Raspberry Pi 4 Ubuntu 20.04 Headless Wi-Fi SSH & VNC Setup Tutorial

1. Overview

Read a few steps ahead before executing. It might contain error fixes or examples which might be helpful

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (RPi 4)
• 32GB microSD card (16GB or more recommended)
• Power supply 5V 3A Type-C (phone charger)
• Wi-Fi router
• Windows 10 computer

Software

• Ubuntu Server 20.04.x LTS 64-bit with Desktop
• belenaEtcher
• Powershell
• TightVNC and Remote Desktop Connections
• ROS2 Foxy

2. Flash Ubuntu image onto SD card

1. Get Ubuntu Server 20.04.x LTS 64-bit image from official site: https://ubuntu.com/download/raspberry-pi

   

2. Get belenaEtcher from the official site: https://www.balena.io/etcher/

   

3. Open belenaEtcher

   

4. Press Flash from file

5. Select Ubuntu image downloaded at step 1

   • e.g ubuntu-20.04.1-preinstalled-server-arm64+raspi.img.xz
   • or ubuntu-20.04.1-preinstalled-server-arm64+raspi.img (if file extensions are hidden)
   • Do NOT unzip

6. Press Select target

7. Select your SD card

   • e.g. Mass Storage Device USB Device 32GB D:\,E\

8. Press Flash!

9. Wait till flashing is done

5. Setup SD card

Configuring network files to automatically connect to Wi-Fi

---

Source

1. Reconnect SD card
2. Open SD card system-boot (Note: USB Drive can't be opened in Windows)

3. Open network-config file with any notepad application. I recommend Sublime Text because it shows spaces when text is selected. Both files has to have Unix (LF) line endings

4. Delete everything in network-config file

5. Copy and paste the text below to network-config file

   # This file contains a netplan-compatible configuration which cloud-init
   # will apply on first-boot. Please refer to the cloud-init documentation and
   # the netplan reference for full details:
   #
   # https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/
   # https://netplan.io/reference
   #
   # Some additional examples are commented out below
   
   version: 2
   wifis:
     wlan0:
       dhcp4: true
       optional: true
       access-points:
         "HUAWEI-AB77":
           password: "myPassword123"
   #      myworkwifi:
   #        password: "correct battery horse staple"
   

   • Note: make sure to use 2 spaces and no tabs for indentation. Lines that start with # are comments and are ignored so correct spacing is not required also it can be deleted

     

6. Change HUAWEI-AB77 to your Wi-FI SSID and myPassword123 to Wi-Fi password

   • SSID is Wi-Fi name it can be found by pressing Wi-Fi icon at the bottom right corner of the screen

     

     

   • Alternatively it can be found by executing Powershell command
     (get-netconnectionProfile).Name

7. Save network-config file

8. Open and append user-data file with text below (don't copy first 2 lines it's already in the file). Warning: make sure to use 2 spaces and no tabs for indentation

   # ...
   #- [ wget, "http://ubuntu.com", -O, /run/mydir/index.html ]
   
   ##Reboot after cloud-init completes
   power_state:
     mode: reboot
   

   Example of user-data file. Only last lines are changed (Click to expand)

    #cloud-config
   
    # This is the user-data configuration file for cloud-init. By default this sets
    # up an initial user called "ubuntu" with password "ubuntu", which must be
    # changed at first login. However, many additional actions can be initiated on
    # first boot from this file. The cloud-init documentation has more details:
    #
    # https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/
    #
    # Some additional examples are provided in comments below the default
    # configuration.
   
    # On first boot, set the (default) ubuntu user's password to "ubuntu" and
    # expire user passwords
    chpasswd:
      expire: true
      list:
      - ubuntu:ubuntu
   
    # Enable password authentication with the SSH daemon
    ssh_pwauth: true
   
    ## On first boot, use ssh-import-id to give the specific users SSH access to
    ## the default user
    #ssh_import_id:
    #- lp:my_launchpad_username
    #- gh:my_github_username
   
    ## Add users and groups to the system, and import keys with the ssh-import-id
    ## utility
    #groups:
    #- robot: [robot]
    #- robotics: [robot]
    #- pi
    #
    #users:
    #- default
    #- name: robot
    #  gecos: Mr. Robot
    #  primary_group: robot
    #  groups: users
    #  ssh_import_id: foobar
    #  lock_passwd: false
    #  passwd: $5$hkui88$nvZgIle31cNpryjRfO9uArF7DYiBcWEnjqq7L1AQNN3
   
    ## Update apt database and upgrade packages on first boot
    #package_update: true
    #package_upgrade: true
   
    ## Install additional packages on first boot
    #packages:
    #- pwgen
    #- pastebinit
    #- [libpython2.7, 2.7.3-0ubuntu3.1]
   
    ## Write arbitrary files to the file-system (including binaries!)
    #write_files:
    #- path: /etc/default/keyboard
    #  content: |
    #    # KEYBOARD configuration file
    #    # Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.
    #    XKBMODEL="pc105"
    #    XKBLAYOUT="gb"
    #    XKBVARIANT=""
    #    XKBOPTIONS="ctrl: nocaps"
    #  permissions: '0644'
    #  owner: root:root
    #- encoding: gzip
    #  path: /usr/bin/hello
    #  content: !!binary |
    #    H4sIAIDb/U8C/1NW1E/KzNMvzuBKTc7IV8hIzcnJVyjPL8pJ4QIA6N+MVxsAAAA=
    #  owner: root:root
    #  permissions: '0755'
   
