A Raspberry Pi 5 installer for the Omarchy Quattro desktop. Boot the USB installer, connect over SSH or Remote Desktop, and install onto your Pi's NVMe SSD or microSD card. The same USB provides boot repair afterwards.
Omarchy is created by DHH and the Omarchy project. This independently maintained ARM64 port follows the upstream desktop where the hardware supports it. See the Omarchy manual for desktop use.
The v0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09 release uses the conventional package-owned runtime, restores normal update-availability checks, and retains the previous runtime pair per update job for a bounded manual downgrade.
The CM5 test release v0.1.1-cm5-test-2026.09.30 is for experimental bring-up. A USB installer boot has been photographed on a CM5 and showed 119.1 GiB MMC and 238.5 GiB NVMe storage. Installation and first boot from an installed target remain untested, so this does not establish CM5 hardware acceptance.
Use the CM5 test release note for the test scope and checklist. Use that release's image assets and checksums instead of the stable Pi 5 assets in this guide. The CM5 must already have EEPROM boot order configured to try USB before the selected NVMe or MMC target; the installer does not change boot order. Confirm which device is the approved target, keep the other storage protected, boot the installer from USB, and remove the installer USB before testing the installed target's first boot.
- A Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB RAM, suitable power supply, and NVMe SSD or microSD installation target; use 32 GB or larger for the target.
- A USB installer stick of at least 16 GB, and another computer to flash and configure it.
- Ethernet or Wi-Fi, internet access during installation, and an SSH or RDP client on the same network.
- For encrypted automatic boot: a separate USB stick that the installer can erase and turn into an unlock key. Keep the recovery passphrase too.
The Pi must already boot USB before its installation target. The installer preserves the EEPROM boot order. Disconnect other storage you do not need during installation.
Download all four numbered image parts and the checksum file from the Pi installer release:
Put the five files in the same folder and verify the parts before joining them:
sha256sum --ignore-missing --check SHA256SUMSEach of the four image parts must report OK. On macOS, use shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS and check each part's result; missing metadata files are harmless if you downloaded only the image parts. On Windows, use Get-FileHash .\*.part-* -Algorithm SHA256 in PowerShell and compare each part's hash with its entry in SHA256SUMS.
Join the parts in order, then decompress the image on Linux or macOS (requires zstd):
cat omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zst.part-00 omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zst.part-01 omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zst.part-02 omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zst.part-03 > omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zst
zstd --decompress --keep omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zstOn Windows, join them in Command Prompt:
copy /b omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zst.part-00+omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zst.part-01+omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zst.part-02+omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zst.part-03 omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img.zstThen extract the resulting .img.zst with an archive application that supports Zstandard. Allow at least 30 GB of free disk space for the downloaded parts, joined archive and extracted .img. You may delete the numbered parts once joining and decompression succeed.
Use Raspberry Pi Imager or another disk-image writing application to write omarchy-pi5-0.2.0-pi5-2026.10.09-installer.img to the whole USB stick. This erases that stick; check its capacity and model before starting. Copying the .img onto an existing filesystem will not make a bootable installer.
In Raspberry Pi Imager, choose Use Custom for the OS, select the extracted .img, and select your USB as the storage device. Skip Imager's OS customisation; this installer uses the settings file below. Let writing and verification finish.
After flashing, open the USB's FAT boot partition on your computer. Copy installer-settings.example.toml to installer-settings.toml in that partition's top-level folder. Edit it as plain text before the first boot. Here is a complete Wi-Fi example; replace every password and the network name with your own values:
[installer]
hostname = "omarchy-pi"
username = "omarchy"
[wifi]
country = "GB"
ssid = "your-network-name"
password = "your-wifi-password"
[ssh]
password = "choose-an-installer-login-password"
[rdp]
password = "choose-a-separate-rdp-password"Use your uppercase two-letter Wi-Fi country code. For Ethernet, omit the entire [wifi] section. Passwords must have at least eight characters. For SSH key login, supply authorized_key = "<your complete OpenSSH public key>" in [ssh]; it can replace the SSH password. RDP still needs its own password. Keep TOML string values quoted; literal single quotes are useful for passwords containing double quotes or backslashes. Save the exact filename installer-settings.toml, without an added .txt extension, and safely eject the USB.
