We are talking about the "guest additions", which are a set of drivers for the guest which have to be compiled from source in the guest. Debian's own repository versions of the guest additions can make things simpler, but I'm going to go with the most general case here. The guest additions add accelerated video, a desktop that resizes with the window, and share folders, for instance.
1. Insert the virtual guest additions ISO into the guest, using the VB Devices menu.
2. Make sure you have all you need in Debian to build drivers. The easy way is to install
module-assistant,
then in a terminal as root or with sudo, run
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m-a prepare
3. Navigate to the /media folder. Hopefully, the ISO will be mounted there, and you can enter its folder.
4. Once in the ISO's folder, open a terminal there, and as root or with sudo, run
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sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
The .run file can also be copied to somewhere in your users home folder and the same terminal command run
on it there as root or with sudo. Either way, watch the output for any errors.
5. Reboot the guest, now the magic resizing desktop should be working after you get to a desktop. Depending on
how you set up your virtual machine's video acceleration and the host's video driver, you may have a
better video output available now in VLC and other players; look for something to do with GL.