Debian is a Linux distribution that is open-source and free to use. Debian 12 bookworm is the latest version released as of now and is considered the best Debian distribution ever released. Almost 64,419 new packages are included in Debian 12.

VirtualBox is a virtualization tool that is used to install one or more operating systems on your systems without halting your host operating system.VirtualBox is used to install Debian 12 as a virtual operating system.

This article elaborates to download and install Debian 12 on VirtualBox.

How to Download, Install, and Use Debian 12 Bookworm on VirtualBox?

Firstly you need to install Oracle VirtualBox on your system. VirtualBox can be downloaded from the Oracle VirtualBox official link. You can download VirtualBox from this page.

Download the setup file according to your installed operating system. As the file downloads, double-click on the file and install it. The installation wizard will be started, and VirtualBox will be installed.

Hardware Specifications for Installing Debian 12 on VirtualBox

According to the official documentation provided by Debian’s Official Website, your machine must have these Minimum hardware specifications:

• Pentium 4 has a 1GHz Processor.
• 128 MB RAM.
• 2GB Memory Space (Hard Disk)

To install Debian 12 now, follow the steps below:

Downloading Debian 12

Click on the link for downloading the Debian 12 bookworm iso file:

Click on one of the following selected “ISO links”, to download the Debian 12 ISO file. The downloading of the ISO file starts.

Installing Debian 12 On VirtualBox

Open VirtualBox and click on New from the VirtualBox menu:

The “Create Virtual Machine” window will appear:

Provide the Name, i.e. Debian 12 in our case, select the path of the required Debian 12 ISO file, and click on Next:

Provide Username, Password, and Repeat Password. Then click Next:

Assign RAM space, and number of processors, then click Next:

Select “Create a Virtual Hard Disk Now”, assign a minimum of 15GB space, and click Next:

A summary window will appear, showing you a brief description of your virtual machine settings, simply click Finish:

Now that our settings are done, VirtualBox will automatically execute our Debian OS and the installation process begins:

When the installation has been completed the below-depicted lock screen will appear:

Enter the password you provided earlier. The Welcome Screen of Debian 12 will appear once you are authenticated. Debian 12 will ask you to specify your language. Specify your language and click on Next:

Now you can use Debian 12 by clicking on the “Start Using Debian GNU/Linux” Button along with your existing OS:

You can now explore the Operating System, search, and run the built-in apps that Debian 12 provides:

That’s all from Debian 12’s installation on VirtualBox.

Conclusion

Among the many approaches to downloading and installing Debian 12, we used the ISO file integration with VirtualBox. By using VirtualBox we can install different operating systems without disturbing our base operating system. It is easy to implement and install. This article provides a brief explanation and step-by-step procedure to install Debian 12 on VirtualBox.