How to install DietPi¶

Introduction¶

Single board computers (SBCs) based on the well known Raspberry PI ARM based architecture gained more and more friends in the last years. The low cost in combination with the power and hardware flexibility makes these SBCs optimal for embedded systems, like e.g. home automation or cloud applications.

Prerequisites¶

To follow this tutorial, you will need the next hardware list:

• A Raspberry Pi, Odroid or other SBC - open the list of all supported SBC
• An SD card, USB flash drive or eMMC of at least 4 GiB size, and a way to write it
• Optional: Ethernet (network) cable

Note: Following this guide you could run the installation directly from a console via keyboard and screen, via SSH client or serial console.

1. Download and extract the DietPi disk image¶

Open dietpi.com, select your SBC and click on Download. The disk image will be downloaded locally.

Example:

Unzip the downloaded file to a local folder.

It is xz-compressed so you will need to install either 7zip for Windows or The Unarchiver (Macintosh). Both are free of charge and have been tested to decompress the image correctly.

Linux users will need to download and install xz-utils.

sudo apt install xz-utils

xz -d DietPi-Image.img.xz

2. Flash the DietPi image¶

At first, download and install balenaEtcher. This application flashes OS images to SD cards and USB drives, safely and easily on Windows, macOS, Linux.

Start balenaEtcher and make sure you have your drive or SD card inserted into your computer. Locate and select the DietPi image.

Next, ensure that the selected device is the correct one.

Once you have confirmed all the details are correct, proceed to flash the SD card. This process may take a while.

3. Prepare the first boot¶

Remove the drive resp. SD card from the PC and insert it into your SBC device, preparing to boot for the first time.
Power on the SBC to login and execute the first boot procedure.

Introduction

Virtual machine images are great for those occasions where you want to set up a DietPi system very quickly and test things. Also it may be used as a Debian based Linux system with a small footprint for development purposes, e.g. with the X11 window system. The small footprint makes it optimally usable on PCs without a huge built in RAM. Also several VMs may be run for different applications.

One big advantage of such a VM is that it needs only a couple of minutes coming to a running DietPi system.

One of the options of a virtual machine is Oracle VirtualBox.

Prerequisites

As a starting point you need a PC with a running VirtualBox software on which the DietPi system will run.
On this PC a free harddisk space of about

• 1.2 GiB for a minimal running system
• 5 - 10 GiB for a typical running system with X11

is needed. A recommended size is at least a free space of 10 GiB.

1. Download and extract the DietPi disk image

Download the DietPi VirtualBox image from dietpi.com and decompress the downloaded file to a local folder. It is xz-compressed so you will need to install either 7zip for Windows or an alternative tools.

The .ova file has to be imported into VirtualBox.

2. Import of the .ova file in VirtualBox

As next, the VirtualBox virtual machine has to be setup by importing the .ova file (via \File\Import Appliance):

In the following dialog the user has to choose the .ova file which shall be imported.

Keep the settings in the next dialog and klick “Import”.

After the importing has finished the DietPi VirtualBox virtual machine is present:

3. First boot of the new VirtualBox image

Press the start button (green arrow) to ‘boot up’ your system based on the DietPi image.

Introduction

Virtual machine images are great for those occasions where you want to set up a DietPi system very quickly and test things. Also it may be used as a Debian based Linux system with a small footprint for development purposes, e.g. with the X11 window system. The small footprint makes it optimally usable on PCs without a huge built in RAM. Also several VMs may be run for different applications.

One big advantage of such a VM is that it needs only a couple of minutes coming to a running DietPi system.

One of the options of a virtual machine is VMware Workstation Player resp. VMware Fusion (macOS).

Prerequisites

As a starting point you need a PC with a running VMware Workstation Player software on which the DietPi system will run.
On this PC a free harddisk space of about

• 3 GiB for a minimal running system (1.5 GiB in switched off state)
• 5 - 10 GiB for a typical running system with X11

is needed. A recommended size is at least a free space of 10 GiB.

1. Download and extract the DietPi disk image

Download the DietPi VMware image from dietpi.com and decompress the downloaded file to a local folder. It is xz-compressed so you will need to install either 7zip for Windows or an alternative tools.

