How to quickly install GNU/Linux Debian

We will see here how to install Debian with defaults parameters. We won't be lost with specific parameters. The goal here is to have a GNU/Linux operating system ready to go as quick as possible.

Configuration

OS : Debian 10

Download netinstall ISO

Download the netinstall iso media.

Install on a Physical Computer

Create a boot media

From GNU/Linux you can use dd tool (⚠️ Set the correct USB device. Use fdisk -l. Here with /dev/sde USB device.) :

root@host:~# dd if=debian-10.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso of=/dev/sde bs=8M

From Windows you can use UNetbootin, yumi or Rufus tools.

Or even simpler : burn a cd

See your manufacturer boot options. For example for Dell stations press F12 during post boot.

Install to VMware

To boot from ISO media we need to edit Virtual Machine settings.

From VM Options tab, expand Boot Options and check During the next boot....

Now from VMware Remote Console go to, VMRC > Removable Devices > CD/DVD drive 1 > Connect to Disk Image File (iso)... and select the netinstall iso.

Still from VMware Remote Console go to, VMRC > Power > Restart Guest

Select CDROM Drive and press enter

Install to Hyper-V

From the Virtual Machine go to File > Settings...

If missing add CD-ROM drive

Select SCSI Controller then DVD Drive and click on Add button

⚠️ in generation 2 Virtual Machine, don't forget to disable secure boot Hyper-V VM Settings menu

Mount ISO

Select DVD Drive then Image File and click on Browse button to mount the ISO file

Start the Virtual Machine

Installation

From the Debian Installer Menu we can proceed installation. Select Install.

Select a language :

Select location :

Configure keyboard :

debian netinstall configure the keyboard

Configure the network, on a dhcp network just select your primary network interface :

debian netinstall dhcp network configuration

Configure hostname :

Configure domain :

Set up root password :

Set up user :

Set up user password :

Clock configuration :

Disk configuration :

Configure Package manager :

debian netinstall configure package manager

Configuring popularity-contest :

debian netinstall configuring popularity-contest

Select softwares, I personnaly don't use desktop environment :

But if needed select a Debian desktop environment :

Proceed Installation :

Reboot :

Without desktop environment

With desktop environment

First things to do

After installation, we have some things to do.

Set network configuration

Identify your network interface name :

root@host:~# ip link sh

edit /etc/network/interfaces :

auto ens192
iface ens192 inet static
	address 192.168.1.100
	netwmask 255.255.255.0
	gateway 192.168.1.254
	dns-nameserver 192.168.1.254

Then reboot

root@host:~# systemctl reboot

Install VMware tools

If inside a VMWare virtual machine, install the open-vm-tools to improve performances

root@host:~# apt install open-vm-tools

Computing

Music

Misc