Finding the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

If you haven't already, insert the micro SD card into your Raspberry Pi that you set up in the previous section. If you're using an ethernet cable to connect the Pi to your router connect those now and then plug the USB-C power supply into the Pi and into a socket. You should see flashing LEDs on the computer confirming that it's on.

Finding the IP address of the Raspberry Pi

Before you can connect to the Raspberry Pi you need to determine it's IP address. There are several ways to do this.

Using ping

If you're using Windows, open the command prompt. If you're on macOS or Linux open the terminal. In both cases, type:

ping raspberrypi.local

You should see output similar to the following:

alex@raspberrypi:~ $ ping raspberrypi.local
PING raspberrypi.local (192.168.1.101) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.101 (192.168.1.101): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.060 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.101 (192.168.1.101): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.075 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.101 (192.168.1.101): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.069 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.101 (192.168.1.101): icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.057 ms
^C
--- raspberrypi.local ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3006ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.057/0.065/0.075/0.007 ms

Press CTRL-C to stop pinging. We can see from this that the IP address is 192.168.1.101. The IP address of the machine on your network will likely be different.

Now you have the IP address you can continue to the next section.

If this doesn't work try the method below.

Using your routers admin interface

You can typically access your routers admin interface by typing 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 into your browsers address bar. A password is often needed. This can normally be found on the back of your router. You should look for something along the lines of Connected devices and it should list a device with the hostname raspberrypi and it's IP alongside it. There may be different sections for devices connected over WiFi and those connected over Ethernet.

Now you have the IP address you can continue to the next section.

If this doesn't work try the method below.

With a keyboard and monitor.

If you have a keyboard and monitor you can connect both to the Raspberry Pi. You should see on the screen a login prompt. It may ask for your username and password or only your password. Type in the password you entered in the previous section. Once you're logged in, type:

ip addr

You should see output similar to the following:

1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether dc:a6:32:80:db:a1 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether dc:a6:32:80:db:a2 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.101/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute wlan0
       valid_lft 85456sec preferred_lft 85456sec
    inet6 fe80::6a1f:7bbb:7e23:1e26/64 scope link noprefixroute
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

If the Raspberry Pi is connected over Wifi you'll see you IP address under the wlan0 section. Mine is 192.168.1.101 (you can ignore the /24 part.) If you're using ethernet you should see similar output in the eth0 section.

Once you have the IP address you should logout by typing:

exit

And hitting enter. You can now unplug the keyboard and monitor.

Now you have the IP address you can continue to the next section.

If this doesn't work try the method below.

Other methods

If none of these methods work for you there are other things you can try and various online guides (try searching "finding the IP address of my Raspberry Pi"). You may have entered your WiFi SSID and password in incorrectly in the previous step. If this is the case, try repeating the instructions in the previous section.

Once you've found the IP address of you Pi you can continue to the next section.