🔧 Mike's Raspberry Pi Workbench

Headless Pi Setup From Scratch

No monitor, no keyboard, no HDMI cable hunting. Here's the zero-peripheral setup I use for every new Pi, from imaging to first SSH login in under ten minutes.

1. Image the card properly

Use Raspberry Pi Imager and press Ctrl+Shift+X for the hidden advanced menu: set the hostname, enable SSH, drop in your public key, and configure Wi-Fi — all before first boot.

2. First boot

ssh pi@raspberrypi.local
# or find it the honest way:
nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24 | grep -B2 Raspberry

3. The three things to do immediately

1. sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade — yes, before anything else.
2. Disable password SSH auth in /etc/ssh/sshd_config. Keys only.
3. Set up unattended-upgrades. A Pi you forget about is a Pi that gets owned.

That's it. Everything else — Docker, monitoring, the works — belongs in a follow-up post, and unlike most blogs I'll actually write it.