Date Created: 2025-01-01
By: 16BitMiker
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If you're spinning up Debian 12 virtual machines frequently and want a lightweight, ready-to-go desktop with auto-login, this script has you covered. It automates the installation of the LXQt desktop environment, configures the SDDM display manager, and enables automatic login — all in one go. Let's walk through how it works and why this setup can be a great choice for development, testing, or kiosk-style deployments.

🏔️ LXQt is a lightweight, Qt-based desktop environment that’s ideal for virtual machines or low-resource systems. It’s fast, customizable, and doesn't get in your way.

🔄 Auto-login is useful for:

VM environments where the same user is always active
Developer testbeds
Kiosks or appliances
Streamlining the boot-to-desktop experience

This script is designed to be non-interactive and idempotent — making it safe to run in provisioning tools like Vagrant or cloud-init.

📦 The Complete Script


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#!/bin/bash

# Enable safe shell scripting practices:
# -e: Exit on error
# -u: Treat unset variables as errors
# -x: Print commands before executing
# -o pipefail: Return the status of the last failed command in a pipeline
set -euxo pipefail

# Export environment variable so Perl doesn't prompt during installation
export PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1

# Ensure Perl is installed silently
DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1 sudo apt-get -y \
  -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" \
  -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" install perl

# Perl wrapper script for colored output and execution control:
perl -MTerm::ANSIColor=':constants' -nlE '

    # Skip blank lines and comments
    next if m~^$|^\#~;

    # Print the command in green
    say q|> |, GREEN $_, RESET "";

    # Execute the command
    system $_;

    # If the system call fails, print the error in red
    if ($? != 0)
    {
        warn q|> |, RED qq|Failure Detected: |, RESET qq|$!\n|;
    }

    # At the end of the script, print a success message
    END
    {
        say q|> |, GREEN q|All Done! Bye bye :)|, RESET "";
    }

' <<EOF
# Update package list and upgrade all packages
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get update
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y upgrade

# Install LXQt desktop and required tools
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y install \
  task-lxqt-desktop sddm software-properties-common apt-transport-https \
  ca-certificates curl gnupg2

# Install extra LXQt utilities and core apps
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y install \
  lxqt-themes lxqt-config pavucontrol-qt firefox-esr mousepad

# Create SDDM configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/sddm.conf.d

# Write autologin configuration:
# Session: lxqt.desktop
# User: current user (resolved via whoami)
sudo bash -c 'echo "[Autologin]" > /etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf'
sudo bash -c 'echo "User=$(whoami)" >> /etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf'
sudo bash -c 'echo "Session=lxqt.desktop" >> /etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf'
sudo chmod 600 /etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf

# Set SDDM as the default display manager
sudo bash -c 'echo "/usr/bin/sddm" > /etc/X11/default-display-manager && \
  DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive dpkg-reconfigure sddm'

# Clean up unused packages and apt cache
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y autoremove
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get clean
EOF

🧠 Deep Dive: How It Works

✅ Perl for Readability and Control

The embedded Perl block is more than aesthetic:

🟢 It colorizes commands being executed (GREEN)
🔴 Flags errors clearly if a command fails (RED)
📋 Skips comments and empty lines to keep logs clean
👋 Ends with a friendly status message

This makes the script ideal for CI logs or remote provisioning where quick visual parsing is helpful.

✅ SDDM Configuration

The script creates a dedicated config snippet at /etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf with:


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[Autologin]
User=yourusername
Session=lxqt.desktop

This approach respects Debian’s modular SDDM config structure and avoids editing system-wide monolithic files. Using chmod 600 ensures only root can view or modify the file — a solid security practice.

✅ Display Manager Switching

Instead of prompting the user during install (which can break automation), the script directly sets SDDM as the default display manager and reconfigures it with:


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echo "/usr/bin/sddm" > /etc/X11/default-display-manager
dpkg-reconfigure sddm

This guarantees LXQt boots into the correct session automatically, even if other display managers are installed.

▶️ Usage Instructions

Save the script as debian-lxqt-setup.sh
Make it executable:


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chmod +x debian-lxqt-setup.sh

Run it:


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sudo ./debian-lxqt-setup.sh

⏳ Depending on your network and VM specs, installation will take a few minutes.

👥 Who Is This For?

This script is ideal for:

Developers spinning up disposable VMs
Retrocomputing fans using LXQt for lightweight DEs
System integrators building kiosk or appliance images
CI/CD pipelines that require a GUI base layer

✅ Final Thoughts

This script provides a clean, reliable way to bootstrap a Debian 12 LXQt system with auto-login. It’s designed for automation, but still human-friendly — with color-coded logs and clear failure handling. Whether you're building a dev environment or a minimal GUI server, it saves time and ensures consistency.

📚 Read More

Happy hacking! 🎛️

👀 Debian 12 LXQt Auto-Login Setup Script

📋 Why LXQt + Auto-Login?