The archive contains two files: .vmx and .vmdk which have to be copied to a VMware machine folder (The folder can be located anywhere on the PCs harddisk).

2. Add the files in VMware

As next, the VMware virtual machine is setup by just opening the .vmx file (via Open a Virtual Machine):

In the following dialog the user has to navigate to the directory where the .vmx and .vmdk files were stored. Choose the .vmx file to open.
After this the DietPi VMware virtual machine is present and can be started:

3. First boot of the new VMware image

Press the Play virtual machine (green arrow) to ‘boot up’ your system based on the DietPi image. Possibly you have to acknowledge in an appearing dialog “I Copied it” and go on. If you want to use a WiFi connection you have to change the network settings matching your environment (files \boot\dietpi.txt and \boot\dietpi-wifi.txt).

Additional information

For information about running DietPi in an VMware ESXi environment, you can read this article: Running the DietPi VMware image on ESXi 6.7.

Introduction

Virtual machine images are great for those occasions where you want to set up a DietPi system very quickly and test things. Also it may be used as a Debian based Linux system with a small footprint for development purposes, e.g. with the X11 window system. The small footprint makes it optimally usable on PCs without a huge built in RAM. Also several VMs may be run for different applications.

One big advantage of such a VM is that it needs only a couple of minutes coming to a running DietPi system.

One of the options of a virtual machine appliance server is the freely available VMware vSphere Hypervisor which contains the VMware ESXi Hypervisor.

Prerequisites

As a starting point you need a PC with a running VMware ESXi Hypervisor software on which the DietPi system will run.

1. Download and extract the DietPi appliance image

Download the DietPi ESXi appliance image from dietpi.com and decompress the downloaded file to a local folder. It is xz-compressed so you will need to install either 7zip for Windows or an alternative tools.

The resulting DietPi_ESXi-x86_64-Bookworm.ova has to be uploaded to the ESXi server.

2. Create the Virtual Machine

The first step is to select the Virtual Machine management tab on the left to create the DietPi VM:

As next, enter the following in the VM creation dialog:

1. Tab Select creation type: Choose Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file. Then click Next.

2. Tab Select OVF and VMDK files: Enter the name of your VM and drop or select the decompressed .ova file. Then click Next.

   

3. Tab Select storage: Choose the location where the VM shall reside. Then click Next.

4. Tab Deployment options: Set options according to your preferences and click Next.
5. Tab Ready to complete: Check dialog and click Finish.

3. First boot of the new VMware image

Depending on your settings the VM automatically starts up and is shown in the VM management dialog. Otherwise click on the VM name.

You can open a console of your VM just by clicking on the small VM screen output to open a console window. Klick into the new console window to redirect your keyboard to this console.

apt install open-vm-tools

Another article with DietPi install and setup instructions on vSphere has been published by virtualizationhowto.com: https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2023/09/dietpi-tiny-os-for-home-server-self-hosting/

Introduction

Virtual machine images are great for those occasions where you want to set up a DietPi system very quickly and test things. Also it may be used as a Debian based Linux system with a small footprint for development purposes, e.g. with the X11 window system. The small footprint makes it optimally usable on PCs without a huge built in RAM. Also several VMs may be run for different applications.

One big advantage of such a VM is that it needs only a couple of minutes coming to a running DietPi system.

One of the options to run and manage virtual machines is Proxmox.

Prerequisites

Proxmox runs on any x86_64 system. ISO images for the Virtual Environment server can be found here: https://www.proxmox.com/de/downloads/category/iso-images-pve
Aside of the Proxmox server’s system requirements, a DietPi VM additionally requires:

• 1.2 GiB for a minimal DietPi system
• 5 - 10 GiB for a typical running system with X11

1. Generate a new Proxmox VM

1. Access the Proxmox web interface via HTTPS on TCP port 8006:
   • URL: https://<your.IP>:8006
   • Username: root
   • Password: <root user password you entered during Proxmox VE install>

2. Tab General: Select the Create VM button at the top right corner. Choose a Node , a VM ID and a Name, then click Next.

   

   Remember the VM ID, you need it later.

