raspOVOS

Flash your first image

This tutorial takes you from nothing to a bootable raspOVOS SD card. You need: a Raspberry Pi (4 or 5 recommended), a microSD card (16 GB minimum, 32 GB recommended), a card reader, and a computer.

1. Pick and download an image

Go to the releases page and pick the newest release for your variant and language — see Image variants & languages if you are unsure. For a first try on a Pi 4, hybrid in your language is a good default.

You will download a file like raspOVOS-pt-bookworm-arm64-hybrid.img.xz. No need to extract it — flashing tools understand .xz.

2. Flash the SD card

Use the official Raspberry Pi Imager:

Click Choose OS → Use custom and select the .img.xz you downloaded.
Click Choose storage and select your SD card.
Click Next.

!!! warning “Skip OS customization” When the Imager offers to apply OS customization (username, Wi-Fi…), choose No. The image expects its default ovos user; changing the username breaks the services.

Any other flasher (balenaEtcher, dd) works too.

3. Wi-Fi (if you have no Ethernet)

If the Pi will use Ethernet, skip this. For Wi-Fi, the simplest path today is: connect a keyboard and screen for first boot, log in (ovos / ovos) and run:

sudo raspi-config
# System Options -> Wireless LAN

4. Boot

Insert the card, connect audio hardware (see Pick a microphone & speaker), and power on. The first boot takes a few minutes while the filesystem expands.

Next steps

First boot & talking to OVOS — what to expect and your first voice commands.
Pick a microphone & speaker — if you have not sorted audio hardware yet.

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