Rpi Minimal Setup

Rpi Minimal Setup with DHCP Server

In our earlier article we setup Rpi in headless/Network mode.
It required Local Area Network (or atleast one router switch)

If you are at workplace where LAN is available or even at home you might have router switch but in case if you don''t have any of the above you cannot use Rpi in headless mode.

But in this article we will make this possible.
In headless mode IP address of RPi is very important.
Generally LAN/Router Switch has DHCP server program running with the help of which they assign our PCs, Rpi a dynamic IP address which we use for our connection purpose.

Idea is if we can run DHCP server program on our PC we can then directly connect Rpi to our PC without any router switch/LAN

So we would need following for minimal setup
  1. Rpi
  2. PC with DHCP server software.
  3. External power adapter for Rpi
  4. Ethernet/LAN cable

One time Configuration for DHCP Server for Windows
Download and extract zip file of DHCP server (Click here to download latest version).
After unzipping you will see following contents.



Open the dhcpwiz application and click "Next". If your RPi is not connected to your laptop via the Ethernet cable, you should see this:




Local Area Connection's IP Address is 0.0.0.0 - this is because it is not being used.
Connect your RPi to your laptop and turn it on. Hit Refresh on the DHCP GUI until you see a change to this:


Click on the Local Area Connection row, and click Next.




(Web Server). This isn't necessary but it makes finding the IP address much more convenient. If you chose not to turn this on, then you have to watch the system tray for an alert that disappears very quickly

Just leave the default selections for all of the following screens, and continue to click Next until you get here:



Check" Overwrite existing file" and hit the "Write INI file" button. This creates the configuration file that the DHCP server will use and hit Next.


Check "Run DHCP server immediately" and click "Finish". This will then launch the dhcpsrv executable using the dhcpsrv.ini configuration that was just created.



Click "Continue as tray app". This will minimize the DHCP server to your system tray.



From 1 second to 5 minutes from now, an alert will pop up over the system tray and will display an IP address; it will disappear in about 2 seconds. 
If nothing happens after 5 minutes, restart the RPi and the DHCP server.

Ideally you should see two alerts.
One will be the IP address of your laptop, and one will be the Raspberry Pi.
If doesn't happen that is ok, atleast you should see it for Rpi that is important.

If you miss to see that alert then go to http://localhost/dhcpstatus.xml and obtain the IP address directly.


Once the IP address is known you can use putty,RealVNC,WinScp as described in earlier articles.

Above process is one time process of configuration.

Using DHCP server after configuration. (Regular use/After PC reboot/Next time login/DHCP restart)

From unzipped folder just start "dhcpsrv" application.



Then plug the Ethernet cable into your RPi and laptop, and turn on the RPi.

Watch the DHCP server in the Window's system tray carefully to find the IP address of your RPi, or obtain the IP from the web UI http://localhost/dhcpstatus.xml and obtain the IP address directly.
If nothing happens after 2-3 minutes, Close previous DHCP server , restart the RPi and the DHCP server.

More Minimal Setup.
Rpi is powered by external power adapter.
We can directly connect Power USB Cable of Rpi to PC's USB Port.
We will be having PC connected to Rpi using Ethernet Cable and USB cable(for power only)

Note: Above more minimal setup is valid if you are running light weight application (less power consumption).
If you are using more CPU intensive applications or running some IO interfacing then power consumption might increase causing Rpi to shutdown (Power LED - RED one might fluctuate).
As long as Power LED doesn't fluctuate you can continue using more minimal setup.
We recommend to use External power adapter always.