3. Tab OS: Select “Do not use any media “, for the Guest OS assure that Linux and version “6.x - 2.6 Kernel” is selected, then click Next.

4. Tab System: As Machine you can select q35, but the older default will work as well. We recommend the para-virtualised VirtIO SCSI controller, which should be the default. Click Next.
5. Tab Disks: Delete the default scsi0 disk with the red trash bin button, then click Next.
6. Tab CPU: Adjust CPU details as required, we recommend to use the default kvm64 type. Then click Next.

7. Tab Memory: While DietPi runs with less, depending on the software you want to install and run within the VM, we recommend at least 1024 MiB memory size, 2048 MiB allows the DietPi system to setup itself without a swap file by default. When done, click Next.

   Dynamic memory allocation via ballooning device

   The ballooning device allows Proxmox to dynamically allocate memory from the host system based on actual memory usage within the VM. I.e. you are able to run VMs with a higher overall memory size than the host system has, as long as all VMs do not fully use their memory at the same time.

8. Tab Network: Using a network bridge allows the VM to show up as dedicated system in your LAN, which simplifies SSH and network application access. We recommend to use the default para-virtualised VirtIO adapter model. When done, click Next.

9. Tab Confirm: Start the VM creation by clicking Finish.

2. Download, extract and import the DietPi image

1. Select the Proxmox node, then click the Shell button at the top right corner. Alternatively connect via SSH to the Proxmox server, using the same login credentials you used for the Proxmox web interface.

2. In the console window, enter the following commands to download the DietPi image, optionally check its integrity, decompress it via xz, import it as disk to your new VM (using the VM ID you chose during creation) and make it the boot drive.
   If not done yet, we recommend to upgrade all APT packages to the latest version.

   apt update
   apt full-upgrade
   apt install xz-utils
   curl -O https://dietpi.com/downloads/images/DietPi_Proxmox-x86_64-Bookworm.qcow2.xz
   sha256sum -c <(curl -sSf 'https://dietpi.com/downloads/images/DietPi_Proxmox-x86_64-Bookworm.qcow2.xz.sha256')
   xz -d DietPi_Proxmox-x86_64-Bookworm.qcow2.xz
   

   Next, the disk image is imported.
   Note: Replace 100 below with the VM ID entered during VM creation.

   ID=100
   qm importdisk "$ID" DietPi_Proxmox-x86_64-Bookworm.qcow2 local-lvm
   qm set "$ID" --scsi0 "local-lvm:vm-$ID-disk-0"
   qm set "$ID" --boot order=scsi0
   

The VM can now be started, select it via left side navigation of the Proxmox web interface, then the Start button at the top right side, finally the Console button to watch and finish the DietPi first run setup.
Alternatively you can connect to the VM via SSH, after giving it some time to finish initial setup steps and obtaining its IP with your router or IP scanner.

Introduction

Virtual machine images are great for those occasions where you want to set up a DietPi system very quickly and test things. Also it may be used as a Debian based Linux system with a small footprint for development purposes, e.g. with the X11 window system. The small footprint makes it optimally usable on PCs without a huge built in RAM. Also several VMs may be run for different applications.

One big advantage of such a VM is that it needs only a couple of minutes coming to a running DietPi system.

One of the options of a virtual machine is Parallels Desktop.

Prerequisites

As a starting point you can use an Apple Mac with a running Parallels Desktop software on which the DietPi system will run (x86 system, e.g. Mac mini 2011/2012/2014/2018).
On this Mac a free harddisk space of about

• 1.2 GiB for a minimal running system
• 5 - 10 GiB for a typical running system with X11

is needed. A recommended size is at least a free space of 10 GiB.

1. Download and extract the DietPi disk image

Download the DietPi Parallels image from dietpi.com.

Double click on the downloaded tar.xz file to extract it (or via option “Open in Finder”).

2. Import and start the virtual machine in Parallels Desktop

Double click on the extracted .vmx file, which will open a Parallels dialogue to import it as virtual machine and starts it right away after the import.

Introduction

Virtual machine images are great for those occasions where you want to set up a DietPi system very quickly and test things. Also it may be used as a Debian based Linux system with a small footprint for development purposes, e.g. with the X11 window system. The small footprint makes it optimally usable on PCs without a huge built in RAM. Also several VMs may be run for different applications.

