Setup Raspberry Pi without keyboard

You may be one of the average that consume PCs as a lappy or laptop since it’s portable and conventional. And as you use it, you are content with the keyboard built already and sometimes you need a mouse to escape from the grudge of the trackpad.

Some point of time, you just planned to purchase and own a Raspberry Pi, which is a small computer that specializes for robotics projects or learn the fundamentals of programming by the young or newbie. Having one is a piece of pie, I mean cake, as it costs around any cheapest budget smartphone that could exist today.

But to set it up, you need to use it as a computer and plug typical devices to it, in this instant, a keyboard IS necessary. But NO. You will be glad that even just the mouse could help you control options to set up the RPi (short convention for Raspberry Pi).

To begin, you need to prepare the following utilities:

• Monitor/TV (HDMI supported)
• HDMI cable (Standard or Type A at both points) which can be bought around $1 or ₱100 in the Philippines
• Mouse (USB type)
• Raspberry Pi 3 with power adapter
• SD Card for RPi
• Laptop

Shall we begin the RPi setup…

1. Install Raspbian OS in the RPi

For this setup, download the latest NOOBS in here. Further instructions on how to setup NOOBS in the SD card are also included there. NOOBS is an easy installation interface for any operating system you may wish applicable to the RPi. But for this tutorial, you will need the Raspbian OS which is the main OS for the Raspberry Pi models.

Screenshot from Raspberry Pi Downloads

After having the SD card installed with NOOBS, insert the SD card to the RPi. Begin your initial setup of using RPi by plugging it to the display (monitor or TV) with the HDMI cable. Next plug the mouse and the adapter to power up and start booting the RPi.

You’ll see a window for installing availed OSes from NOOBS. Now then, choose Raspbian OS by just left clicking it. Then click Install. The installation is shown with the progress bar and sliding tips to use your time while waiting. This would take around 25 minutes.

Image from DomoticX Knowledge Center

You see that next setups are involved in graphical interface and not necessary with keyboard input.

2. Connect RPi with your laptop

As the installation is finished, the system will reboot and finally get you to the Raspbian desktop interface. As you see, it’s not enough if you to just directly use a mouse to wonder into RPi. So you will use RPi indirectly by remote connection with the laptop.

Begin by clicking the RPi logo (Start menu-like from Windows) on left of the menu bar. Go to Preferences > Raspberry Pi Configuration.

Click the Interfaces tab and enable VNC option there. Click OK to confirm.

You’ll see VNC Server active from the menu bar.

Now on your laptop, download VNC Viewer here. Install it and run. This is the client version to see and control RPi software from your laptop with its own keyboard and mouse.

You need to know the IP address of your RPi to connect it to the VNC client in the laptop. Click the VNC Server to open and the IP address is shown.

Connect your RPi to a Wi-Fi network like router or Wi-Fi hotspot from your smartphone which can also show the IP address. You may need to temporarily disable password there as you cannot input it due to absence of keyboard so you can instantly connect it.

Note: If you can’t or prefer not to disable it, here’s a trick to enter your password. Create a text file from your PC and type your password there. Save it to a flash drive and plug it into the RPi. Open the text file there and copy the password. Open Wi-Fi options from the menu bar and choose your Wi-Fi network. Paste the password in the field and click OK.

Once your RPi is connected, connect your laptop to the same Wi-Fi network as the RPi for them to link. Note the IP address and enter it in the address bar in VNC Viewer and hit Enter to add it and connect.

After that, you will need to enter your RPi username and password for authentication. In case you haven’t changed any of it, the default username is ‘pi’ and password is ‘raspberry’. You’ll see a warning dialog after connecting for the first time. Just hit continue to proceed.

Voila!, you can finally see and control the RPi with just your laptop. You can now unplug the HDMI connection and leave the RPi connected to the power supply. You can also adjust your display settings by playing with the resolution settings in the RPi or VNC itself until it fits your need.

If you have other concerns, problems, or conflicts that just came up while setting, just leave a comment and I’ll be glad to help you further. Also, subscribe by filling your email address in the sidebar provided and submit so you can see more tutorials that will help you in future. Have a nice day!