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 Raspberry Pi OS.
You will be shown raspi-config on first booting into Raspberry Pi OS. 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:
Note that the menu shown may differ slightly.
It has the following top level options available:
┌───────────────────┤ Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool (raspi-config) ├────────────────────┐
│ │
│ 1 System Options Configure system settings │
│ 2 Display Options Configure display settings │
│ 3 Interface Options Configure connections to peripherals │
│ 4 Performance Options Configure performance settings │
│ 5 Localisation Options Configure language and regional settings │
│ 6 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.
Note: Due to the continual development of the raspi-config tool, the list of options below may not be completely up to date. Also please be aware that different models of Raspberry Pi may have different options available.
The system options submenu allows you to make configuration changes to various parts of the boot, login and networking process, along with some other system level changes.
Allows setting of the wireless LAN SSID and passphrase.
Specifiy the audio output destination.
The default user on Raspberry Pi OS is pi with the password raspberry. You can change that here. Read about other users.
Set the visible name for this Pi on a network.
From this submenu you can select whether to boot to console or desktop and whether you need to log in or not. If you select automatic login, you will be logged in as the pi user.
Use this option to wait for a network connection before letting boot proceed.
Enable or disable the splash screen displayed at boot time
If the model of Pi permits it, you can change the behaviour of the power LED using this option.
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.
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.
Enable/disable 2x2 pixel mapping.
On the Raspberry Pi4, enable composite video. On models prior to the Raspberry Pi4, composite video is enabled by default so this option is not displayed.
Enable or disable screen blanking.
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.
Enable or disable remote access to the GPIO pins.
On some models it is possible to overclock your Raspberry Pi's CPU using this tool. 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.
Change the amount of memory made available to the GPU.
Enable or disable a read-only filesystem
Set the behaviour of a GPIO connected fan
The localisation submenu gives you these options to choose from: keyboard layout, time zone, locale, and wireless LAN country code.
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 wireless network.
If you have installed Raspberry Pi OS 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.
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.
Enable/Display the xcompmgr composition manager
Enable or disable predictable network interface names.
Configure the network's proxy settings.
On the Raspberry Pi4, you can specify whether to boot from USB or network if the SD card isn't inserted. See this page for more information.
On the Raspberry Pi4, you can tell the system to use the very latest boot ROM software, or default to the factory default if the latest version causes problems.
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