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Caution

You are not reading the latest stable version of this documentation. If you want up-to-date information, please have a look at 0.3.5.x.

Flashing (Raspberry Pi)

This guide is for flashing StartOS to a micro SD card in order to install it on a Raspberry Pi with an external SSD. Please contact support if you need to re-install your OS on a Server Lite (SD card storage).

Warning

DO NOT RE-FLASH STARTOS UNLESS YOU HAVE AN EXTERNAL SSD. If you are running in a “Lite” configuration (everything on an SD card), then flashing in the manner proscribed below WILL ERASE ALL YOUR DATA! Contact support for assistance instead.

Getting StartOS

Visit the Github release page to find the latest StartOS release.

At the bottom of the page, under “Assets,” download the startos-..._raspberrypi.img.gz file.

Raspberry Pi Asset

Select your OS to continue:

(Optional, but recommended) Verify the checksum against the one listed on GitHub (SHA256):

sha256sum startos-0.3.4.2-efc56c0-20230525_raspberrypi.img.gz

Installing StartOS

Once you have the StartOS .img.gz file, you will need to flash it onto a microSD card.

  1. Download and install balenaEtcher onto your Linux, Mac, or Windows computer.

  2. Insert the microSD card into your computer, either directly or using an adapter.

  3. Open balenaEtcher.

    Balena Etcher Dashboard
  4. Click “Select Image” and select the .img.gz file.

  5. Click “Select Target” and select your microSD card.

    Warning

    BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you have selected the correct target microSD card. Whatever drive you select will be COMPLETELY ERASED!!

  6. Click “Flash!”. You may be asked to approve the unusually large disk target and/or enter your password. Both are normal.

  7. After the flash completes, you may remove the newly flashed micro SD card from any adapter, and insert it into your server’s SD card slot.

  8. Finally, continue to the Initial Setup, Manual Update, or Reset Password instructions - depending on your need.