Raspberry Pi has released Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0.8, a bug-fix update to its official image-writing utility for preparing SD cards and USB storage with Raspberry Pi OS and other supported systems.
One main update in version 2.0.8 is Fastboot. Raspberry Pi Imager can now enumerate storage devices and supports mount, unmount, and custom gadget operations. The release renames the “stage” action to “download” and adds retries for transient USB errors to make Fastboot workflows more robust.
OS customization has also been adjusted. Raspberry Pi Imager no longer sets groups during customization, leaving that to the operating system. It now uses explicit runcmd entries for passwordless sudo and requires users to actively select a locale instead of relying on pre-filled defaults.
On the SSH side, the application now includes a state machine for handling PuTTY multiline SSH keys. Additionally, the user interface gets a small fix, with clipboard status refreshed as text fields appear. On Linux, Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0.8 explicitly excludes libsystemd.
The update also changes write operations. The watchdog stall timeout increased to 180 seconds to match the asynchronous write timeout, and the final data sync step is excluded from the write watchdog. This avoids false stall reports when writing to slower SD cards.
Beyond that, the release updates the French and Slovak translation dictionaries and adds an interface screenshot to the documentation.
For more details, see the changelog.
