Tutorial: Installing Debian

Tutorial: Installing Debian

Installing Debian is a pretty straight forward process, it can be confusing at first, but this tutorial should help make it easy. This tutorial will be used as a base for a few other upcoming tutorials. This tutorial assumes you have the requisite knowledge on how to configure a virtual machine and download the Network Installation ISO file from Debian. They can be found here.

Debian Installer Boot Menu
Debian Installer Boot Menu

The above should be the first screen you see when you boot up Debian. You will want to select Install.

Debian Installation Language
Debian Installation Language

Select your language, for this tutorial I have chosen English, then press enter.

Debian Installation Location
Debian Installation Location

Select your location, this will help narrow down the timezone in an upcoming step.

Debian Installation Keyboard Layout
Debian Installation Keyboard Layout

Select the keyboard layout, I choose American English.

Debian Installation Loading Components
Debian Installation Loading Components

This step may take a moment while it loads additional components.

Debian Installation Configure Network Hostname
Debian Installation Configure Network Hostname

Configure the hostname, I choose “CS625-VM03” as this install was being used for one of my classes.

Debian Installation Configure Network Hostname
Debian Installation Configure Network Hostname

Enter the domain name that corresponds to your install, this may be left blank.

Debian Installation Set root Password
Debian Installation Set root Password

Here you select what you would like the root password to be. I suggest something that is mixed characters, letters, numbers, upper and lowercase, symbols, about 10-16 characters.

Debian Installation Confirm root Password
Debian Installation Confirm root Password

You will need to retype the same password to confirm it.

Debian Installation Create User Account
Debian Installation Create User Account

In this step you will create a name for the user account for day to day use. I choose to call my user, “user1”. You are free to set this to something different.

Debian Installation Create User Account
Debian Installation Create User Account

In this step you will create a user account for day to day use. I choose to call my user, “user1”. You are free to set this to something different. Unlike the previous step this is that users, username, so make note of it, you may want to use it later!

Debian Installation Set User Password
Debian Installation Set User Password

Set the password for the user account you are creating. Try to use a secure password, similar to a few steps ago 10-16 characters, etc. You will have to confirm it just as before.

Debian Installation Set Time Zone
Debian Installation Set Time Zone

At this point you will configure the clock, pick the timezone that best suits you.

Debian Installation Partition Disks
Debian Installation Partition Disks

We are going to tell Debian to guide us through partitioning, we will not setup LVM or use encryption.

Debian Installation Partition Disks
Debian Installation Partition Disks

Debian will prompt you which dick you want to partition. This may vary on your setup, I am doing this on a virtual machine with only one disk attached, so there is only one choice. Be careful, as partitioning the wrong disk could have devastation effects!!

Debian Installation Partition Disks
Debian Installation Partition Disks

Debian will prompt you what disk you have selected to partition, verify this is the right disk, then below choose the partitioning scheme, for this tutorial we are choosing all files in one partition.

Debian Installation Write Partition Changes
Debian Installation Write Partition Changes

Debian will go over what you choose in the last two steps and give you an option to undo or proceed, we will select finish partitiong and write changes to disk.

Debian Installation Write Partition Changes
Debian Installation Write Partition Changes

Debian will do its final check with you before writing the changes to the disk, if everything looks good, select yes.

Debian Installation Base Installation
Debian Installation Base Installation

Once the changes are written to the disk it will install the base system.

Debian Installation Package Languages
Debian Installation Package Languages

Select the country you wish to download your packages from, I suggest you pick the location nearest you. In my case the United States, yours may vary.

Debian Installation Package Mirror
Debian Installation Package Mirror

Select the Debian archive mirror, this will vary by location, it is safe to pick one of the first few. I usually choose mirrors.kernel.org if it is available.

Debian Installation Package Download Proxy
Debian Installation Package Download Proxy

If you have to route your traffic through a proxy, you will want to put in that information in the shown format at this step, otherwise leave it blank and select continue.

Debian Installation Configuring Apt
Debian Installation Configuring Apt

Apt will get configured here, this will take a moment.

Debian Installation Select and Install Software
Debian Installation Select and Install Software

Debian will retrieve some files, this will also take a moment.

Debian Installation Submit Statistics
Debian Installation Submit Statistics

Debian will give you the option to share anonymous statistics with Debian, this is a matter of personal preference. If you don’t mind you can share this, if you prefer not to, select no and proceed.

Debian Installation Software Selection
Debian Installation Software Selection

Software selection, for the scope of this tutorial we will just install Graphical desktop enviornment and standard system utilities. We can always add more later, so don’t panic!

Debian Installation
Debian Installation

In this step Debian is now installing, depending on how fast your internet is you can go make a cup of tea or coffee and come back in a little bit.

Debian Installation
Debian Installation

You will notice that at this point Debian has finished downloading, and is now installing.

Debian GRUB Boot Loader Installation
Debian GRUB Boot Loader Installation

Debian will prompt you if you want to install GRUB boot loader, select yes.

Debian Installation Complete
Debian Installation Complete

Debian will prompt you the installation is all done! Select continue.

Debian GRUB Boot Loader
Debian GRUB Boot Loader

It will automatically reboot, you will be shown the boot loader, it will by default select Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-686.

Debian
Debian

If you got this far, Debian is installed! Have fun, and start to experiment!

One thought on “Tutorial: Installing Debian

  1. Boot your computer from the newly-burned disc. Once you mount the .iso file onto a disc, leave the disc in your optical drive and restart the computer. The computer will boot from the disc and take you directly to the Debian installation wizard.

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