Installing IceWM on Debian netinstall

Updated: 2022-04-02

This tutorial will help you set up a small footprint (memory and storage) basic GUI solution.

The OS I chose to do this on is Debian 11.

  1. Login as root
su
  1. Install IceWM
apt update
apt install icewm xinit alsa-utils

Note: alsa-utils is optional, but without it, you will have no sound.

  1. Logout from root
exit
  1. Autostart IceWM after non-root user login
nano ~/.bashrc

and paste:

if [[ -z $DISPLAY ]] && [[ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ]]; then
  exec startx
fi
  1. Reboot to see it in action
systemctl reboot

Resources: