How to enable Raspberry Pi camera on Raspbian Stretch Lite

Previously, I had written two posts on how you can connect the Raspberry Pi Camera Module to Raspberry Pi 2/3 and Raspberry Pi Zero W:

When you install Raspbian Stretch Lite on your Raspberry Pi, you will need to enable the Raspberry Pi camera before you can use it.

In case you need a reference, this post will show you how to enable Raspberry Pi camera on Raspbian Stretch Lite.

Steps to enable Raspberry Pi Camera on Raspbian Stretch Lite

Firstly, run the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool in your terminal:

sudo raspi-config

Once the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool gets started, follow through the following configuration screens to enable your Raspberry Pi camera:

raspi-config with Interfacing Options selected

raspi-config with P1 Camera selected

raspi-config with Yes selected for Question to enable camera interface

raspi-config notification that camera interface is enabled

After you had followed through the above configuration screens, you will be able to use your Raspberry Pi camera on Raspbian Stretch Lite.

Turning off LED indicator of the Raspberry Pi Camera module in Raspbian Stretch Lite

When you do not need an indication as to whether your Raspberry Pi Camera is ready, you can turn off the LED indicator.

In order to turn off the LED indicator of the Raspberry Pi Camera module from Raspbian Stretch Lite, open up the /boot/config.txt file with nano:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

After the editor loads /boot/config.txt, add in the following line at the end of the file:

disable_camera_led=1

After that, type Ctrl-X and then Y to save your changes.

Once you had done so, restart Raspbian Stretch Lite with the following command:

sudo shutdown -r now

After Raspbian Stretch Lite starts again, the LED indicator of the Raspberry Pi Camera module will be switched off.

How to enable Raspberry Pi Camera on Raspbian Stretch Lite

About Clivant

Clivant a.k.a Chai Heng enjoys composing software and building systems to serve people. He owns techcoil.com and hopes that whatever he had written and built so far had benefited people. All views expressed belongs to him and are not representative of the company that he works/worked for.