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Setting up Raspberry Pi for Windows IoT

This guide will walk you through the essential steps to prepare your Raspberry Pi device for running Windows IoT.

Prerequisites

  • Raspberry Pi (Model 2 or 3 recommended)
  • MicroSD card (8GB or larger, Class 10 recommended)
  • Power supply for Raspberry Pi
  • Keyboard, mouse, and HDMI display (for initial setup)
  • Internet connection for your Raspberry Pi
  • A Windows PC with Visual Studio installed (Community Edition is sufficient)

Step 1: Download Windows IoT Core Image

Visit the official Windows IoT Downloads page and download the latest Windows IoT Core image for Raspberry Pi.

Step 2: Flash the Image to MicroSD Card

You'll need a tool to write the downloaded image to your MicroSD card. We recommend using balenaEtcher, which is cross-platform and easy to use.

  1. Insert your MicroSD card into your Windows PC.
  2. Open balenaEtcher.
  3. Click "Flash from file" and select the downloaded Windows IoT Core image (.zip or .ffu).
  4. Click "Select target" and choose your MicroSD card.
  5. Click "Flash!".

The process may take several minutes. Ensure your MicroSD card is properly ejected after flashing.

Step 3: Initial Boot and Setup

  1. Insert the flashed MicroSD card into your Raspberry Pi.
  2. Connect your keyboard, mouse, HDMI display, and power supply.
  3. The Raspberry Pi will boot up and begin its initial setup process. This can take some time.
  4. Follow the on-screen prompts to configure network settings (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) and set a device name.

For headless setup (without a display), you can pre-configure Wi-Fi credentials by creating a unattend.xml file and a web.config file on the boot partition of the MicroSD card. Refer to headless setup documentation for details.

Step 4: Enable Developer Mode and Pairing

Once Windows IoT Core has booted and connected to the network, you need to enable Developer Mode to deploy applications from Visual Studio.

  1. On the Raspberry Pi, navigate to Settings.
  2. Go to Update & Security > For developers.
  3. Toggle Developer Mode to On.
  4. You will be prompted to install developer features. Click Yes.

After enabling Developer Mode, your Raspberry Pi will be discoverable on the network. You can find its IP address in the Settings menu or by using network scanning tools.

Step 5: Connect from Visual Studio

Open Visual Studio on your Windows PC.

  1. Go to Debug > Attach to running Universal Windows App.
  2. In the "Connection target" dropdown, select IP Address or Hostname.
  3. Enter the IP address of your Raspberry Pi.
  4. Click Refresh if the target doesn't appear immediately.
  5. Click Attach.

You should now be connected to your Raspberry Pi and ready to deploy your first Universal Windows Platform (UWP) application.

Next Steps

Congratulations! Your Raspberry Pi is now set up for Windows IoT. You can now start developing and deploying your IoT applications. Explore the following tutorials to learn more: