Remotely control your Raspberry Pi Zero W from your Windows computer with SSH

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So you've got your Raspberry Pi Zero W all set up, with Raspbian Stretch installed and working, and you've got a keyboard plugged into it. And you can see and operate the Raspi's GUI via the screen that you have plugged into the Raspi's HDMI port. Good!

I like to remove screens, cables and stuff from my desk as much as possible. And I want to put the Raspi into a little box anyway, for some home automation purposes, and that box will be meters away from my office desk. Luckily, the Raspberry Pis allow to be completely remote control with a Windows computer via 'SSH' networking.

The following is my recipe to set up SSH remote control on your Raspberry and your Windows computer.

Step 1: by default, SSH is disabled on a brand new Raspi. We need to enable SSH. From the GUI, select Preferences-Raspberry Pi Configuration:
In the Configuration window, enable 'SSH':

Reboot the Raspi to start the SSH functionality. Done. The Raspi is now ready to be accessed via SSH.

Now we need a SSH tool on the Windows machine to access the Raspi. There's a number of 'SSH clients' out there, PuTTY is among the most widely known. I like to use a different tool called MobaXTerm. It's comfortable to use, stable and very versatile. Download the free version here.

Click the "Session" icon. In the "Session Settings" window, add the Raspi's IP address in your home network (mine has 192.168.1.81). Enter the default Raspi username "pi". Leave the default port at 22. Hit "OK":

And there you are: your first SSH connection into your Raspberry Pi Zero W from your Windows computer. On the left, the Raspi's directory structure, on the right, the Linux terminal window:


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