If you’ve ever tried installing a full Debian desktop on a VM just to run a small service, you know the pain.
Slow boot, extra packages you never use, and a server that feels more like a heavy workstation than a lean machine.

After a clean minimal install, you get a fast, lightweight Debian 9 server with just what you need: base system tools and SSH.
No desktop, no bloat, all keyboard.

This guide walks through a Debian 9 Minimal Server install using the text installer (TUI), based on a clean setup on VirtualBox.
It’s aimed at people who want a simple, predictable server base for web apps, labs, or small internal services.

What You’ll Need Before Installing

We’re using a VM as the target machine.
You can do this on bare metal too, but for this guide I’ll stick to what’s in the source: VirtualBox with a Debian 9.8 64-bit ISO.

The example setup:
– Hypervisor: VirtualBox
– Guest OS: Debian 9.8 64-bit ISO (DVD image)
– CPU: 1 vCPU
– RAM: 1 GB
– Storage: 500 GB virtual disk
– Network Adapter 1: NAT (for internet via host)
– Network Adapter 2: Host-only (for local access from host / other VMs)
– Host OS: Already connected to the internet

A couple of quick safety notes:
– This guide assumes a blank virtual disk.
Don’t point this VM at a disk with data unless you’re ready to lose it.
– If you try this on real hardware, back up important data before touching partitions.

Booting the Debian 9 Installer (Text Mode)

Once your VM is created and the Debian 9.8 ISO is attached to the virtual optical drive, start the VM.
You’ll land in the Debian GNU/Linux installer boot menu.

From here:
1. Use the arrow keys to select Install (not Graphical install).
2. Press Enter.

This chooses the text-based installer (TUI) where you do everything with the keyboard.
No mouse, no GUI, just simple panels you move through with Tab, arrows, and Enter.

Basic System Setup: Language, Location, Keyboard

The installer starts with some basic questions.
These things look small, but they decide time zones, locales, and key layout.

1. Select a language
2. Leave it on English (default).
3. Press Enter to continue.
4. Select your location
   This is used mainly to set time zone and some regional defaults.
5. Choose other.
6. Then choose Asia.
7. Then choose Indonesia.
8. Press Enter after each selection.
9. Configure locales
10. Leave default: United States – en_US.UTF-8.
11. Continue.
12. Configure the keyboard
13. Use American English.
14. Continue.

At this point, the installer has enough info to handle language, region, and keyboard.
All still in text mode, all keyboard-only.

Network Configuration: Pick the Right NIC

The installer will detect your network interfaces and ask how to configure them.
In this setup we have two NICs in the VM, and we must pick one as the primary.

1. The installer shows Primary network interface selection.
   You’ll see something like:
2. enp0s3
3. enp0s8
4. Choose enp0s3 as the primary interface.
5. In this layout, enp0s3 is the VirtualBox NAT adapter.
6. It will get an IP via DHCP and has internet access through the host.
7. enp0s8 will later be used for host-only access from your host OS or other VMs.
8. Let the installer auto-configure networking via DHCP on enp0s3.

Then the installer will ask you for a hostname:

1. Hostname
2. Enter: srv.debian.lan
3. This will be the machine’s network name on your LAN or internal lab.
4. Press Enter.

No domain details beyond that are specified in the source, so we stop there.

Users and Passwords: Root and Regular User

Next, Debian needs credentials.
You’re setting up both root and a regular user.

1. Root password
2. Enter a strong password for root.
3. Re-enter to confirm.
4. Root is the superuser, so don’t make this 123456.
5. Full name for the new user
6. Type the real name of the user (the article just notes “Masukkan nama pemilik user baru”).
7. This is just a label, not the login.
8. Username for your account
9. Enter a short, lowercase username (e.g., admin, musa, etc.).
10. User password
11. Set the password for this new user.
12. Re-type it to confirm.

This gives you:
– Root account (direct admin)
– A normal user account (for daily use and SSH)

Time Zone and Disk Partitioning (Manual)

Now the installer moves to clock and storage.
We’ll stick with what’s actually in the source.

1. Time zone
   The installer will ask: Select a city in your time zone.
2. Choose the city that fits your region in Indonesia.
3. Press Enter.
4. Partition disks
   The article mentions manual disk partitioning, but doesn’t go into detail.
   So we only know: disk partitioning is done manually, on a 500 GB virtual disk.

Since we can’t invent exact partition layouts that aren’t described, the safe summary is:
– You’ll be in the disk partitioning screen.
– Choose Manual.
– Work with the 500 GB virtual disk.
– Save your changes when done.

If you’re doing this in your own lab and not on a shared or important disk, this is pretty safe.
On real hardware, always double-check the disk you select.

Package Selection: Minimal Server with SSH

The key difference from a desktop install here is: this is a minimal server, no desktop environment.
The article states:
– No GNOME or other desktop environment (unlike Debian Desktop).
– Only standard system utilities and SSH server are installed.

During Debian’s task selection phase, this roughly means:
– Do not select GNOME or any desktop environment.
– Make sure standard system utilities is selected.
– Make sure SSH server is selected.

Result after installation:
– You’ll have a text-only system.
– SSH will be running so you can remote in from your host/other machines.
– You won’t waste RAM and CPU on a GUI.

After Install: What You End Up With

When the installer finishes, you’ll reboot into a clean Debian 9 server.
No desktop, just a login prompt.

From the article’s setup, this server has:
– Debian 9 Minimal with only basic system utilities
– SSH server installed for remote access
– 2 network interfaces configured at the OS level (one NAT, one host-only)
– Root and one regular user account

This is a nice base for:
– Running it as a lab server
– Adding web server packages (e.g., later via apt)
– Learning Linux server management without GUI distractions

Before you do anything big on it (production use, data storage, etc.), consider:
– Taking a VirtualBox snapshot so you can roll back easily
– Keeping track of what you change (commands, configs) so you can repeat on another VM

Wrap Up

We went from “heavy desktop on a VM just to run a service” to a clean Debian 9 Minimal Server using the keyboard-only installer.
Text-based install, manual partitioning, no GUI, only the essentials plus SSH.

Now you’ve got a lean box ready for whatever stack you want to build next.
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