Enable SSH on Raspberry Pi and Access It Anywhere with cpolar

Enable SSH on Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi OS disables SSH by default. Enable it via the graphical configuration tool or raspi-config.

Enable SSH

Open Raspberry Pi Configuration → Interfaces tab → enable SSH , then reboot.

Or from a terminal: sudo raspi-config → Advanced Options → SSH → enable.

Find the Pi’s IP address

Run a network query on the Pi: ifconfig or ip address Look for eth0 (wired) or wlan0 (Wi‑Fi) entries such as 192.168.9.36.

SSH from another computer

Use the default credentials pi / raspberry (change the password after first login).

macOS / Linux: ssh [email protected] Windows: use PuTTY, set “Host Name” to the Pi’s IP, click Open, accept the host key, then log in.

Expose the Pi to the Internet with cpolar

cpolar creates a public TCP tunnel that forwards a remote port to the Pi’s local SSH port.

Install cpolar

curl -L https://www.cpolar.com/static/downloads/install-release-cpolar.sh | sudo bash

For users outside China:

curl -sL https://git.io/cpolar | sudo bash

Authenticate

Obtain an authtoken from the cpolar dashboard and run:

cpolar authtoken YOUR_TOKEN_HERE

Enable and start the service

sudo systemctl enable cpolar

sudo systemctl start cpolar

Verify status: sudo systemctl status cpolar The service should be active.

Connect via the public tunnel

The dashboard shows a hostname such as 1.tcp.vip.cpolar.cn and a random port (e.g., 20013). SSH using: ssh [email protected] -p 20013 Replace the port with the one displayed in the dashboard.

Optional: Change the default password

After exposing the Pi, change the password for security: passwd Enter the current password ( raspberry) and the new password twice.