SSH connection to Raspberry PI Zero W with modern Raspberry OS imager

Question

I'd like to connect via ssh over usb from a linux laptop to a Raspberry Pi Zero W 1.1. I looked up several tutorials and followed them to the best of my ability but they seem to be outdated, as they mention the old OS name (Raspbian) and ignore the new official Pi imager, which directly includes an SSH option.

Using the imager, I left the default raspberry.local network alias, enabled ssh and inserted the wifi network credentials.

I followed the tutorials' steps anyway (adding an ssh file in bootf, adding the dtoverlay=dwc2 option in config.txt, inserting modules-load=dwc2,g_ether into cmdline.txt) but I still get the error ping: raspberrypi.local: Name or service not known when I try to ping raspberrypi.local (this also happens without these three steps).

ip a tells me I have some sort of connection to the device, even if i can't get it to work

Is there an updated version of the tutorials or is there something I'm missing? I find it strange that the ssh configuration in the imager would still leave an installation that needs manual editing to enable ssh

EDIT: the tutorials mention the OS needs ~90 seconds to properly boot the first time, I made sure to wait at least that time after connecting the Pi

Answer 1

Raspberry Pi OS is designed to be setup with a screen and keyboard. I suggest you use this for initial setup.

It IS possible to use imager to do the configuration (which you are normally prompted to do on initial boot) but frankly this is somewhat involved and rather poorly documented and unsuitable for inexperienced Linux users.

If you setup networking (by connecting WiFi to your router) you can use ssh via the router; no need to fiddle with OTG Ethernet setup.