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Set up Raspberry Pi to connect through SSH

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Robert Fairley edited this page Mar 9, 2019 · 1 revision

Set up Raspberry Pi to connect through SSH

Using GUI (connected via HDMI) + Wifi + SSH keys

  1. Set up Raspberry Pi as per https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/noobs-setup/2/
  2. After the OS is installed on the Pi, type in the terminal ifconfig.
  3. Note down the IP address shown under wlan0: inet. We will use this IP address in a later ssh command.
  4. On your laptop, if you are on Linux, type type cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub to output your PC's public SSH key. If the file does not exist, then generate a public/private SSH key pair by typing ssh-keygen in the terminal. You can write the keys to the default location the prompt suggests, and you can either set or not set a password. Once generated, run the previous cat command.
  5. Copy the output of the cat command in step 4.
  6. Now we need to write to the public key which we just copied to a line in a file, ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the Raspberry Pi. This will allow us to authenticate using SSH public key rather than password, which is done by pairing keys in authorized_keys with your private key (~/.ssh/id_rsa) on your laptop. If a pair is found, then the Raspberry Pi knows that it is your laptop trying to log into it, and your laptop is authenticated. To copy the key over, I opened up a new etherpad. Paste what was copied in Step 5) into the etherpad. What you pasted should look like this:
ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDWUy47psZpehag0dLoJZW4pFEHRJ7LtwUgVXBtFwFWvAziGRdo3vT/jSCPTig9NikY//HjHEy7eR5jUcDbz6vcj3Fz1vq8dP06DAKLr7XJPAYQTHSFrKT2yjnrXzqm0WhE9LVY9GTBJGdy4VOvus5YcXQvK7tFgw4fdk1PlgcTdMXo53UxObeRpML8gMnhT0yMS2mF06VRlzLy9rBs41wqjAwdyThBRBBB8FLwZY2+mCq7PJWYE8gjSb/neFHB/vHwfmNHuL3H/kRerBx6Y9VKd0mgRvsDu5ha7tINPXiHLqGTCzCWuQc9QCuKADsGciy6sxvDWST2PRE+7MD+8FMZ rob@LAPTOP-9PECVDPO
  1. In the Raspberry Pi, logged in as the pi user, go to the URL of the etherpad you pasted the key in. Copy the key, and add it in a new line to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. If authorized_keys does not exist, create it.
  2. Save the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file.
  3. Now from your laptop, do ssh pi@<ip address you noted in step 3>. As an example, this looks like ssh pi@100.65.181.17. You might be prompted for the password of your SSH key if you set it in step 4). Now you should be logged in and will see output like:
Linux raspberrypi 4.14.98-v7+ #1200 SMP Tue Feb 12 20:27:48 GMT 2019 armv7l

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
Last login: Tue Nov 13 14:25:00 2018
pi@raspberrypi:~ $

Now you don't need the GUI, and can SSH login as long as you know the IP of the Pi!

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