8 handy Raspberry Pi settings you can change (and how)

The Raspberry Pi is a computer like any other, with a ‘proper’ desktop operating system in the form of the Raspberry Pi OS which is packed with options. Whether you’re new to the world of single-board computers or looking for blind spots you may have missed, here are some settings you should consider changing and how to do it.

Make these changes with the Raspberry Pi software configuration tool

All of these settings can be changed using a built-in configuration tool, whether you’re using the Raspberry Pi operating system in desktop mode or booting directly from the command line. To do this, open a new terminal window (in desktop mode) and run the following:

sudo raspi-config

From there, use the arrow keys to navigate the menu. When you’re finished, select “Finish” from the root menu to save and apply your changes.

Enable or disable screen blanking

System Options > Screen Blanking

Screen Blanking determines whether your Raspberry Pi should stop transmitting a video signal to the display it is connected to. For most computers this is a normal setting to enable, but this is not necessarily the case for the Pi. If you are using your Pi to power a dashboard or picture frame that must always be on, you will probably want the screen to be hidden.

You can also change the time using the xset s [value] command, where [value] is the time in seconds. The default is 600 (10 minutes), and you can see your current setting by running xset q.

Change your default password

System Options > Password

You set your Raspberry Pi password when creating an image, although older versions used the default “pi” and “raspberry” for the username and password combination. If you ever need to change it, this is where you can do it for the current account.

Change your hostname

System Options > Hostname

The hostname is what your Raspberry Pi uses to identify itself on the network. You may want to change this if you have multiple Raspberry Pi units or if you are creating a Pi project for a specific purpose and want to identify it more easily on the network.

The default here is raspberrypi (of course), but you can create another one using letters A to Z (it’s not case sensitive), numbers and hyphens (but not at the beginning).

Enable SSH, VNC and more

Interface options > SSH or VNC

\Secure Shell, or SSH, allows you to communicate with your Raspberry Pi using a command line over a network connection. Virtual Network Computing, or VNC, is a way to achieve the same result but with a graphical user interface, also via a remote connection.

You can enable both of these in the Interface Options menu, along with a few other protocols such as Raspberry Pi Connect (a web-based remote access solution), serial communication, and remote GPIO access.

Toggle USB current limit

Performance Options > USB Current

If a USB device draws too much power from your Raspberry Pi, it could cause instability or damage your Pi. This is especially true if you are using an inadequate power supply that does not provide the 5V at 5A (25-27W) expected by newer Pi 5 devices. The USB current limit can help limit power consumption that can cause problems.

The best way to overcome these limitations is to add a powered USB hub to your Pi to cover any devices that introduce excessive power consumption (like smartphones trying to charge).

Change the boot order of your Pi

Advanced Options > Boot Order

By default, your Pi will boot from the SD card, but this isn’t always ideal. If you frequently play with new images but have your primary Raspberry Pi OS installed on an SSD, you may want to change this to avoid booting the wrong OS at startup.

You can also choose network boot here, which in the context of the Raspberry Pi means installing the operating system on a memory card over the Internet (rather than Wake-on-LAN).

Choose an audio output

System Settings > Audio

The Raspberry Pi only supports HDMI output by default as there is no 3.5mm stereo port on the board. But you have the option of adding an aftermarket HAT that connects to your GPIO pins or even adding a USB audio interface. If you go this route, you’ll want to change where the audio is routed using the Audio setting.

Switch window system between X and Wayland

Advanced settings > Wayland

The X11 is a window system that has been around since 1984 and was previously the default choice for the Raspberry Pi operating system before the release of Bookworm. The project has since moved to the new Wayland system, with a choice of labwc and Wayfire composers.

Wayland with labwc is probably the “best” choice because it is more modern and the Wayfire composer is no longer maintained. Wayland is more efficient, has better scaling and offers smoother animations. Unfortunately, some apps designed for X11 may experience issues.

If you’re having issues with older software, you may want to use X11 as a fallback. If you are not sure what you are using, run the echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE command in Terminal. You’re not going to “break” your Raspberry Pi OS installation by doing this, so experiment and see which one works best for the applications you use.

Looking to get the most out of your Pi? Consider adding active cooling to push the hardware to its limits.