Setup Raspberry Pi Zero W (or WH)

Step 1. Burn raspbian on a microSD card

Insert the microSD Card in the Raspberry Pi

After this step, you have an ssh and Wi-Fi enabled MicroSD Card 

Step 2. Attach a heat sink

You should have one heat sink for the Raspberry Pi Zero CPU. 

Do not use the extremely low profile heat sink (Raspberry Pi logo, gold-like finish, flat with no fins). It does not significantly lower CPU temperature

Add a low-profile heat sink with fins. Remove the heat sink's tape and press firmly on to the CPU.

Step 3. Set up the Raspberry Pi Zero

With the power off

Insert micro SD Card in Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi Zero runs headless. So, there is no HDMI Cable, Keyboard, Mouse or Ethernet cable.

Once the above are complete:

Insert power cable

 Step 4. Open a Terminal Window and Login

Step 5. Configure advanced raspbian options using raspi-config

If a monitor is not connected, then use Open a terminal window and login. 

raspi-config is a menu driven shell script. To navigate through the menus, here are some things to know: 

• • • Use up and down arrows to move through the menu

    • Use Tab from the menu to one of the options contained in angle brackets, such as, <finish>

    • Use Enter to execute the option selected

    • * indicates an item is selected

    • Use the spacebar to toggle * on and off

When the Raspberry Pi reboots after Step 5, open a terminal window, login and run the command:

$ sudo raspi-config

There are lots of options in raspi-config. It is worthwhile to go through the options and see what is available. Here are the ones I always change:

1 System Options

S3 Password

♣raspberry-pi-password♣

S4 Hostname

♣hostname♣

5 Localisation Options - use Raspberry Pi Imager Advancced Settings

6 Advanced Options

A1 Expand Filesystem

Finish and reboot

Step 6. Put the Raspberry Pi in a  Case [optional]

Step 7. Run Automated Setup Script

Open a terminal window and login using the new hostname and password

$ ssh pi@♣hostname♣

The automated script does the following:

• Updates, upgrades and autoremoves packages

• Removes unused packages

• Removes desktop packages

• Disables IPv6

• Improve security

  • Install uncomplicated firewall (ufw)

  • Install fail2ban

  • Lessen denial of service attacks

  • Prevent IP Spoofing

  • Harden sysctl configuration settings

  •  Install logwatch

  •  Install rootkit Checker

• Install rpi-monitor

• Reboots

Get the script:

$ wget "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dumbo25/unsed_rpi/main/rpi_setup.sh"

$ wget "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dumbo25/unsed_rpi/main/rpi_setup.cfg"

Edit the .cfg file to meet your needs (e.g., enter your SSID password)

$ nano rpi_setup.cfg

See the help on the script and its options. Most of the items listed above can be controlled by an option.

$ sudo bash rpi_setup.sh -h

Run the script with the options selected. Since there are points that require a reboot, running the script will need to be done multiple times until you get a Success! message. You will need log back in after each reboot.

$ sudo bash rpi_setup.sh

And you are done!