How to Install KDE Plasma on Debian 12 "Bookworm"

KDE Plasma is a desktop environment built by KDE, it is one of the most popular Desktop environments that you can use on Linux. KDE Plasma uses X11 and Wayland, and it is highly customizable Desktop environment.

There are two methods to download and install KDE Plasma desktop environment on Debian 12 "Bookworm".

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install KDE Plasma on Debian 12 using tasksel and via terminal.

Install KDE Plasma via Terminal

To install KDE Plasma on Debian 12 using terminal, is a quite simple process to do. KDE Plasma can be found on Debian 12 repositories, so you can download and install KDE plasma desktop environment on Debian 12 using the terminal only.

Before installing KDE Plasma, you need to make sure that the package database of your Debian 12 installation is up to date. To do this, run the update command

sudo apt update

Next, proceed to install KDE Plasma desktop environment

sudo apt install kde-plasma-desktop

Install KDE Plasma via Tasksel

Tasksel is a command line app which has a very simple UI that you can use to install KDE Plasma on your machine.

The difference between using tasksel and terminal to install KDE Plasma, is that with tasksel you need only to choose which Desktop environment you want to install, this means you don't need to enter any additional command on terminal.

When using terminal to install KDE Plasma, you need to know the right package name that you need to install, for example KDE Plasma's package name is kde-plasma-desktop. Tasksel is useful when you are unsure of the package that you want to install.

So, to install KDE Plasma via Tasksel, first Launch Tasksel

sudo tasksel

Next, choose "KDE Plasma" and press enter

And you should see the installation window, this means KDE Plasma is being installed on your system.

Use KDE Plasma on Debian 12

Now that KDE Plasma is installed on your machine, you need to logout from your current session, and use KDE Plasma. To do this, on the login screen, click to the gear icon located at top right, and then select "Plasma (wayland)".

Next, login with your credentials, and enjoy KDE Plasma!

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to install KDE Plasma desktop environment on Debian 12 "Bookworm".