    ## Run arbitrary commands at rc.local like time
    #runcmd:
    #- [ ls, -l, / ]
    #- [ sh, -xc, "echo $(date) ': hello world!'" ]
    #- [ wget, "http://ubuntu.com", -O, /run/mydir/index.html ]
   
    ##Reboot after cloud-init completes
    power_state:
      mode: reboot
   

9. Save user-data file

10. Close notepad and remove sd card

6. First Raspberry Pi boot

1. Power off RPi
2. Insert SD card into RPi
3. Power on RPi. Green LED should blink while booting
4. For first boot WAIT FOR 5min (or longer) before continuing to next step. After some time RPi should automatically connect to Wi-Fi

7. Connecting to RPi using SSH

SSH - Secure SHell. It's a network protocol which allows secure communication between two computers

---

To SHH into Raspberry Pi we need to 3 things: username, password and IP address of RPi which will be used in Powershell command as:

ssh username@IPAddress

Note: to paste in Powershell press right mouse button

Note: for more advanced users I recommend Windows Terminal. It has nicer interface

1. By default on new Ubuntu installation username: ubuntu, password: ubuntu

2. Find IP address of RPi (source)

   1. Download Advanced IP Scanner https://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com/

   2. Press Scan and wait for 2 minutes

   3. Find and copy RPi ip address e.g 192.168.8.106. Raspberry Pi MAC address format is DC:A6:32:xx:xx:xx

   4. If RPi is not found stop the scan and scan again a few times (scanning can take a few minutes). Or read further for more solutions for errors (search this document for In case of error)

   5. If RPi have gray monitor icon power off and power on RPi wait few minutes and repeat scanning now it should show blue monitor icon

      

   • Alternatively connect to your router and find all connected devices one of which is RPi and copy IP address

3. Connect to RPi with SHH

   1. Open Powershell (by search or by right clicking Windows icon at the bottom left corner)

      

   2. Run command in Powershell (change IP address accordingly). Type yes if requested.

      ssh [email protected]
      

      

      • In case of error: ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.106 port 22: Connection timed out you need to disable your router WPS:

        

      • In case of error: WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! run

        ssh-keygen -R 192.168.8.106
        ssh [email protected]
        

      • If it's still not connecting check steps before for any error or google the error. Also it might be necessary to start from the beginning and re-flash Ubuntu image

   3. It will ask for password. Type ubuntu. Note star "*" symbols won't appear due to security reasons but it's still typing

   4. After login it's required to change password. After changing password ssh gets disconnected. To reconnect repeat ssh [email protected] command. Now terminal should display ubuntu@ubuntu: $ if not something went wrong.

   5. Run lsb_release -a. Output should be:

      

   • Password can be changed with passwd myUserName e.g.

     passwd ubuntu
     

8. Installing desktop environment and setting up VNC server

1. ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ should be shown in terminal if not connect to Raspberry Pi via SSH. How to do that is described in a previous chapter. Hint: ssh [email protected]

2. Copy paste commands below line by line press enter to run. It will install desktop environment. To paste in Powershell press right mouse button

   sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade
   sudo apt install -y tasksel
   sudo tasksel install ubuntu-desktop-minimal
   

   • In case of problem: Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock frontend. Power off and power on RPi, wait ~2 min for it to boot and connect via SSH by running ssh [email protected] in Powershell. Repeat failed command which could not be finished due to cache lock. Repeating apt install command won't do anything if package is already installed so it's safe.
   • Alternative cache lock fix (no reboot)

3. Install VNC server

   sudo apt install -y xrdp
   sudo apt install -y tightvncserver
   

4. Reboot Raspberry Pi

5. On Windows 10 computer open search for Remote Desktop Connections application

   

6. Specify IP address of RPi. It's the same address as for SSH connection. e.g 192.168.8.106

   

7. Credentials can be saved for next session by pressing Show Options, entering User name and checking Allow me to save credentials

   

8. Press Connect and select Xorg, username: ubuntu and password: yourChangedPassword. Press OK and wait a minute for black window to load

   

9. To open Ubuntu terminal press Ctrl+Alt+T

   

   • For dark theme press top right menu icon -> Preferences -> General -> Theme variant: Dark
   • To open terminal in new tab press Ctrl+Shift+T

10. To open more GUI applications press Activities at the top left corner and icon at the bottom left

11. If GUI run slow lower screen resolution in Remote Desktop Connections application before entering IP address by going to Show Options -> Display and sliding slider to small size. 1280x720 and 16 bit color depth is a good compromise

    

Sources:

• Other desktop alternatives: https://linuxconfig.org/ubuntu-20-04-gui-installation
• How to install tightvnc source: https://sbcguides.com/install-tightvnc-server-on-raspberry-pi/

9. Installing ROS2 Foxy

1. Further commands can be executed via VNC on Ubuntu terminal (Ctrl+Shift+T) or via SSH on Win10 machine both methods are equivalent. Run commands line by line (be careful with wrapped lines)

2. Setup locale

   sudo locale-gen en_US en_US.UTF-8
   sudo update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   

3. Setup resources

   sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y curl gnupg2 lsb-release
   curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.asc | sudo apt-key add -
   sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)] http://packages.ros.org/ros2/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros2-latest.list'
   

4. Install ROS2 and helper packages

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install -y ros-foxy-desktop
   sudo apt install -y python3-colcon-common-extensions
   sudo apt install -y python3-argcomplete
   

5. Setup ROS2

   echo "source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc
   

6. Check if installation successful by connecting VNC server (via Remote Desktop Connections) opening terminal (Ctrl+Shift+T) and running

   rviz2
   

   

Source: https://roboticsbackend.com/install-ros2-on-raspberry-pi/

That's It!