WiFi Access Point Setup on Headless Raspberry Pi

50-cloud-init.yaml

# This file is generated from information provided by the datasource.  Changes
# to it will not persist across an instance reboot.  To disable cloud-init's
# network configuration capabilities, write a file
# /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg with the following:
# network: {config: disabled}
network:
    version: 2
    wifis:
        renderer: networkd
        wlan0:
            access-points:
                "<MY_WIFI_SSID>":
                    password: "<MY_WIFI_PASSWORD>"
            dhcp4: true
            optional: true

README.md

WiFi Access Point Setup on Headless Raspberry Pi

This guide does not require a booted device. Create or modify the files on the SD card.

Tested on

Device: Raspberry Pi 4B OS: Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)"

Partitions

There are two partitions: system-boot and writable.

• system-boot contains the boot files and it is also a cloud-init datasource (NoCloud).
• writable is the OS root.

Approach 1: Modify Netplan Config

Modify the file /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml. This file is in the writable partition. The changes should look similar to the file 50-cloud-init.yaml in this gist.

Substitute <MY_WIFI_SSID> and <MY_WIFI_PASSWORD> with your Wifi name and password.

This method doest not persist after a reboot because cloud-init re-provisions the system overwriting the config. It is helpful for one-time boot.

Approach 2: Modify cloud-init NoCloud Datasource (**Recommended)

Similar to the steps in Approach 1, modify /network-config file. This file is present in the system-boot partition. Substitute the template variables <MY_WIFI_SSID> and <MY_WIFI_PASSWORD> with your Wifi name and password.

Ultimately, append the contents of user-data to /user-data file located in the boot partition. Eject and insert the SD card to your Raspberry Pi and connect it to a power source.

network-config

version: 2
wifis:
  renderer: networkd
  wlan0:
    dhcp4: true
    optional: true
    access-points:
      "<MY_WIFI_SSID>":
        password: "<MY_WIFI_PASSWORD>"

user-data

# Append the following lines. DO NOT REPLACE the entire file.

power_state:
  mode: reboot