Control Your 3D Printer from Any Browser with OctoPrint

// Before you start

What you need

A Raspberry Pi (3B+ or newer recommended) with a microSD card (8GB+)
A 3D printer with a USB port
A computer to write the SD card image
Raspberry Pi Imager installed on your computer (free at raspberrypi.com/software)
Your home Wi-Fi name and password

Step 1 of 6

Download the OctoPi image

5 min

OctoPi is a ready-made Raspberry Pi operating system that has OctoPrint already installed. You do not build anything from source — you just flash this image to your SD card. Download the latest stable OctoPi release from the official site.

Terminal · mac

$ Open your browser and go to: https://octoprint.org/download/

$ Click the big 'Download OctoPi' button and save the .zip file.

What you should see

A file named something like octopi-1.0.0.zip saved to your Downloads folder.

This might happen

The download page may show a 'bleeding edge' option alongside stable.

Always pick the 'stable' release unless you enjoy troubleshooting.

Step 2 of 6

Flash OctoPi onto your microSD card

10 min

Raspberry Pi Imager writes the OctoPi image to your SD card. Insert the microSD card into your computer (use an adapter if needed). Open Raspberry Pi Imager, choose 'Use custom' under OS, select the .zip you downloaded, pick your SD card as the storage target, then click Write. The tool will verify the write automatically.

Terminal · mac

$ 1. Open Raspberry Pi Imager.

$ 2. Click 'CHOOSE OS' → scroll down → 'Use custom' → select your octopi-*.zip file.

$ 3. Click 'CHOOSE STORAGE' → select your microSD card.

$ 4. Click the gear icon (⚙) to set your Wi-Fi SSID, password, and enable SSH.

$ 5. Click 'WRITE' and confirm.

What you should see

Imager shows 'Write Successful' after verifying. Safe to remove the card.

This might happen

The gear/settings icon may not appear on older versions of Raspberry Pi Imager.

Update Raspberry Pi Imager to the latest version from raspberrypi.com/software.

Step 3 of 6

Configure your Wi-Fi credentials on the SD card

3 min

If you used the gear icon in step 2 to enter Wi-Fi details, skip this step. If not, you need to edit one file on the SD card before booting. After flashing, the SD card will show a small partition called 'boot' on your computer. Open it and edit the octopi-wpa-supplicant.txt file with a plain text editor (Notepad on Windows, TextEdit on Mac in plain-text mode).

Terminal · mac

$ Open the file: boot/octopi-wpa-supplicant.txt

$ Find the lines below and replace with your actual Wi-Fi details:

$ ## WPA/WPA2 secured

$ #network={

$ # ssid="put your SSID here"

$ # psk="put your password here"

$ #}

$ Remove the # symbols from those 4 lines and fill in your network name and password. Save the file.

What you should see

The file is saved with your real Wi-Fi name and password, no # in front of those four lines.

This might happen

Windows Notepad sometimes adds a .txt extension, saving it as octopi-wpa-supplicant.txt.txt.

Use Notepad++ or rename the file to remove the double extension.

Step 4 of 6

Boot the Pi and find its IP address

5 min

Insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi, connect the Pi to power, and wait about 2 minutes for it to boot and join your Wi-Fi. You then need to find its IP address to open the web interface. The easiest method is to try the hostname directly in your browser.

Terminal · mac

$ Open your browser and go to:

$ http://octopi.local

$ If that does not load, log into your home router's admin page (usually http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1) and look for a device named 'octopi' in the connected devices list. Use that IP address instead.

What you should see

The OctoPrint setup wizard loads in your browser.

This might happen

octopi.local does not resolve on some Windows machines.

Install Apple's Bonjour Print Services for Windows (free), or just use the IP address from your router.

Step 5 of 6

Run the setup wizard and connect your printer

10 min

OctoPrint walks you through a first-time setup wizard in the browser. You will create a username and password, optionally share anonymous usage stats, and configure your printer profile (bed size, print volume). Once done, plug your 3D printer into the Pi via USB, then use the Connection panel on the left side of the OctoPrint dashboard to connect to it.

Terminal · mac

$ In the OctoPrint browser interface:

$ 1. Complete each wizard screen (create account, printer profile).

$ 2. Plug your printer's USB cable into the Raspberry Pi.

$ 3. In the left panel under 'Connection', set Baudrate to 'AUTO'.

$ 4. Click 'Connect'.

What you should see

The Connection panel shows 'Operational' and your printer's temperature readings appear in the Temperature tab.

This might happen

OctoPrint cannot find the printer port (dropdown shows nothing or /dev/ttyUSB0 is missing).

Try a different USB cable — many printer cables are charge-only with no data wires. Also try clicking the small refresh icon next to the port dropdown.

Step 6 of 6

Upload a file and start your first print

2 min

With your printer connected, you can now upload a sliced G-code file (.gcode) and start printing remotely. Use the Files panel on the left to upload from your computer, then click the print button next to the file.

Terminal · mac

$ 1. Click the Upload button (folder icon) in the Files panel.

$ 2. Select a .gcode file from your computer.

$ 3. Once uploaded, click the print icon (▶) next to the filename.

$ 4. Confirm when prompted.

What you should see

The progress bar appears at the top of the dashboard, temperatures rise, and your printer starts moving.

This might happen

Nothing moves after clicking print, or temperatures stay at 0.

Make sure the printer is powered on (not just USB-connected) and the Connection status still shows 'Operational'.

// Status

cooked. baked. worked.

A Raspberry Pi sitting next to your 3D printer, running a web dashboard accessible from any browser on your home network, letting you upload files, monitor temperatures, watch print progress, and control the printer remotely.

// the honest bit

The honest part

This guide uses OctoPi, the recommended pre-built image — not the raw GitHub source code. Installing from source is significantly harder and not recommended for non-developers. OctoPrint works with most consumer FDM printers (Creality, Prusa, etc.) but is not compatible with printers that use proprietary closed protocols (e.g., some Bambu Lab models). The Pi must stay powered and connected to your network for remote access to work. Camera streaming requires an extra USB webcam and a bit more setup not covered here.