Setting up a Raspberry Pi with an operating system no longer requires the use of another computer thanks to a new network bootloader.
The Raspberry Pi single-board computers run an OS from a microSD card, but before you can use your Pi you need to transfer the OS to the card. This is typically done using another computer and the Raspberry Pi Imager. But what if you don’t have access to another computer?
Even if you do, it’s an extra step and a hassle to perform, so the clever developers at Raspberry Pi HQ came up with a solution. A beta version of the Raspberry Pi Network Bootloader allows a “Network Install” feature to be used instead. The video above demonstrates how it works.
As you can see, the operating system is downloaded from the internet and installed on the microSD card inserted into your Pi. There is no need for any other hardware to be used, and depending on your connection speed, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete.
As this is a new feature, anyone wishing to try a network installation right now is going to need to copy the bootloader to a microSD card first (full instructions are available on the Raspberry Pi blog). However, in future, all new Raspberry Pi boards will ship with the network bootloader already installed and available to use.
