How to Install Etcher on Raspberry Pi OS (SD Card Creation)

Balena Etcher is one of my favorite tools to create new SD cards for Raspberry Pi. It works wonders on Windows, macOS, and Linux. They claim it works on all platforms, so I tried it on Raspberry Pi OS. In this article, I will share my experience and the solutions I have found.

Balena Etcher works on all major operating systems, but there’s no official version that supports the Raspberry Pi’s CPU architecture. To install Balena Etcher on Raspberry Pi OS, use Pi-Apps to get a version compiled for the Raspberry Pi.

Don’t worry, you can absolutely create a bootable SD card without a regular desktop or laptop – using only a Raspberry Pi 4.

Table of Contents

• Can You Run Etcher on Raspberry Pi OS?
• How to Install Etcher on Raspberry Pi OS
• Is There an Alternative to Balena Etcher on Raspberry Pi OS?

Can You Run Etcher on Raspberry Pi OS?

Etcher will work on Raspberry Pi OS, but you’ll have to do a workaround installation.
I’ll show you how later on in this article.

Is There an Official Version of Etcher for Raspberry Pi?

Balena Etcher does NOT have an official installer for Raspberry Pi OS.
The only files available are for Windows, macOS, and Linux on regular PCs, as you can see from the screenshot below:

All installers are for x86 and x64 architectures, while the Raspberry Pi is running on ARM. The architecture of a computer tells how hardware and software interact together. It’s always better to find software that has been developed especially for the Raspberry Pi architecture.

As Balena Etcher is an open-source project, you may find some old archives from guys who’ve compiled it for the Raspberry Pi. But they are obsolete versions from unofficial locations. Most lead to nonexistent sites, and the last one was even flagged by my antivirus as a dangerous site.

So let me show you a safe way to get Balena Etcher working on Raspberry Pi OS.

Are There Any Prerequisites for Using Etcher on Raspberry Pi OS?

To flash an SD card while using Raspberry Pi OS, you’ll need a USB adapter to connect a second SD card. You can’t remove the SD card being used by Raspberry Pi OS.

A USB adapter is a cheap accessory you can get anywhere (I like this one on Amazon, for example because there is a USB cable, and it’s a brand that sells great products). It’s plug & play, so it’s easy to use. Just make sure to choose the correct storage location in Raspberry Pi Imager, which I’ll explain in the next section).

Obviously, if you are flashing a system on a USB disk or already running Raspberry Pi OS via USB it’s not required.

Wait, I have some recommendations for you!

Before you go any further, I want you to take a look at some of the recommendations I’ve handpicked for you. I think these are essential items you should have for your Raspberry Pi. You can check them out and buy them directly from Amazon.

How to Install Etcher on Raspberry Pi OS

If you want to use Balena Etcher on Raspberry Pi, you can install Raspberry Pi OS (Bookworm 64-bit) and use Pi-Apps to install it.
1/ Install Pi-Apps with this command:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/install | bash

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/install | bash

Launch Pi-Apps from the main menu > Accessories > Pi-Apps.

Are you a bit lost in the Linux command line? Check this article first for the most important commands to remember and a free downloadable cheat sheet so you can have the commands at your fingertips.

2/ In Pi-Apps, go to the “Tools” category. Find and install Balena Etcher:


3/ Now you can start it from the main menu > Accessories > balenaEtcher

From there you can use Balena Etcher the same way as on any computer. Remember that if your system runs on the SD card, you’ll need a USB adapter to flash something to another SD card (or you can boot on USB, or you can flash to a USB stick).

Is There an Alternative to Balena Etcher on Raspberry Pi OS?

The best alternative to Balena Etcher is Raspberry Pi Imager. It is developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the company behind the Raspberry Pi, and so it works perfectly on Raspberry Pi OS.

What’s the Difference Between Balena Etcher and Raspberry Pi Imager?

Balena Etcher and Raspberry Pi Imager are similar and achieve the same goal: both are used to write operating system images onto a storage device like an SD card or USB flash drive.

There are some differences between the two.

For Etcher, you need to manually download the system image and then flash it on an SD card (or USB drive). However, Raspberry Pi Imager makes your life easier by providing a list of systems that work on Raspberry Pi. It downloads the image in the background and flashes it for you directly.

On the latest versions, Imager even filters the OS list, by showing only images compatible with your Raspberry Pi model. It also lets you configure some systems prior to flashing, which is useful for things like a headless boot.

So in some aspects, I think Raspberry Pi Imager may be easier to use.