How can I make sure that my OS works without any screen?

Question

So I downloaded the OS on the SD card and I want to make sure that the system works? I just started my raspberry adventure, and I'm completely new to this.

I also tried to connect my Raspberry by Network cable to my computer but at VNC It says that it can't show the image.

Answer 1

To verify that the OS works, in the boot section of the micro SD card, create a file named "ssh" without an extension. Then, connect an Ethernet cable to the Raspberry Pi and connect the other end to your router. Boot up your Pi by powering it up.

Next, get an IP scan application (I used Angry IP Scanner) and locate the IP address of your Pi. It will be listed under "raspberrypi.local". Install an SSH client and connect it with the IP address you got with the scanner. You'll be asked to enter the username and password. By default, the username is "pi" and the password is "raspberry". If your Linux bash shell opens up, you're good to go.

Alternatively, you can use the ping command on your shell in this format: ping [yourIP] where "yourIP" is the Pi's IP address. If it says it's receiving pings, the Pi is working.

Answer 2

First of all, you can enable ssh by creating a file named ssh without any extension on your SD card and rebooting your Pi. Then you can connect to your Pi through ssh from another machine by using ssh pi@yourPiName.local (where yourPiName is raspberry or whatever you set) or ssh pi@yourPiIpAddress )where yourPiIpAddress is the IP address of your Pi) and using sudo raspi-config to change settings to enable VNC.

Secondly, according to here:

The RPi must be set to boot to desktop (service mode). If a HDMI monitor is not attached then you need to specify a screen resolution in config.txt Use GUI config tool or sudo raspi-config to do that.

If not booting to desktop then you need to use virtual mode. (Run vncserver from the command line).

You can set the resolution from ssh :

1. by using the sudo raspi-config command and then selecting 7 Advanced Operations followed by 5 Resolution
2. by using the sudo nano /boot/config.txt (or another text editor, I prefer nano) and uncommenting several lines and setting the mode like below (hdmi_mode=16 is 1024x768):

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=16

More info here: Troubleshooting VNC Server / Changing the Raspberry Pi’s screen resolution

If you continue to get the error still then try:

After changing the resolution to the highest it was solved (sudo raspi-config)