Headless Setup & Terminal Access

What “headless” means

Running the system headless means operating it without a dedicated monitor, keyboard, or mouse connected to the Raspberry Pi.

Instead, we’ll access the Pi remotely over the network using SSH. This is how Quadify is designed to run long-term.

Step 1: Enable SSH in Volumio

1. Open a web browser and navigate to your Volumio IP address, adding /dev to the end:
   http://<your-volumio-ip>/dev
2. This opens the Volumio DEV page
3. Locate the SSH option and enable it

SSH is disabled by default in Volumio — this step is required.

Step 2: Download a terminal client

To connect to the Raspberry Pi remotely, you’ll need a terminal client. Two common options are:

• Termius — slightly easier to use, more modern
• PuTTY — simple, reliable, and widely used

For this guide, we’ll use PuTTY.

• Download PuTTY from https://www.putty.org
• Choose the installer for your system (32-bit or 64-bit — Windows will warn you if you pick the wrong one)

Step 3: Connect to the Raspberry Pi

1. Launch PuTTY
2. Enter the IP address of your Volumio device
3. Ensure the connection type is set to SSH
4. Click Open

This is why you wrote down the IP address earlier.

Step 4: Log in

If the connection is successful, a black terminal window will appear asking for login details.

• Username: volumio
• Password: volumio

If you see the login prompt, you’ve entered the correct IP address.

You’re connected

If you’re greeted with a command prompt, you’re now logged into the Raspberry Pi.

At this point, you’re fully connected and ready to configure the system further.

Optional: Test playback from the terminal

As a quick test, you can start playback directly from the terminal by typing:

volumio play

If music starts playing, everything is working as expected.

This isn’t required for Quadify to function — it’s simply a quick confidence check.

What’s next

Now that the Raspberry Pi is accessible headlessly, you can begin adding the screen, buttons, LEDs, and other Quadify hardware.