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== Introduction ==
{{#pvedocs:pve-installation-plain.html}}
 
[[Category:Reference Documentation]]
Proxmox VE installs the complete operating system and management tools in 3 to 5 minutes (depending on the hardware used).  
<pvehide>
 
Proxmox VE is based on Debian. This is why the install disk images (ISO files)
Including the following:
provided by Proxmox include a complete Debian system as well as all necessary
 
Proxmox VE packages.
*Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)
See the support table in the FAQ for the
*Partition the hard drive with ext4 (alternative ext3 or xfs) or ZFS
relationship between Proxmox VE releases and Debian releases.
*[[Proxmox VE Kernel]] with LXC and KVM support
The installer will guide you through the setup, allowing you to partition the
*Complete toolset
local disk(s), apply basic system configurations (for example, timezone,
*Web based management interface
language, network) and install all required packages. This process should not
 
take more than a few minutes. Installing with the provided ISO is the
Please note, by default the complete server is used and all existing data is removed.  
recommended method for new and existing users.
 
Alternatively, Proxmox VE can be installed on top of an existing Debian system. This
If you want to set custom options for the installer, or need to debug the installation process on your server, you can use some
option is only recommended for advanced users because detailed knowledge about
[[Debugging_Installation|special boot options]].
Proxmox VE is required.
 
Using the Proxmox VE Installer
=== Video tutorials ===
The installer ISO image includes the following:
 
Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)
*List of all official tutorials on our [http://www.youtube.com/proxmoxve Proxmox VE YouTube Channel]
The Proxmox VE installer, which partitions the local disk(s) with ext4, XFS,
*Tutorials in Spanish language on [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUULBIhA5QDBdNf1pcTZ5UXhek63Fij8z ITexperts.es YouTube Play List]
  BTRFS (technology preview), or ZFS and installs the operating system
 
Proxmox VE Linux kernel with KVM and LXC support
== System requirements ==
Complete toolset for administering virtual machines, containers, the host
 
  system, clusters and all necessary resources
For production servers, high quality server equipment is needed. Keep in mind, if you run 10 Virtual Servers on one machine and you then experience a hardware failure, 10 services are lost. Proxmox VE supports clustering, this means that multiple Proxmox VE installations can be centrally managed thanks to the included cluster functionality.
Web-based management interface
 
All existing data on the selected drives will be removed during the
Proxmox VE can use local storage (DAS), SAN, NAS and also distributed storage (Ceph RBD). For details see [[Storage Model]]
installation process. The installer does not add boot menu entries for other
 
operating systems.
=== Minimum requirements, for evaluation ===
Please insert the prepared installation media
 
(for example, USB flash drive or CD-ROM) and boot from it.
*CPU: 64bit (Intel EMT64 or AMD64), [[FAQ#Supported_CPU_chips|Intel VT/AMD-V capable CPU]]/Mainboard (for KVM Full Virtualization support)
Make sure that booting from the installation medium (for example, USB) is
*RAM: 1 GB RAM
enabled in your server&#8217;s firmware settings. Secure boot needs to be disabled
*Hard drive
when booting an installer prior to Proxmox VE version 8.1.
*One NIC
After choosing the correct entry (for example, Boot from USB) the Proxmox VE menu
 
will be displayed, and one of the following options can be selected:
=== Recommended system requirements ===
Install Proxmox VE (Graphical)
 
Starts the normal installation.
*CPU: 64bit (Intel EMT64 or AMD64), Multi core CPU recommended, [[FAQ#Supported_CPU_chips|Intel VT/AMD-V capable CPU]]/Mainboard (for KVM Full Virtualization support)
It&#8217;s possible to use the installation wizard with a keyboard only. Buttons
*RAM: 8 GB is good, more is better
can be clicked by pressing the ALT key combined with the underlined character
*[[Raid controller|Hardware RAID]] with batteries protected write cache (BBU) or flash based protection ([[Software RAID]] is not supported)
from the respective button. For example, ALT + N to press a Next button.
*Fast hard drives, best results with 15k rpm SAS, Raid10
Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI)
*At least two NIC´s, depending on the used storage technology you need more
Starts the terminal-mode installation wizard. It provides the same overall
 
installation experience as the graphical installer, but has generally better
=== Certified hardware ===
compatibility with very old and very new hardware.
 
Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI, Serial Console)
Basically you can use any hardware supporting RHEL6, 64 bit. If you are unsure, post in the [http://forum.proxmox.com/ forum].
Starts the terminal-mode installation wizard, additionally setting up the Linux
 
kernel to use the (first) serial port of the machine for in- and output. This
As the browser will be used to manage the Proxmox VE server, it would be prudent to follow [[Safe Browsing settings in Firefox | safe browsing practices]].
can be used if the machine is completely headless and only has a serial console
 
available.
== Steps to get your Proxmox VE up and running ==
Both modes use the same code base for the actual installation process to
 
benefit from more than a decade of bug fixes and ensure feature parity.
=== Install Proxmox VE server ===
The Terminal UI option can be used in case the graphical installer does
 
not work correctly, due to e.g. driver issues. See also
See [[Quick installation]]
adding the nomodeset kernel parameter.
 
