Hello World,
Today, this post will provide step by step instructions on how to install Debian 10 Operating system on your computer. Some readers have been requesting to tweak our xrdp-installer script in order to have it running against Debian Distribution. So, obviously, before trying to install xRDP, we need to install Debian first. This post will describe how we have performed our Debian installation.
Let’s go…… 🙂
Overview
Debian is probably one of the oldest distribution around but offers great stability. Debian serve as base for creating popular other Linux Operating system such as Ubuntu and derivatives. Our focus is usually Ubuntu (and derivatives) Operating system and we have to admit we do not have much experience with Debian. This is why this post has been created and should been seen a reference guide for our debian installation guide.
Step by Step Installation Guide
Assumptions
In order to successfully perform the installation, we have assumed the following
- your machine is connected to internet
- you have downloaded the latest stable version of Debian from this location and you have downloaded only DVD1 iso file
- Debian OS will be installed on a virtual machine. If you are installing on a physical machine, create a bootable device from the download iso file and ensure that your machine is configured to boot from the created device (DVD, USB, PXE…)
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Installation Process
We have attached the Debian DVD1 iso file to our virtual machine. We have ensured that the machine will boot from cd/dvd and we have started our virtual machine. If everything is configured accordingly, you will be prompted with the Debian Installer menu. We have chosen the option Graphical Install and press enter to proceed with installation
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The Installation wizard will start. In the Select a language page, we have chosen English. Select accordingly your language settings and press continue when done.
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In the select your location page, select your country. If you do not see your country, click on other and Press continue.
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As I’m currently located in Belgium, I will select the option Europe and Press Continue. (Adapt the settings based on your needs !!!)
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In the list of Country, select yours accordingly. In my case, I would select Belgium and Press Continue
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In the configure Locale page, select your option and Press Continue.
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In the configure keyboard page, select the keyboard layout you need to use and Press Continue
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Wait for the load installer progress to complete
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In the configure network page, specify the computer name you want to set and Press Continue
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In the configure network page, specify the domain name you want to use and Press Continue
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In the set up users and password page, you have to be careful. The first part of the wizard is targeting the root account.
Please read carefully the information provided.
In our setup process, we have not provided any password for the root account which means that the root account will be disabled. We have chosen for this approach as this is security best practice (do not use root account on your system).
So, leave the password field blank and press Continue
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In the next page “Set up users and passwords” page, you can create a new user. Since we have not enabled the root account, this account will be granted the sudo rights….
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In the next page of the Wizard, you will be able to assign a password for the user account you have just created. Select a Password, confirm it and Press Continue
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In the Partition Disk Page, Select the Guided mode and Press Continue
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In the next page, select the disk to be partition and Press Continue
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In the next page, select the option “all files in one partition” and Press Continue
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In the next Page, review the settings and Press Continue
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In the next page of the partition disk wizard, ensure that you select the yes option and write the changes to the disk. Press Continue
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The install base page will be displayed. Wait for the process to complete
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In the Configure package manager page, Select No, do not scan for additional CD or DVD. Press Continue
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In the Configure package manager page, ensure that you select yes when asked to use network mirror. Press Continue
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In the Debian archive country Wizard page, select the country that most fit your needs and Press Continue
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In the Debian archive mirror wizard page, select the url that most fits your needs and location. The list you will see will vary based on your Country selection. Press Continue
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In the proxy settings page, specify your setting accordingly. Press Continue
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The Wizard will start installation activities. Wait for process to complete… Press Continue when ready
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In the Configure Popularity-contest page, select your option accordingly and Press Continue
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In the Software selection page, select the Desktop interface you would like to use with Debian.
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Note :
In our specific scenario, we will select the MATE Desktop interface as this will be used in the next post about installing xrdp software package on Debian Operating system
The select and Install Software Progress bar page will be displayed. Wait for completion
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In the Grub configuration Wizard Page, ensure to select to install the grub on the master record boot and Press Continue
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In the “Install Grub boot loader” Wizard page, select the disk presented in the page and Press Continue
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In the Finish installation page, read and review the displayed information. Ensure that you have removed the installation media and Press Continue to reboot
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At reboot, and if everything went fine, you should see the Grub menu. After 5s, the system will boot automatically to the operating system.
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Finally, you have reached the login screen of Debian and now you can login with the user account and password you have created during the wizard.
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Login into your Debian system
Since we have selected the MATE Desktop interface, our Desktop environment will look like the following (see screenshot below). This is the default theme. Obviously, you can customize it as required. We have configured our system with the Dark theme….
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Grant sudo rights to users
Let’s assume that you have inadvertently enabled the root account during the installation process. When you will be login in with the standard account and you want to run sudo commands, you will be informed that you have no sudo rights !!!
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To fix this, you will need to grant sudo rights to your user and logoff/logon again to have the change applied accordingly. So, to grant the sudo access, you have to type from command line
su -
You will be prompted for a password… Enter the root password (you have created during the install process)
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If everything is ok, you are now running command under the root account. To grant the standard user account sudo right, you have to issue the following command
usermod -aG sudo <%name of the user to be granted the right %
example usermod -aG sudo griffon
Important :
You will have to logoff/logon with the specified user account in order to be granted the sudo rights !!! After logout/login into Debian, open a Terminal console and try a sudo command (i.e. sudo nano) to ensure that you have the sudo rights
Final Notes
This is it for this post !
Debian installer wizard is not too difficult but you have to really pay attention to details when you select your option. Moreover, the Debian installer is quite long to go through compared to Ubuntu Installation wizard where a limited number of questions are asked. At this stage, we have a running instance of Debian 10 with MATE Desktop interface running. We are ready to “fork” our famous xrdp-installer script and adapt it to make it run against Debian operating system.
At this stage, we have decided to fork it because it would have been easier for us to adapt the script. In the near future, it might be possible that we will be merging the original script and the debian fork into a single script… We shall see
So, in the next post, we will tackle the xrdp installation on Debian Operating systems
Stay Tuned
Till next time
See ya