Fresh Installation for Debian 13

mahony0 · September 22, 2025, 12:33pm

SYSTEM INFORMATION
OS type and version	Debian 13
Webmin version	2.510
Virtualmin version	7.40.1
Webserver version	None
Related packages	None

I have ordered 2 new servers and installed Debian 13. As currently that is not an A grade supported os, should I wait till it’s officially supported A grade or is that everything just works fine for now?

dwightpro · September 22, 2025, 7:14pm

You may be able to try the pre-release branch; however, considering it’s not a Grade A OS release yet, I don’t think anyone will vouch for it “working just fine for now.”

For a production system, I’d personally stick with Debian 12 until Virtualmin adds Debian 13 to its Grade A Supported OS list, but that’s just me.

mahony0 · September 27, 2025, 8:02am

I got following error while trying to install via installer script (v8.0.0)

▣▣:white_medium_square: Phase 2 of 4: Setup
Downloading Virtualmin 8 key ✘

[ERROR] Something went wrong. Exiting.
[ERROR] The last few log entries were:
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Setting preserve_hostname to true in /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Primary address detected as x.x.x.x
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Adding new entry for hostname sv.domain.com on x.x.x.x to /etc/hosts.
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Installing serial number and license key into ‘/etc/virtualmin-license’
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Operating system name: Debian GNU/Linux
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Operating system version: 13
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Operating system type: debian
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Operating system major: 13
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Configuring package manager for Debian GNU/Linux 13 ..
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] apt-get repos: virtualmin
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [DEBUG] Installing Webmin and Virtualmin package signing keys ..
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [INFO] Spin pid is: 65608
https://software.virtualmin.com/lib/RPM-GPG-KEY-virtualmin-8:
2025-09-27 07:55:45 ERROR 404: Not Found.
[2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [INFO] Downloading Virtualmin 8 key: [2025-09-27 07:55:45 UTC] [INFO] Failed with error: 8

calport · September 27, 2025, 8:28am

We are using Virtualmin 7 with Grade A listed OSs like Debian 12 and get no errors. Is that not the outcome you want?

mahony0 · September 27, 2025, 11:50am

I know but I tried both debian 13 and v8.0.0 of the script and it shows gpg key error. Sooner it will be used as default installer script

ID10T · September 27, 2025, 5:46pm

I went with 11 because 12 just out and I personally couldn’t wait ‘until’. For most of us our servers need to be rock solid STABLE. So, I guess it depends on your particular/personal requirements. Good Luck.

bluetux85 · October 6, 2025, 5:10pm

Debian 13, unstable Virtualmin branch, no errors on install (but firewalld is a must before running the Virtualmin script). After installation and a small change in the BIND configuration (TLS listening), everything works.

ID10T · October 6, 2025, 7:46pm

That’s surprising. I thought the script would install firewalld. What kind of problems did it pose?

mahony0 · October 6, 2025, 8:03pm

Yes, I’ve experienced the same thing on installation process. Actually Ilia and I have shared a bit more about deb 13 and installer script v8.0.0 on this issue

bluetux85 · October 7, 2025, 4:39am

Without firewalld the installation process stops, with the message that there is no firewall.

Shirehosting · October 14, 2025, 1:03am

@Ilia

I know Deb 13 is not yet A grade but we are testing to see how its progressing, the new VM config file has fixed the apache error but saslauthd.service will not start, below might help.

Oct 14 11:43:54 systemd[1]: /usr/lib/systemd/system/saslauthd.service:8: PIDFile= references a path below legacy directory /var/run/, updating /var/run/saslauthd/saslauthd.pid → /run/saslauthd/saslauthd.pid; please update the unit file accordingly.

Thanks
Michael

Ilia · October 14, 2025, 11:33am

The main Virtualmin repos do not have the fully updated Virtualmin Config yet. You should try using the latest installer from our GitHub page with the --branch rc flag.

Shirehosting · October 15, 2025, 1:43am

Ok thanks, Ill let you know tomorrow.

Maciekkk · October 15, 2025, 8:01am

When can we roughly expect a Grade-A Virtualmin release for Debian 13?

Ilia · October 15, 2025, 10:51am

Everything is ready except the landing page for virtualmin.com and a couple of bugs to fix and polish. I plan for @Jamie to release Virtualmin 7.50.0 today or tomorrow. Then, we’ll get feedback, fix any remaining bugs, and we’ll be good to go for Virtualmin 8. Though, our release cycles are slow, so it might take more time than I expect.

Note that you can just spin up a fully working Debian 13 system today from RC repos using the --branch rc flag.

Shirehosting · October 16, 2025, 2:28am

@Ilia

Just a heads up, The install on Deb 13 seems to have gone well with no errors using the rc flag.
However when I tried to restore a back up server I’m getting an error module syslog doesn’t exist, which of course it doesn’t exist.

Thanks
Michael

Ilia · October 16, 2025, 9:06am

This bug should have been fixed upstream weeks ago. We have been too slow in making new releases. Sorry about that!

Do the following:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/virtualmin/virtualmin-install/refs/heads/master/virtualmin-install.sh
sh virtualmin-install.sh -s --branch unstable
apt-get upgrade

Shirehosting · October 16, 2025, 11:48am

Hi Ilia

No problem, I don’t need it today, Not back in the office till Monday now.

I’m just checking before we start any updates, I can wait till it gets released.

Thanks
Michael