Run Multiple Debian VMs with Vagrant and VirtualBox

This guide shows how to set up 3 Debian virtual machines with working vagrant ssh using VirtualBox as the provider. This configuration ensures SSH works reliably on Debian.

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1️⃣ Vagrantfile

Save this as Vagrantfile in your project directory:

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  # Only this Debian box works reliably with Vagrant SSH + VirtualBox
  config.vm.box = "generic/debian12"

  # ========== VM 1 ==========
  config.vm.define "debian1" do |vm|
    vm.vm.hostname = "debian1"
    vm.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.150"

    vm.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
      vb.memory = 1024
      vb.cpus = 1
    end

    # This block is required to be able to SSH into guest machines
    vm.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
      chmod 700 /home/vagrant/.ssh
      chmod 600 /home/vagrant/.ssh/authorized_keys
      chown -R vagrant:vagrant /home/vagrant/.ssh
    SHELL
  end

  # ========== VM 2 ==========
  config.vm.define "debian2" do |vm|
    vm.vm.hostname = "debian2"
    vm.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.151"

    vm.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
      vb.memory = 1024
      vb.cpus = 1
    end

    # This block is required to be able to SSH into guest machines
    vm.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
      chmod 700 /home/vagrant/.ssh
      chmod 600 /home/vagrant/.ssh/authorized_keys
      chown -R vagrant:vagrant /home/vagrant/.ssh
    SHELL
  end

  # ========== VM 3 ==========
  config.vm.define "debian3" do |vm|
    vm.vm.hostname = "debian3"
    vm.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.56.152"

    vm.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
      vb.memory = 1024
      vb.cpus = 1
    end

    # This block is required to be able to SSH into guest machines
    vm.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
      chmod 700 /home/vagrant/.ssh
      chmod 600 /home/vagrant/.ssh/authorized_keys
      chown -R vagrant:vagrant /home/vagrant/.ssh
    SHELL
  end
end

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2️⃣ Usage Instructions

1. Destroy any previous VMs and remove old state:

vagrant destroy -f
rm -rf .vagrant

1. Start all 3 VMs:

vagrant up

1. SSH into each VM:

vagrant ssh debian1
vagrant ssh debian2
vagrant ssh debian3

1. Stop all VMs:

vagrant halt

1. Remove all VMs permanently:

vagrant destroy -f

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3️⃣ Notes

• Use generic/debian12; other boxes (like debian/bookworm64) may leave authorized_keys empty and break SSH.
• The shell provisioner block is essential on Debian to set correct SSH permissions. Without it, vagrant ssh will fail.
• Each VM uses a private network for predictable IPs.
• Works with VirtualBox 7.x and Vagrant AppImage on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

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