Orange Pi Zero: Installing Armbian

The Orange Pi Zero needs an operating system to boot. We’ll use Armbian, which has operating system images for many of the Orange Pi models, including the Zero.

1.- Download the image for the Orange Pi Zero from the Armbian website. I've selected the Armbian Xenial image for servers or light desktops. Within a few seconds the download should begin.  

2.- When the download is complete, browse to your downloads folder and locate the file. It should be named something like Armbian_5.38_Orangepizero_Ubuntu_xenial_next_4.14.14.7z. Right click on the file, select 7-Zip from the context menu and choose Extract Here. The archive should expand, resulting in several files including one with a .img extension similar to Armbian_5.38_Orangepizero_Ubuntu_xenial_next_4.14.14.img

3.- Insert your blank micro SD card into your computer. Take note of the drive letter it is assigned.

4.- We need Win32DiskImager aplication to write image into SD card. You can use other programs as Rufus. Open Win32DiskImager by selecting it from the Start menu.

5.- Click the folder icon below the Image File label to browse to and select the Armbian img file (e.g. Armbian_5.38_Orangepizero_Ubuntu_xenial_next_4.14.14.img). 

6.- Under the Device label, select the drive letter of your micro SD card. In my case [G:\]. Again, make sure you are 100% certain you’ve selected the correct drive, otherwise you risk overwriting the data on another drive.

 

7.- Click the Write button to start writing the Armbian image to the micro SD card.

8.- When the writing process is complete, click the Exit button to quit Win32DiskImager.

9.- Use the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media option in the system tray to eject your micro SD card. 

10.- Physically remove the micro SD card from your computer.

Next post: Booting your Orange Pi Zero.