These settings configure the installer account. You will choose the installed desktop's account and password separately.
With the Pi powered off, attach the installer USB, the installation target and, if needed, the separate disposable key USB. Connect Ethernet if you selected it, then power on. Networking, SSH and the RDP installer desktop start automatically.
Find the installer's IP address in your router's connected-device or DHCP list, using the hostname you configured. Connect with either:
- Remote Desktop: connect to that IP on port
3389, using the configured installer username and the[rdp]password. The installer terminal opens automatically. - SSH: run
ssh -t omarchy@<installer-ip> omarchy-pi-install, replacing the username if you changed it. Use the[ssh]password or your configured SSH key.
If the installer cannot connect, power off, return the USB to your computer and check the settings filename and Wi-Fi entries, or configure Ethernet. If account or password settings need changing after provisioning has started, reflash and configure the USB before trying again.
- Choose Install Omarchy on a target. Select the intended SSD or microSD by its model, capacity and identity. The installer USB and existing unlock-key media are protected from selection.
- Enter the new desktop account, password, hostname and regional settings. Review Wi-Fi and remote access for the installed system. If you want to continue connecting directly by RDP, select LAN RDP access.
- Choose encryption. No disk encryption needs no key stick. Encrypted: passphrase at boot needs local input to unlock before normal networking starts. Encrypted: separate USB key prepares the separately selected stick and also asks for a recovery passphrase. Save that passphrase.
- Review the settings and type the exact erase confirmation shown for the target. Preparing a new key stick requires its own confirmation and erases that stick too.
- Wait for completion. Installation runs independently of the terminal: after an SSH/RDP disconnection, reconnect and run
omarchy-pi-installto view the same job. A failed or interrupted installation offers a separately confirmed restart from the beginning.
Read the completion card and note the new hostname, username, SSH fingerprint and access instructions. Choose the installer's shutdown action. Once the Pi has powered off, remove the installer USB. For automatic encrypted unlock, leave the new key USB attached. Power on again.
Find the installed system's address in your router; it may differ from the installer's address. SSH uses the new desktop username and password/key. RDP uses the installed system's selected access mode and RDP password. Compare the SSH fingerprint with the completion card when connecting for the first time.
Keep the configured installer USB for recovery.
A normal Pi 5 installation uses the conventional packaged Omarchy layout. The omarchy and omarchy-settings packages own /usr/share/omarchy, commands are installed under /usr/bin, and user configuration and state remain under ~/.config and ~/.local/state/omarchy. Older source-layout installations retain their user-owned releases; see the ARM64 update guide.
Run the normal Omarchy update command as the desktop user, then reboot when it reports completion:
omarchy update
omarchy update --status
omarchy update --watchThe updater prepares and checks the matching runtime pair, then records a durable job under /var/lib/omarchy-pi-updates/<job>/. It does not reboot the Pi; --status and --watch reconnect after a terminal disconnect. See the packaged runtime guide and the ARM64 update guide.
Before applying a new packaged pair, the worker retains the previous pair in /var/lib/omarchy-pi-updates/<job>/previous/; the retained-pair downgrade procedure explains how to restore it when needed.
For boot repair, power off, attach the configured installer USB and boot it. Connect as before and choose Repair target boot files. Identify the target, unlock it with its attached key USB or recovery passphrase, review the proposed repair and confirm. After completion, shut down and remove the installer USB again. See USB recovery commands for the bounded controller procedure. Repair preserves the installed desktop; choosing Install again erases its target after confirmation.
Release assets include checksums, package/version records and build provenance. The image builder guide describes building an installer; the ARM64 guide covers the port's implementation and maintenance. Development takes place on quattro-rpi5.
Omarchy source is released under the MIT License. Bundled operating-system packages and firmware retain their respective licenses; see the release's license information.