Connect to Wi-Fi

Connect a Screenly Player to a wireless network with a USB keyboard, or with a network.yaml file on a USB drive for headless setups.

By default a player uses DHCP over ethernet, which needs nothing configured. Wireless takes one of two routes.

With a keyboard

This is the route to use unless something prevents it. You pick the network from a list, so there is nothing to mistype.

1. Connect a USB keyboard to the player.

2. Press F2 to open the Wi-Fi settings.

   On a Pi 3, or a device on older software, press ESC instead.

3. Select your network from the list with the arrow keys and press Enter.

4. Type the password and press Enter.

For a hidden network, scroll to Other Network at the bottom of the list and enter the details by hand.

With a USB drive

Use this when you cannot attach a keyboard, or when support asks you to. It carries more risk, because every detail is typed rather than picked.

1. Format a USB stick as FAT32. No other filesystem is supported.
2. Open the Network Config Generator.
3. Enter the SSID and passphrase. The other settings are optional.
4. Generate the file. A network.yaml downloads.
5. Copy it to the USB stick and eject the stick safely.
6. Boot the player and wait for the pairing screen. It will show a network error, which is expected at this point.
7. Insert the stick. The player picks up the configuration and reboots itself.

On ScreenlyOS 26.10.0 or newer, the player also reads the file under the name screenlyos-config.yaml. A drive with network.yaml keeps working.

If it does not connect

Check the band first. A Pi 3B is 2.4 GHz only, and everything newer handles both. Each model page lists what its radio supports: see Screenly players.

Then check two access point settings. These cause most of the wireless trouble we see, and neither looks like a fault on the player.

Turn off band steering on managed access points. It confuses players that are choosing a band.

Avoid one SSID that serves 2.4 and 5 GHz at the same time. Create a dedicated SSID for your players on one band or the other.

Both are worth ruling out before you spend time on the player, because a player that connects on one network and not another is usually looking at one of these.

On a corporate network that authenticates devices rather than using a shared password, see Connect on an enterprise network.