.

If you are running a recent Raspbian /etc/network/interfaces should be as below. If you have changed it PUT IT BACK. (Or on Stretch just delete it - it effectively does NOTHING.)

The file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf will be created/modified by the recommended setup methods, but can be setup by hand. Recent Raspbian have an option in raspi-config to enter SSID and Password. It should contain something like the following:-

If you need to connect to a private network (i.e. no broadcast SSID) include the line scan_ssid=1 inside network={⋯}.

NOTE If you want to connect to different networks (e.g. at work or home) you can include multiple network={⋯} entries.

If you have access to multiple networks and want to connect to a specific network, include the line priority=100 inside the network={⋯} entry. You can select a different priority for each network, the highest priority accessible network will be selected; the default is 0.

There are many other options which can be used see man wpa_supplicant.conf.

Jessie does not include the 10-wpa_supplicant hook to manage WiFi interfaces, so links to wpa_supplicant are needed. These settings are incompatible with Predictable Network Interface Names.

The /etc/network/interfaces used by Jessie should be:-

NOTE calling dhcp in /etc/network/interfaces will disable dhcpcd.

Stretch introduced1 predictable network interface names which have been used in other distributions for some time.

Network interfaces will have names formed from a prefix en — Ethernet or wl — wlan followed by x indicating MAC and the MAC e.g. enxb827eb123456 or wlx00c140123456. The onboard WiFi of the Pi4, Pi3 and PIZeroW which is connected over sdio will however use the name wlan0

This can be beneficial to those using multiple network interfaces, however for most Pi users, with a single Ethernet and WiFi interface will make little difference. The previous names eth0 and wlan0 can be restored if you pass net.ifnames=0 on the kernel command line in /boot/cmdline.txt.

There is an option in raspi-config to enable predictable network interface names.

1. For some incomprehensible reason the Foundation decided to "Disable predictable network interface names for Ethernet devices" only 3 weeks after introducing the long-awaited feature. There is an option under Advanced Options of raspi-config to toggle this setting.

If you want your Pi to be assigned a predictable IP Address you can either reserve one in your router OR request the DHCP server to assign one. E.g. the following will request an address on wlan0.

request [address] Request the address in the DHCP DISCOVER message. There is no guarantee this is the address the DHCP server will actually give. If no address is given then the first address currently assigned to the interface is used.

If you request an IP Address within the range managed by the DHCP server which is available this should be honoured, otherwise the DHCP server will allocate an address as normal.

If you want an IP Address outside the range managed by the DHCP server e.g. if you have a range of addresses reserved use the inform directive.

inform address[/cidr[/broadcast_address]] This does not get a lease, just notifies the DHCP server of the address in use. You should also include the optional CIDR network number in case the address is not already configured on the interface.

If you REALLY need a static IP Address see separate answer Static IP Address

Raspbian, by default, uses dhcpcd to manage network interfaces. This is automatic, and most users need do no more than specify the SSID and password for wireless networks.

It is possible to configure how dhcpcd works by entering options in /etc/dhcpcd.conf; see man dhcpcd.conf.There is a good article on dhcpcd at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/dhcpcd

The following describe some of the more common configurations:-

It is possible to configure a static profile within dhcpcd and fall back to it when DHCP lease fails. This is useful particularly for headless machines, where the static profile can be used as "recovery" profile to ensure that it is always possible to connect to the machine. The static profile is setup as any other Static IP Address

This is often done to enable the Pi to act as an Access Point (which needs to be configured using other files), while allowing normal DHCP configuration on other interfaces.

Add denyinterfaces wlan0 to the end of the file (but above any other added interface lines).

If you want an interface to not install any default routes (often used in conjunction with a static IP address) specify

dhcpcd can configure interfaces dependent on the host network. This uses the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to probe hosts based on MAC or IP address before attempting DHCP resolution.

You can speed up DHCP by disabling ARP probing if you are not using these features and have a simple network.

It is possible to configure dhcpcd to use different wpa_supplicant.conf files for a specific wireless interface.

Create a file named wpa_supplicant-"$interface".conf in /etc/wpa_supplicant/ e.g. wpa_supplicant-wlan0.conf will only be used by wlan0

/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf will be used for any other wireless interfaces.

Recent versions of Raspbian (which use dhcpcd) allow ssh to work over a link-local address and avahi (which is a zeroconf implementation) enables programs to discover hosts running on a local network.

This means you can plug the Pi into a Computer (with an Ethernet cable) or a local network router and connect without knowing the IP address.

You can easily connect from Linux and OS X with ssh [email protected] (Prior to 2020-04-04 version of Bullseye the default username was 'pi', hostname raspberrypi. This is now set on initial boot.) This should work with popular GUI ssh programs. This is sometimes problematic with some versions of Windows and networks which use .local in a non-standard way. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.local)

NOTE .local resolution does not always work e.g. in rsync. The following should resolve IP (and can be included in bash scripts) RemotePi=$(getent hosts hostname.local | awk '{ print $1 }')

If your system does not have getent to query the hosts e.g. macOS you can use the following:- RemotePi=$(arp -n hostname.local | awk '{x = $2; gsub(/[()]/, "", x); print x }')

If you have multiple Pi you need to make sure each Pi has a unique hostname.

You can use a crossover cable, but you don't need one (most modern interfaces automatically detect).

One drawback of direct connection is that the Pi will have no Internet access and the date will not be set. You can copy the date from the host by running ssh [email protected] sudo date -s$(date -Ins) before connection.

This tutorial is about setting up a normal Raspbian/Raspberry Pi OS installation to access the internet using the included software. It also covers connections to other computers on the same network.

It is primarily aimed at helping new users struggling to get their Pi (especially WiFi) working .

It does NOT cover:-