How to Set Up a Headless Raspberry Pi Zero W Web Server with Nginx and Ngrok

Introduction

The author discovered the Raspberry Pi and decided to document the whole process of turning a Raspberry Pi Zero W into a tiny headless web server.

What is a Raspberry Pi?

Raspberry Pi (RPi) is a credit‑card‑sized Linux‑based computer. The Zero W is a mini version roughly one‑third the size of a Model 3 B+, featuring a 1 GHz BCM2835 CPU, 512 MB RAM, Wi‑Fi/Bluetooth, micro‑USB power and OTG, mini‑HDMI, GPIO pins, and a micro‑SD slot.

BCM2835 processor, 1 GHz

512 MB RAM

BCM43438 Wi‑Fi/BT chip

Micro‑USB power & OTG

Mini‑HDMI port

Composite video & reset header

CSI camera connector

Micro‑SD card slot

40‑pin GPIO header

Dimensions: 65 mm × 30 mm

Preparation

Before starting, gather the following items:

16 GB or 32 GB SanDisk micro‑SD card

Standard USB‑A to micro‑USB cable (not Type‑C)

SD card formatter (e.g., SDFormatter )

Win32DiskImager (or similar flashing tool)

Raspbian Stretch Lite image (download from the official Raspberry Pi website)

Download and Extract the OS Image

Download the desired Raspbian image, unzip the .zip file, and locate the .img file (about 1.7 GB).

Write the Image to the SD Card

Insert the micro‑SD card into a reader, launch Win32DiskImager, select the .img file, choose the correct device, and click Write . After completion, a success dialog appears.

Configure the Boot Partition

Create an empty ssh file

In the boot partition, create a file named ssh with no extension and leave it empty. This enables SSH on first boot.

Create wpa_supplicant.conf

Also in boot, create wpa_supplicant.conf with the following content (replace with your Wi‑Fi SSID and password):

country=CN
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
    ssid="your_wifi_name"
    psk="your_wifi_password"
}

Assemble and Power the Device

Insert the prepared SD card into the Zero W, connect power via the micro‑USB cable (5 V 1 A), and wait for the indicator LED to become steady.

Find the IP Address and SSH In

Check your router’s client list to locate the Pi’s IP (e.g., 192.168.0.104). Then connect with an SSH client (default user pi, password raspberry), for example using PuTTY.

System Optimisation

Replace APT sources with a Chinese mirror

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
# comment existing lines and add:
deb http://mirrors.ustc.edu.cn/raspbian/raspbian/ stretch main contrib non-free rpi

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/raspi.list
# comment existing lines and add:
deb http://mirrors.ustc.edu.cn/archive.raspberrypi.org/debian stretch main ui

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Set timezone to Shanghai

sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
# select Asia → Shanghai

Enable SSH on boot

Method 1: run sudo raspi-config, go to *Interfacing Options → SSH* and enable it.

Method 2: edit /etc/rc.local and add before exit 0:

/etc/init.d/ssh start

Install Nginx

# Install
sudo apt-get install nginx
# Start
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx start
# Restart
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart
# Stop
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx stop

Open a browser and navigate to the Pi’s IP; the default Nginx welcome page should appear.

Expose the Server to the Internet (Ngrok)

Use a tunneling service such as ngrok (ittun’s ARM build works on the Zero W). Run the client in a screen session so it stays alive after logout. Example command (replace with your token):

./ngrok tcp 80

The service provides a public address like zerow.ittun.com that forwards traffic to the Pi.

Current Status

The Pi runs both Nginx and ngrok, with about 250 MB free RAM and CPU temperature stable around 37‑39 °C after two days of operation.