Raspberry Pi Imager is a versatile tool designed to simplify the process of installing Raspberry Pi OS and other operating systems onto microSD cards, ensuring they are ready for use with your Raspberry Pi.
Key Features:
User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive design that streamlines the installation process.
Multiple OS Support: Easily install Raspberry Pi OS or other compatible operating systems.
Validation Checks: Verifies card compatibility and ensures error-free installations.
Batch Operations: Supports installing multiple copies of an OS on different cards simultaneously.
Audience & Benefit:
Ideal for Raspberry Pi users, educators, developers, and hobbyists looking to quickly set up their devices without technical hassles. By automating the installation process, Raspberry Pi Imager saves time and reduces the risk of errors, making it a reliable choice for both beginners and experienced users. It can be installed via winget for easy setup on compatible systems.
README
Raspberry Pi Imager
Raspberry Pi Imaging Utility
To install on Raspberry Pi OS, use sudo apt update && sudo apt install rpi-imager.
This will build and install the version of Qt preferred for Raspberry Pi Imager into /opt/Qt/. You must use sudo for the installation step to complete.
-DIMAGER_SIGNED_APP=ON - to enable code signing for redistribution.
In the CMake plugin tab, ensure you have selected the MinSizeRel variant if you intend to distribute to others.
In the CMake plugin tab, select the 'inno_installer' target, and build it
Your resultant installer will be located in %WORKSPACE%\build\installer
macOS
Get dependencies
Build a minimal Qt from source using our build script:
./qt/build-qt-macos.sh
This builds only what's needed for rpi-imager, resulting in faster builds and smaller size
See qt/README-qt-build-macos.md for detailed instructions
Install Visual Studio Code (or a derivative), and the Qt Extension Pack.
It is assumed you have an Apple developer subscription, and already have a "Developer ID" code signing certificate for distribution outside the Mac Store.
Building
Building Raspberry Pi Imager on macOS is best done with Visual Studio Code (or a derivative).
Open Visual Studio Code, and select 'Clone repo'. Give it the git url of this project.
Open the CMake plugin settings, and set the following Configure Args:
-DQt6_ROOT=/opt/Qt/6.9.1/macos - or the equivalent path you installed Qt 6.9 to.
-DIMAGER_SIGNED_APP=ON - to enable code signing.
-DIMAGER_SIGNING_IDENTITY=$cn - to specify the Developer ID Certificate Common Name.
-DIMAGER_NOTARIZE_APP=ON - to enable automatic notarization for distribution to others.
-DIMAGER_NOTARIZE_KEYCHAIN_PROFILE=notarytool-password - specify the name of the keychain item containing your Apple ID credentials for notarizing.
In the CMake plugin tab, ensure you have selected the MinSizeRel variant if you intend to distribute to others.
In the CMake plugin tab, select the 'rpi_imager' target, and build it
Your resultant DMG will be located at $WORKSPACE/build/Raspberry Pi Imager-$VERSION.dmg
Linux embedded (netboot) build
The Raspberry Pi Network installer (embedded imager) runs inside an operating system created by pi-gen-micro.
To build the entire system, you must first build our customised embedded qt:
./qt/build-qt-embedded.sh
Then build the embedded AppImage:
./create-embedded.sh
Package the appImage for use with pi-gen-micro and other Debian systems:
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us --profile=embedded
And finally, import your new embedded imager into pi-gen-micro for packaging:
If the application is started with "--repo [your own URL]" it will use a custom image repository.
So can simply create another 'start menu shortcut' to the application with that parameter to use the application with your own images.
Anonymous metrics (telemetry)
Why and what
In order to understand usage of the application (e.g. uptake of Raspberry Pi Imager versions and which images and operating systems are most popular), Raspberry Pi Imager collects anonymous metrics (telemetry) by default. These metrics are used to prioritise and justify work on the Raspberry Pi Imager, and contain the following information:
The URL of the OS you have selected
The category of the OS you have selected
The observed name of the OS you have selected
The version of Raspberry Pi Imager
A flag to say if Raspberry Pi Imager is being used on the Desktop or as part of the Network Installer
The host operating system version (e.g. Windows 11)
The host operating system architecture (e.g. arm64, x86_64)
The host operating system locale name (e.g. en-GB)
If the Raspberry Pi Imager is being run a part of the Network Installer, Imager will also collect the revision of Raspberry Pi it is running on.
Where is it stored
This web service is hosted by Heroku and only stores an incrementing counter using a Redis Sorted Set for each URL, operating system name and category per day in the eu-west-1 region and does not associate any personal data with those counts. This allows us to query the number of downloads over time and nothing else.