One big advantage of such a VM is that it needs only a couple of minutes coming to a running DietPi system.

One of the options of a virtual machine is UTM.

Prerequisites

As a starting point you can use an Apple Mac with macOS 11 Big Sur or higher running the UTM software (x86 system, e.g. Mac mini 2011/2012/2014/2018 as well as M1 Apple silicon).
On this Mac a free harddisk space of about

• 1.2 GiB for a minimal running system
• 5 - 10 GiB for a typical running system with X11

is needed. A recommended size is at least a free space of 10 GiB.

1. Download and extract the DietPi disk image

Download the DietPi UTM image from dietpi.com.

Double click on the downloaded file to decompress it (or via option “Open in Finder”). Copy/Move the contained .utm file to the UTM virtual machine directory. This is typically located within the (hidden) user subdirectory .../Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/Data/Documents.

2. Import the virtual machine in UTM

As next, start resp. restart the UTM program. The imported DietPi virtual machine should be visible there.

Then select the imported machine to start it up.

Introduction

Virtual machine images are great for those occasions where you want to set up a DietPi system very quickly and test things. Also it may be used as a Debian based Linux system with a small footprint for development purposes, e.g. with the X11 window system. The small footprint makes it optimally usable on PCs without a huge built in RAM. Also several VMs may be run for different applications.

One big advantage of such a VM is that it needs only a couple of minutes coming to a running DietPi system.

One of the options of a virtual machine is Microsoft Hyper-V.

Prerequisites

As a starting point you need a PC with a activated Hyper-V on which the DietPi system will run.

On this PC a free harddisk space of about

• 3 GiB for a minimal running system (1.5 GiB in switched off state)
• 8 - 10 GiB for a typical running system with X11

is needed. A recommended size is at least a free space of 10 GiB.

1. Download and extract the DietPi disk image

Download the DietPi Hyper-V image from dietpi.com and decompress the downloaded file to a local folder. It is xz-compressed so you will need to install either 7zip for Windows or an alternative tools.

Move the .vhdx file to the desired virtual machine folder on your harddisk.

2. Add a Hyper-V virtual machine

Next, a Hyper-V machine needs to be created. Start the Hyper-V-Manager, right click on your PCs node in the left tree and open the dialog wizard for the machine generation (“New” -> “Virtual Machine”):

In the following wizard you have to set the following:

1. Give your machine a name (“Specify Name and Location”)
2. Select the Hyper-V Generation: Select Generation 1 (“Specify Generation”)
3. Choose your RAM size (e.g. 2048 MB)
4. If you have already configured a network, select your network. Otherwise let it “Not connected” and change it afterwards
5. Choose to use the decompressed .vhdx Hyper-V disk file (see above)

If you have not set up any network connection, go on with the Virtual Switch Manager and add a network. Select that network in your virtual machine settings afterwards.

3. First boot of the new Hyper-V machine

First, click on Connect to open a window of the virtual machine:

Then press Start to boot up the machine:

After this, your machine should boot up.

Additional information / troubleshooting

Network connection not found

In the case that you did not setup your network configuration properly, the booting procedure will not find a network connection and may respond with this boot console output:

Then you have to check and repair your network configuration within the Virtual Switch Manager.

Generate a Hyper-V Generation 2 machine

An option to get a Hyper-V Generation 2 machine is to generate your own Hyper-V image via a Debian network installation (booting the Hyper-V machine from a Debian netinst.iso installer like you would do it on a PC). Install a minimal Debian machine (i.e. no X11 desktops, etc.). Afterwards run the procedure described in section “Make your own distribution”. Generation 2 machines support (and require) to boot in UEFI mode, support Secure Boot, TPM, use modern SCSI controllers and have higher hardware limits. For use as a home server, however, you will not need any of these functions.

Introduction

The Native PC images are great for those occasions where SBC performance is just not enough, or where you require an x86_64 system. It also works great with small Thin Clients, affordable little x86 machines, settled somewhere between SBCs and desktop PCs.

It could be also a great way to make use of an old computer that’s not capable of running the latest version of Windows or macOS.