Difficulty connecting Pi 2 to laptop

[ProblemSleuth]

Hello everyone! I am a completely new user to Raspberry Pi, and hope to learn a lot about it while working through some simple projects (until I'm ready to do more intensive stuff). I got a Raspberry Pi starter kit (this one: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00GWTN ... _124470850) and so far have completed an initial setup where I installed the operating system.

Unfortunately, I don't have a monitor or USB keyboard to use with it (I did the initial set-up at work); my only option is using my laptop for these things (which I think should be perfectly fine from what I've read so far?).

The guides that I have read regarding how to connect to my Laptop are unclear. I am running Windows 10, and am connecting to a Raspberry Pi 2. I connected the two using an ethernet cable (with a micro-ethernet adapter for my laptop), then plugged the Pi into a wall outlet. From there I couldn't follow anything ... Did I make a mistake somewhere? Any idea what I need to do next?

Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me!

[Navyscourge]

Which instructions were you following? It is easier if you connect both Laptop and Pi separately to your network (easier to trouble-shoot). You will need something like Putty (or Putty portable) on your Laptop to connect as a command line terminal, and something like Tight-VNC on both to get a GUI. You can also use "standard" Windows RDP if that is available; there are quite a few ways of doing it.

Let us know which method you prefer, which instructions you are following and which step you get stuck on

[ProblemSleuth]

Which instructions were you following? It is easier if you connect both Laptop and Pi separately to your network (easier to trouble-shoot). You will need something like Putty (or Putty portable) on your Laptop to connect as a command line terminal, and something like Tight-VNC on both to get a GUI. You can also use "standard" Windows RDP if that is available; there are quite a few ways of doing it.

Let us know which method you prefer, which instructions you are following and which step you get stuck on

Thanks for the response! The guide I was using is here: https://pihw.wordpress.com/guides/direc ... onnection/

I reached the step where I need to set the Pi's IP address, and (more specifically) use a card-reader and find a "cmdline.txt" file on my microSD. I see no file by that name in any of the folders ... It might be worth noting that I don't have a card reader, and had to insert the microSD into a camera and connect it to the computer that way via USB. I could still view file folders for the os and etc, but the particular file I was looking for (cmdline.txt) was not present anywhere.

Is this maybe because the Pi I am using is different than the one they are basing the guide off of?

EDIT: From what I've read, the reason this didn't work is because NOOBS makes the cmdline.txt file inaccessable through Windows. Will I need to reset the SD card and install the opperating system all over again (without NOOBS) or is there a better way to go about this?

[Navyscourge]

Those instructions do state that you cannot use NOOBS. You have two options; install Raspian without NOOBS or edit the SD card with a Mac or Linux machine (this includes another Pi). I am going to assume that the second is not available. I think that you can use the NOOBS install screen to edit the config file, but if you cannot connect it to a monitor, I don't think that is possible either.

You did not say if you have a home network. Do you have a router or similar device on your network that can tell you what your Pi IP address is when connected to that network? If so, you can set up the laptop connection over that network, sort out all issues and go back to the direct cable method.

If you don't redo your SD card, you can change the connection method, see http://raspi.tv/2012/how-to-run-raspber ... or-network - you will need a different cable

Other people may have found a way to do what you are trying to do, but without a bit of investigation I don't know what that might be

Good luck

[fruitoftheloom]

Which instructions were you following? It is easier if you connect both Laptop and Pi separately to your network (easier to trouble-shoot). You will need something like Putty (or Putty portable) on your Laptop to connect as a command line terminal, and something like Tight-VNC on both to get a GUI. You can also use "standard" Windows RDP if that is available; there are quite a few ways of doing it.

Let us know which method you prefer, which instructions you are following and which step you get stuck on

Thanks for the response! The guide I was using is here: https://pihw.wordpress.com/guides/direc ... onnection/

I reached the step where I need to set the Pi's IP address, and (more specifically) use a card-reader and find a "cmdline.txt" file on my microSD. I see no file by that name in any of the folders ... It might be worth noting that I don't have a card reader, and had to insert the microSD into a camera and connect it to the computer that way via USB. I could still view file folders for the os and etc, but the particular file I was looking for (cmdline.txt) was not present anywhere.

Is this maybe because the Pi I am using is different than the one they are basing the guide off of?

EDIT: From what I've read, the reason this didn't work is because NOOBS makes the cmdline.txt file inaccessable through Windows. Will I need to reset the SD card and install the opperating system all over again (without NOOBS) or is there a better way to go about this?

Rapbian Jessie standalone as SSH is enabled by default:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... /README.md

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/remote-access