I do this many times when I play with VM’s (virtual machines); so I’ve to leave written all I normally do after a Fresh minimal Debian Install
First of all, I’ve not set the apt repositories yet for a quicker install.
$ echo "deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
$ echo "deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
Once you’ve added the url for repositories you can start to install all you need.
$ apt-get update && apt-get -y upgrade
$ dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
$ export LC_ALL="C"
$ dpkg-reconfigure locales -p critical
$ locale-gen
For basics:
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install -y vim vim-scripts mc screen less links curl sudo rsync openssh-server
$ update-alternatives --all (this changes your default editor and more)
Check whether there’s an enabled group in sudoers
$ visudo
Check for the following line, normally enable in Debian.
## Allows people in group wheel to run all commands
%sudo ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
Add your user to this group
$ adduser 'myuser' sudo
Check login with your new user through ssh and sudo something.
If so, you’re done!!
Note: letting sudo without password is dangerous !!
Once here, you’ve to decide if it’s a server or a desktop machine, so you’ll have to choice what you want to install.
Remember to install virtual-machine guest tools!