https://downloads.raspberrypi.com/raspios_armhf/images/
I hope you have a Linux PC with SD-card slot or an SBC not running from its /dev/mmcblk0, then you can use dd or ddrescue or dd_rescue to write the image. Extract with unxz manually. I loopmount also the second partition first and wipe the root password, so it boots and I simply login as root without guessing or googling what he default password might be.
From there, new password and modify user 1000:1000 into some name other then 'pi'. I use USB serial console cable on 40-pin header (GND, Rx,Tx), so no endless battles with potential HDMI problems ('black screen').
You also might want to modify config.txt and cmdline.txt beforehand, so also loopmount first partition as well.
I hope you have a Linux PC with SD-card slot or an SBC not running from its /dev/mmcblk0, then you can use dd or ddrescue or dd_rescue to write the image. Extract with unxz manually. I loopmount also the second partition first and wipe the root password, so it boots and I simply login as root without guessing or googling what he default password might be.
From there, new password and modify user 1000:1000 into some name other then 'pi'. I use USB serial console cable on 40-pin header (GND, Rx,Tx), so no endless battles with potential HDMI problems ('black screen').
You also might want to modify config.txt and cmdline.txt beforehand, so also loopmount first partition as well.
Statistics: Posted by redvli — Fri Dec 19, 2025 3:00 pm