Access Your Raspberry Pi Anywhere with these Simple Steps

Learn how to remotely connect to your Raspberry Pi from anywhere in the world with this step-by-step guide. Follow along and you’ll be accessing your Pi from your phone, tablet or computer in no time! …


Updated September 27, 2023

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Learn how to remotely connect to your Raspberry Pi from anywhere in the world with this step-by-step guide. Follow along and you’ll be accessing your Pi from your phone, tablet or computer in no time!

Remotely connecting to a Raspberry Pi can be useful for various reasons. Whether it’s to access your home server, monitor a project, or even just to work on your Pi when you’re not at home - remote access is an essential tool in every maker’s arsenal. In this article, we will walk through the process of setting up remote access using SSH (Secure Shell) and VNC (Virtual Network Computing).

Setting Up SSH Access

SSH allows you to securely connect to your Raspberry Pi from another device on the same network or over the internet. Here are the steps to set it up:

  1. First, make sure your Raspberry Pi is connected to a network with an internet connection. You can do this by plugging in an Ethernet cable or connecting to a Wi-Fi network.
  2. Open the terminal on your Pi and type sudo raspi-config to access the configuration menu. Navigate to “Interfacing Options” and enable SSH. Reboot your Pi after making the change.
  3. Find the IP address of your Raspberry Pi by running hostname -I in the terminal. This will return your local IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.10).
  4. On the device you want to use for remote access, open a terminal or command prompt and type ssh pi@<IP_ADDRESS>. Replace <IP_ADDRESS> with your Raspberry Pi’s IP address. You will be prompted to enter the default password (“raspberry”). Change this password immediately for security reasons by running passwd on the Pi terminal.
  5. To avoid having to type in your password every time you connect, you can set up SSH key-based authentication. Generate an SSH key pair on your remote device using ssh-keygen. Then, copy the public key to the Raspberry Pi with ssh-copy-id pi@<IP_ADDRESS>. You will need to enter your Raspberry Pi password one last time for this step.
  6. Now you can remotely connect to your Raspberry Pi by simply typing ssh pi@<IP_ADDRESS> from the terminal or command prompt on your remote device.

Setting Up VNC Access

VNC allows you to view and control your Raspberry Pi’s graphical desktop from another device, even over the internet. Here are the steps to set it up:

  1. Install the necessary packages by running sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install tightvncserver.
  2. Start the VNC server with tightvncserver :1 (replace “:1” with a display number of your choice).
  3. When prompted, set a password for your VNC server and enter it twice to confirm.
  4. Find the IP address of your Raspberry Pi again by running hostname -I.
  5. On your remote device, download and install a VNC client (e.g., TightVNC viewer for Windows or macOS, Remmina for Linux).
  6. Open the VNC client and enter the IP address and display number you chose earlier (e.g., <IP_ADDRESS>:1).
  7. Enter your VNC password to connect. You are now remotely accessing your Raspberry Pi!

Remember, remote access can be a double-edged sword. Make sure to secure your Pi with a firewall and only use strong passwords for both SSH and VNC. Also, keep your software up to date to prevent security vulnerabilities.

Happy remote hacking!