This page describes the console based raspi-config application. If you are using the Raspberry Pi desktop then you can use the graphical Raspberry Pi Configuration application from the Preferences menu to configure your Raspberry Pi.
raspi-config is the Raspberry Pi configuration tool originally written by Alex Bradbury. It targets Raspbian.
You will be shown raspi-config on first booting into Raspbian. To open the configuration tool after this, simply run the following from the command line:
sudo raspi-config
The sudo is required because you will be changing files that you do not own as the pi user.
You should see a blue screen with options in a grey box in the centre, like so:
It has the following options available:
┌───────────────────┤ Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool (raspi-config) ├────────────────────┐
│ │
│ 1 Change User Password Change password for the current user │
│ 2 Network Options Configure network settings │
│ 3 Boot Options Configure options for start-up │
│ 4 Localisation Options Set up language and regional settings to match your location │
│ 5 Interfacing Options Configure connections to peripherals │
│ 6 Overclock Configure overclocking for your Pi │
│ 7 Advanced Options Configure advanced settings │
│ 8 Update Update this tool to the latest version │
│ 9 About raspi-config Information about this configuration tool │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ <Select> <Finish> │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlighted selection between the options available. Pressing the right arrow key will jump out of the Options menu and take you to the <Select> and <Finish> buttons. Pressing left will take you back to the options. Alternatively, you can use the Tab key to switch between these.
Note that in long lists of option values (like the list of timezone cities), you can also type a letter to skip to that section of the list. For example, entering L will skip you to Lisbon, just two options away from London, to save you scrolling all the way through the alphabet.
Generally speaking, raspi-config aims to provide the functionality to make the most common configuration changes. This may result in automated edits to /boot/config.txt and various standard Linux configuration files. Some options require a reboot to take effect. If you changed any of those, raspi-config will ask if you wish to reboot now when you select the <Finish> button.
The default user on Raspbian is pi with the password raspberry. You can change that here. Read about other users.
From this submenu you can set the host name, your WiFi SSID, and pre-shared key, or enable/disable predictable network interface names.
Set the visible name for this Pi on a network.
From here you can change what happens when your Pi boots. Use this option to change your boot preference to command line or desktop. You can choose whether boot-up waits for the network to be available, and whether the Plymouth splash screen is displayed at boot-up.
The localisation submenu gives you these options to choose from: keyboard layout, time zone, locale, and WiFi country code. All options on these menus default to British or GB until you change them.
Select a locale, for example en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8.
Select your local time zone, starting with the region, e.g. Europe, then selecting a city, e.g. London. Type a letter to skip down the list to that point in the alphabet.
This option opens another menu which allows you to select your keyboard layout. It will take a long time to display while it reads all the keyboard types. Changes usually take effect immediately, but may require a reboot.
This option sets the country code for your WiFi network.
In this submenu there are the following options to enable/disable: Camera, SSH, VNC, SPI, I2C, Serial, 1-wire, and Remote GPIO.
Enable/disable the CSI camera interface.
Enable/disable remote command line access to your Pi using SSH.
SSH allows you to remotely access the command line of the Raspberry Pi from another computer. SSH is disabled by default. Read more about using SSH on the SSH documentation page. If connecting your Pi directly to a public network, you should not enable SSH unless you have set up secure passwords for all users.
Enable/disable the RealVNC virtual network computing server.
Enable/disable SPI interfaces and automatic loading of the SPI kernel module, needed for products such as PiFace.
Enable/disable I2C interfaces and automatic loading of the I2C kernel module.
Enable/disable shell and kernel messages on the serial connection.
Enable/disable the Dallas 1-wire interface. This is usually used for DS18B20 temperature sensors.
It is possible to overclock your Raspberry Pi's CPU. The default is 700MHz but it can be set up to 1000MHz. The overclocking you can achieve will vary; overclocking too high may result in instability. Selecting this option shows the following warning:
Be aware that overclocking may reduce the lifetime of your Raspberry Pi. If overclocking at a certain level causes system instability, try a more modest overclock. Hold down the Shift key during boot to temporarily disable overclocking.
See http://elinux.org/RPi_Overclocking for more information.
If you have installed Raspbian using NOOBS, the filesystem will have been expanded automatically. There may be a rare occasion where this is not the case, e.g. if you have copied a smaller SD card onto a larger one. In this case, you should use this option to expand your installation to fill the whole SD card, giving you more space to use for files. You will need to reboot the Raspberry Pi to make this available. Note that there is no confirmation: selecting the option begins the partition expansion immediately.
Old TV sets had a significant variation in the size of the picture they produced; some had cabinets that overlapped the screen. TV pictures were therefore given a black border so that none of the picture was lost; this is called overscan. Modern TVs and monitors don't need the border, and the signal doesn't allow for it. If the initial text shown on the screen disappears off the edge, you need to enable overscan to bring the border back.
Any changes will take effect after a reboot. You can have greater control over the settings by editing config.txt.
On some displays, particularly monitors, disabling overscan will make the picture fill the whole screen and correct the resolution. For other displays, it may be necessary to leave overscan enabled and adjust its values.
Change the amount of memory made available to the GPU.
Force audio out through HDMI or a 3.5mm jack. Read more on the audio configuration documentation page.
Define the default HDMI/DVI video resolution to use when the system boots without a TV or monitor being connected. This can have an effect on RealVNC if the VNC option is enabled.
Enable/disable 2x2 pixel mapping.
Enable/disable the experimental GL desktop graphics drivers.
Enable/disable the experimental OpenGL Full KMS (kernel mode setting) desktop graphics driver.
Enable/disable the experimental OpenGL Fake KMS desktop graphics driver.
Enable/disable the original legacy non-GL videocore desktop graphics driver.
Update this tool to the latest version.
Selecting this option shows the following text:
This tool provides a straightforward way of doing initial configuration of the Raspberry Pi. Although it can be run at any time, some of the options may have difficulties if you have heavily customised your installation.
Use this button when you have completed your changes. You will be asked whether you want to reboot or not. When used for the first time, it's best to reboot. There will be a delay in rebooting if you have chosen to resize your SD card.
See this tool's source at github.com/RPi-Distro/raspi-config, where you can open issues and create pull requests.
This article uses content from the eLinux wiki page RPi raspi-config, which is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license