This Debian 13 Minimal image provides a fast, uncluttered foundation for building secure, reliable workloads on Microsoft Azure. It includes only the essentials required to boot, connect, and automate—ideal for users who want full control over what runs on their VM.

The image is Azure-ready out of the box with cloud-init for first‑boot customization and the Azure Linux Agent for seamless provisioning and extension management. Because it’s intentionally minimal, you decide exactly which packages, services, and configurations to add, keeping your footprint small and your attack surface tight.

Key features

- Minimal footprint: No desktop environment or extra services—just the core components you need.

- Azure integration: Preinstalled Azure Linux Agent and cloud-init for provisioning, VM extensions, and automation.

- Cloud-optimized kernel: Uses a cloud-ready kernel with drivers optimized for virtualized environments.

- Flexible and fast: Starts quickly and is well suited to scale sets, CI/CD runners, and ephemeral workloads.

- Your packages, your way: Install only what you need from Debian 13 repositories.

Ideal for

- Building container hosts, microservices, and API backends

- CI/CD runners and automation workers

- Dev/test environments and golden image pipelines

- Security-conscious deployments that start from a minimal baseline

What’s included

- Debian 13 Minimal base system

- Azure Linux Agent (WALinuxAgent)

- cloud-init for first-boot configuration and automation

- SSH ready; admin user and SSH keys are set at deployment time

Getting started

1) Deploy the VM via the Azure Portal, CLI, or ARM/Bicep/Terraform.

2) Provide an admin username and SSH public key during deployment.

3) Connect with SSH: ssh

4) Update packages after first login: sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade.

5) Install only the services you need and apply your hardening policies.

Updates and security

- You control updates through standard Debian apt repositories.

- Consider enabling unattended-upgrades for security patches.

- Review and apply your organization’s firewall, SSH, and hardening standards.

Compatibility

- Works with common Azure VM sizes; choose resources appropriate to your workload.

- Supports Azure VM Extensions via the Azure Linux Agent.

- Compatible with VM Scale Sets and automation with cloud-init.

Support and disclaimer

- Important: This image is provided as-is. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Debian Project, and we are not the owners of Debian. We cannot provide operating-system-level support for Debian.

- For OS documentation and community assistance, please refer to the Debian Project resources.

- For Azure infrastructure or billing issues, please use Microsoft Azure Support.

- If you encounter an issue specific to image provisioning on Azure (for example, problems with cloud-init or the Azure agent on first boot), contact the publisher through the Azure Marketplace “Contact” link.

Trademark notice

Debian is a registered trademark of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.