Introduction: Setting Up and Running NOOBS on a Raspberry Pi

In this instruction I will go over how to set up the Raspberry Pi and boot it into NOOBS for the first time. It is important to understand how to set up all of the hardware and how to set up the actual operating system for the Raspberry Pi to ensure that everything works correctly. The only knowledge needed for this project will be a basic understanding of computers, both software and hardware, also Linux knowledge would be helpful but isn't necessary. This project takes about 1.5 - 2 hours to complete fully depending on computer speeds. This is a nice easy way to start learning how to use Linux and run open source projects and will help you to get into much more complicated processes very easily!

Step 1: Get Materials

The materials needed for this project will be:

  • USB Keyboard
  • USB Mouse
  • SD Card
    • 8Gb or higher
    • Class 10 or higher
  • Raspberry Pi
  • Microusb power cable
    • A phone charging cable will do perfectly
  • HDMI Cable
  • Computer
    • SD Card Reader
    • Internet

(See Picture)

Step 2: Setting Up the Hardware

Firstly plug in the USB Keyboard and Mouse into the USB ports on the Raspberry Pi.

Secondly plug the HDMI Cable into the Raspberry Pi and into the device you are using as a monitor. A computer screen or a TV with an HDMI port will do perfectly fine.

(See Pictures)

Lastly get the power cable ready. Plug it into the wall and have it nearby to the Raspberry Pi but don't plug it into the board yet.

Step 3: Setting Up the SD Card

Now you will need to download SD Card Formatter 4.0 (SD Formatter Download). And follow the installation instructions.

Now Put in the SD Card into the computer and make note of the drive letter. Now run the SDFormatter Program and select your drive and click format.

(See Pictures 1 and 2)

After you format your SD Card you will need to download NOOBS (NOOBS Download) and download the .Zip file.

(See Picture 3)

Now UnZip the file and extract the files to a folder. And then drap and drop the extracted files into the SD Card.

(See Picture 4)

Step 4: Booting the Raspberry Pi

Now plug in the SD Card into the SD Slot and the power cable into the power port on the Raspberry Pi. This will start booting the device. If you haven't already switch your monitor the source of the Raspberry Pi. You should see this screen.

(See Picture 1)

Now tick the box next to Raspbian and click install.

(See Picture 3)

After Raspbian finishes installing raspi-config will load, this is the config menu, from here you can set the current date and time for the machine. Press 'TAB' on your keyboard to exit and finish this screen.

(See Picture 4)

Step 5: Logging in and Getting to the Desktop

If asked for a Username the default is 'pi' and the default password is 'raspberry'.

(See Picture 1)

After successfully logging in use the command 'startx' to launch the GUI (Graphic User Interface) and this will launch you into to fully usable linux environment.

(See Picture 2)

Congratulations you have now successfully installed and booted NOOBS onto your Raspberry Pi.

(See Picture 3)

Step 6: Conclusion

Now you've got everything set up and running. The finished project should look like a normal computer screen with a huge raspberry in the middle! And the Linux world is now ready for you to start playing around and learning how to use it!

Troubleshooting:

If the keyboard and mouse don't get detected automatically you will need to find a new one that when plugged will just work.

If you can't log into the User account you will need to reformat and re-install the operating system.