How to Install Raspberry Pi Operating System on SD Card

Since your Raspberry Pi comes with no operating system, you can opt to fill it with 100% customized OS, which is usually done by burning an operating system image file you've downloaded to an SD card.

Here's Raspberry Pi operating system list:

Raspbian
NOOBS
UBUNTU MATE
SNAPPY UBUNTU CORE
WINDOWS 10 IOT CORE
OSMC
LIBREELEC
PINET
RISC OS
WEATHER STATION

Full Guide to Install Raspberry Pi OS on SD Card

This guide mainly focuses on how to accomplish the OS installation on a Windows PC. To start with you're given two necessary tools, which assist the whole process to be done free from trouble.

The Software You Need to Install on Pc in Advance

1. SD card formatter

Download source: EaseUS free partition manager

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Windows 10 is supported

2. Win32DiskImager

Download source: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/

First, Format SD Card to FAT16 or FAT32 for Raspberry Pi 1,2,3

Your SD card should be prepared in FAT files system, let it be either FAT16 or FAT32, not including large capacity SDHC or SDXC cards which with exFAT file system. To set up a fully compatible SD card for Raspberry Pi, use the recommended SD card formatter tool to format SD card large than 32GB to FAT32 or convert exFAT to FAT32 on Windows 10, 8, 7, XP or Vista.

 Warning: Formatting will erase all data on the memory card. Be sure that all important data has been transferred to a safe spot.

Step 1: Open EaseUS Partition Master. Find your SD card and right-click the partition you want to format and choose "Format".

Step 2: Set a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click "OK".

Step 3: Click "OK" on the pop-up window to continue.

Step 4: Click the "Execute Operation" button on the toolbar, then click "Apply" to start formatting your SD card.

Second. Install Raspberry Pi Operating System on PC

Step 1. Insert your SD card into the computer by using a card reader or an adapter that is available to you.

Step 2. Select the OS image file you extracted earlier.

Step 3. In the device box, select the correct drive letter of the SD card. (Please be very careful while choosing the drive because a single mistake will destroy data on the wrongly selected hard drive!)

Step 4. Click "Write" and wait for the write to complete.

Step 5. Exit the imager and eject the SD card.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why Choose EaseUS Partition Master?

"I've used Partition Master Professional many times to create, delete, format, move, rename, and resize partitions." —PCWorld

"Partitioning tools have come a very long since the days of complicated command line utilities and EASEUS Partition Master is one of the most advanced programs available." —TECH ADVISOR

"I love that the changes you make with EaseUS Partition Master Free aren't immediately applied to the disks. It makes it way easier to play out what will happen after you've made all the changes." —Lifewire

Will the "Migrate OS" feature transfer the Windows system files only or the whole C drive?: To ensure that the migrated system will boot normally, the Migrate OS feature will transfer all the files in the system and the boot partitions. Generally, the boot partition is the C drive so the transfer will include all the files in C.

Does EaseUS Partition Master license apply to multiple computers?: The license of Partition Master Professional and Server editions can be used on 1 computer only, while that for for the Technician and Unlimited editions can be used on multiple machines.

What is the difference between EaseUS Partition Master Trial version and the Free version?: Free is for home users only, with most basic functions available such as partition resize and clone. While trial can help you understand how this product works and test what a full license can do on a business or server OS machine.

Will it cause any data loss after resizing the partition in EaseUS Partition Master?: Generally, it will not cause any data loss or boot issue by resizing a partition. However, in order to protect your data, we suggest that you backup the partition before resizing, in case of any unexpected situations such as power outages, computer hardware failures, etc. You can use EaseUS Todo Backup to backup the partition and its trial version is fully functioned for 30 days.

What should I prepare before resizing the partition?: On the partition that is going to be operated, there might be some files being occupied by other programs. To ensure a successful operation, we suggest that you close all the unnecessary software before resizing that partition. Otherwise, EaseUS Partition Master will detect the partition being locked by the other software and require a reboot to resize the partition under boot mode.

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