Install VNC and SSH on Raspberry Pi OS

VNC and SSH are great utilities for remote access. As most Raspberry Pis operate headlessly, it makes a lot of sense to have those tools handy. In this article, we are going through how to install VNC and SSH on Raspberry Pi OS.

Raspberry Pi OS is the official supported Linux for Raspberry Pi devices. It’s shipped with many useful applications and utilities. One of them is raspi-config that enables end-users to configure their Pis hassle-free without editing files directly.

Thankfully the raspi-config utility also makes installing VNC and SSH a piece of cake.

Installing VNC

Open the terminal and type the following command,

$ sudo raspi-config

Navigate to the Interface Options and from there select VNC. Then enable VNC, quit the program, and restart the Pi.

On the client machine, proceed to download and install RealVNC application. The installation process is pretty straightforward regardless of the operating system you use.

Get the IP of your Pi by typing (on the Pi terminal),

$ ifconfig

Finally, open the RealVNC client (VNC viewer), type the Pi IP, then press the ok button.

The Pi screen should appear within a few seconds.

If you got the cannot currently show the desktop error message on the VNC viewer, don’t panic. Open the raspi-config utility once again but this time navigate to Display Options. Select Resolution and set a resolution you wish. Restart the Pi. Afterward, try to connect. The problem should be gone.

Installing SSH

Open the raspi-config utility and navigate again to the Interface Options screen. But this time select SSH. Quit the program and restart your Pi.