Imaging a Raspberry Pi involves writing the prebuilt dashboard image to an SD card. Rufus is a popular tool for this task due to its simplicity and efficiency. This guide will walk you through the process.
A Raspberry Pi
An SD card (at least 8GB recommended)
A computer with Windows OS
Rufus software
A Raspberry Pi OS image file
Download Rufus
Visit the Rufus website and download the latest version of the software.
Install Rufus on your computer.
Download the relevant Pi image for your state
Go to our support article Raspberry Pi Setup to download the relevant image you want to use.
Insert the SD Card
Insert your SD card into your computer using an SD card reader.
Open Rufus
Launch Rufus. You should see your SD card listed under the "Device" section.
Select the OS Image
Click on the "Select" button next to the "Boot selection" field.
Navigate to the location where you downloaded the Raspberry Pi OS image and select it.
Configure Rufus Settings
Ensure the "Partition scheme" is set to "MBR" and the "File system" is set to "FAT32".
You can leave other settings at their default values.
Start the Imaging Process
Click the "Start" button to begin writing the image to the SD card.
Rufus will prompt you to confirm that you want to write the image. Click "OK" to proceed.
The process may take several minutes. Once it's complete, Rufus will notify you.
Eject the SD Card
Safely eject the SD card from your computer.
Boot Your Raspberry Pi
Insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi.
Connect your Raspberry Pi to a power source and monitor.
Your Raspberry Pi should boot up with the new OS.