We’re going to use an old HP micro PC as a home server. This guide walks through the entire process: preparing your hardware, installing Debian, creating a superuser account, and configuring SSH.

What You’ll Need

1. A USB Drive — at least 4GB (8GB recommended)
2. An Old Computer or Laptop — at least 2GB of RAM and sufficient storage
3. Debian ISO — download from debian.org
4. Bootable USB Tool — Rufus (Windows), Balena Etcher (macOS), or dd (Linux)

Step 1: Create a Bootable USB Drive

Windows (Rufus)

1. Download and open Rufus
2. Select your USB drive from the Device dropdown
3. Click SELECT and choose the Debian ISO
4. Set Partition Scheme to GPT (UEFI) or MBR (BIOS)
5. Set File System to FAT32
6. Click START and confirm

macOS (Balena Etcher)

1. Download and open Etcher
2. Click Flash from file → select the Debian ISO
3. Click Select target → pick your USB drive
4. Click Flash!

Linux (dd)

# Identify your USB drive
lsblk

# Unmount if needed
sudo umount /dev/sdX1

# Write the ISO
sudo dd if=/path/to/debian.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress

Step 2: Install Debian

1. Insert the USB, enter BIOS/UEFI, and set the USB as the primary boot device
2. Follow the installer prompts:
   • Language and network configuration
   • Guided partitioning
   • Create a root password and regular user account
3. Reboot into your new Debian system

Step 3: Create a Superuser

# Create a new user
sudo adduser newusername

# Create the wheel group if it doesn't exist
sudo groupadd wheel

# Add the user to the wheel group
sudo usermod -aG wheel newusername

# Edit sudoers to allow the wheel group
sudo visudo
# Add this line:
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

# Verify
groups newusername

Step 4: Install and Configure SSH

# Install OpenSSH
sudo apt update
sudo apt install openssh-server

# Check the service
sudo systemctl status ssh
sudo systemctl start ssh

# Edit the config
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# Ensure this line is present:
# HostKeyAlgorithms ssh-rsa,ssh-ed25519

# Restart SSH
sudo systemctl restart ssh

# Verify fingerprints use SHA-256
ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub

Your Debian home server is ready. You’ve got a superuser account with elevated privileges and SSH configured with SHA-256 fingerprints for secure access.

Last modified on 2025-03-13