This article explains how to set up Jetson Nano.
Hardware Requirements
The hardware requirements for the Jetson Nano are as follows
- Host PC
- Jetson Nano
- There are several types of Jetson Nano. For more information, please refer to this page.
- USB keyboard
- USB mouse
- HDMI display and cable
- SD Card(At least 16 GB)
- When using the Jetson Nano Production Module, it is not required since eMMC is used.
- SD Card reader/writer for host PC
- AC adapter power supply
- USB Storage(At least 16 GB)
- Required when booting from USB Storage.
- Micro USB Cable
Power Select Setting
Always power the Jetson Nano from the AC adapter; it can also be powered from USB, but this will cause the Jetson Nano to be unstable when running power-consuming programs.
For Jetson Nano Developer Kit A02 (top in the figure), short J48 with a jumper pin. For Developer Kit B01 (bottom in the figure), short J48 with a jumper pin in the same way. This enables power to be supplied from the AC adapter.
Writing Images
There are several ways to write an image, but this article introduces the following two.

- How to download SD Card Image from JetPack SDK and write it to SD Card
- https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetpack-archive
- Use this to boot from USB Storage.
- How to write an image from Recovery Mode to an SD Card
- https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetson-linux-archive
- Use this to write to the Jetson Linux Production Module.
- This is required to write to the Jetson Nano’s internal storage (QSPI NOR flash).
How to download SD Card Image from JetPack SDK and write it to SD Card
Go to https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetpack-archive and select the latest JetPack that is compatible with Jetson Nano. (Currently the latest is JetPack 4.6.2)

From the latest JetPack page for the Jetson Nano, select JETSON NANO DEVELOPER KITS and click Download the SD Card Image to download the SD Card Image.

You can then proceed according to https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/learn/get-started-jetson-nano-devkit#write, but this article describes it briefly.
Download and run the platform-specific writing tool from https://www.balena.io/etcher and specify the SD Card Image zip file from ” Flash from file”. You can use the SD Card Image zip file as it is, or you can specify “sd-blob-b01.img” which is created after extracting the zip file.

Next, in Select target, connect the SD Card (or UBS Storage if booting from USB Storage) to the host PC and select it.

Finally, click “Flash!

After writing to the SD Card is complete, insert the SD Card into the microSD Card Slot shown in the figure below.
Note: The following operations are done on the Linux host PC; I have not tried to mount USB Storage on Windows or Mac and do not know how.
If booting from USB Storage, mount the APP partition of the USB Storage and rewrite the mounted /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf as follows
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
MENU LABEL primary kernel
LINUX /boot/Image
INITRD /boot/initrd
- APPEND ${cbootargs} quiet root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rw rootwait rootfstype=ext4 console=ttyS0,115200n8 console=tty0 fbcon=map:0 net.ifnames=0
+ APPEND ${cbootargs} quiet root=/dev/sda1 rw rootwait rootfstype=ext4 console=ttyS0,115200n8 console=tty0 fbcon=map:0 net.ifnames=0
# When testing a custom kernel, it is recommended that you create a backup of
# the original kernel and add a new entry to this file so that the device can
Code language: Diff (diff)
How to write an image from Recovery Mode to an SD Card
I will explain this in another article as this article has become lengthy.
Boot
To boot from SD Card, insert the SD Card into the “microSD Card Slot” as shown below. To boot from USB Storage, insert the USB Storage into USB Type A as shown below, insert the keyboard, mouse, and HDMI cable, and insert the power cable into the Power Jack.
That’s all.