Advanced Options: Install Proxmox VE (Graphical, Debug Mode)
[http://youtu.be/ckvPt1Bp9p0 Proxmox VE installation (Video Tutorial)]
Starts the installation in debug mode. A console will be opened at several
 
installation steps. This helps to debug the situation if something goes wrong.
If you need to install the outdated 1.9 release, check [[Installing Proxmox VE v1.9 post Lenny retirement]]
To exit a debug console, press CTRL-D. This option can be used to boot a live
 
system with all basic tools available. You can use it, for example, to
=== Optional: Install Proxmox VE on Debian 6 Squeeze (64 bit) ===
repair a degraded ZFS rpool or fix the
EOL.
bootloader for an existing Proxmox VE setup.
 
Advanced Options: Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI, Debug Mode)
See [[Install Proxmox VE on Debian Squeeze]]
Same as the graphical debug mode, but preparing the system to run the
 
terminal-based installer instead.
=== Optional: Install Proxmox VE on Debian 7 Wheezy (64 bit) ===
Advanced Options: Install Proxmox VE (Serial Console Debug Mode)
 
Same the terminal-based debug mode, but additionally sets up the Linux kernel to
EOL April 2016
use the (first) serial port of the machine for in- and output.
 
Advanced Options: Install Proxmox VE (Automated)
See [[Install Proxmox VE on Debian Wheezy]]
Starts the installer in unattended mode, even if the ISO has not been
 
appropriately prepared for an automated installation. This option can be used to
=== Optional: Install Proxmox VE on Debian 8 Jessie (64 bit) ===
gather hardware details or might be useful to debug an automated installation
 
setup. See Unattended Installation for more
See [[Install Proxmox VE on Debian Jessie]]
information.
 
Advanced Options: Rescue Boot
=== [[Developer_Workstations_with_Proxmox_VE_and_X11]] ===
With this option you can boot an existing installation. It searches all attached
 
hard disks. If it finds an existing installation, it boots directly into that
This page will cover the install of X11 and a basic Desktop on top of Proxmox. [[Developer_Workstations_with_Proxmox_VE_and_X11#Optional:_Linux_Mint_Mate_Desktop | Optional:_Linux_Mint_Mate_Desktop]] is also available.
disk using the Linux kernel from the ISO. This can be useful if there are
 
problems with the bootloader (GRUB/systemd-boot) or the BIOS/UEFI is unable to
=== Optional: Install Proxmox VE over iSCSI ===
read the boot block from the disk.
 
Advanced Options: Test Memory (memtest86+)
See [[Proxmox ISCSI installation]]
Runs memtest86+. This is useful to check if the memory is functional and free
 
of errors. Secure Boot must be turned off in the UEFI firmware setup utility to
=== Proxmox VE web interface ===
run this option.
 
You normally select Install Proxmox VE (Graphical) to start the installation.
Configuration is done via the Proxmox web interface, just point your browser to the IP address given during installation (<nowiki>https://youripaddress:8006</nowiki>). Please make sure that your browser has the latest Oracle Java browser plugin installed. Proxmox VE is tested for IE9, Firefox 10 and higher, Google Chrome (latest).
The first step is to read our EULA (End User License Agreement). Following this,
 
you can select the target hard disk(s) for the installation.
'''Default login is "root" and the root password is defined during the installation process.'''
By default, the whole server is used and all existing data is removed.
 
Make sure there is no important data on the server before proceeding with the
==== Configure basic system setting ====
installation.
 
The Options button lets you select the target file system, which
Please review the NIC setup, IP and hostname.  
defaults to ext4. The installer uses LVM if you select
 
ext4 or xfs as a file system, and offers additional options to
'''Note: changing IP or hostname after cluster creation is not possible (unless you know exactly what you do)'''
restrict LVM space (see below).
 
Proxmox VE can also be installed on ZFS. As ZFS offers several software RAID levels,
 
this is an option for systems that don&#8217;t have a hardware RAID controller. The
 
target disks must be selected in the Options dialog. More ZFS specific
==== Get Appliance Templates ====
settings can be changed under Advanced Options.
 
ZFS on top of any hardware RAID is not supported and can result in data
===== Download =====
loss.
 
The next page asks for basic configuration options like your location, time
Just go to your content tab of your storage (e.g. "local") and [[Get Virtual Appliances|download pre-built Virtual Appliances]] directly to your server. This list is maintained by the Proxmox VE team and more and more Appliances will be available. This is the easiest way and a good place to start.  
zone, and keyboard layout. The location is used to select a nearby download
 
server, in order to increase the speed of updates. The installer is usually able
===== Use a NFS share for ISO´s =====
to auto-detect these settings, so you only need to change them in rare
 
situations when auto-detection fails, or when you want to use a keyboard layout
If you have a NFS server you can use a NFS share for storing ISO images. To start, configure the NFS ISO store on the web interface (Configuration/Storage).
not commonly used in your country.
 
Next the password of the superuser (root) and an email address needs to be
===== Upload from your desktop =====
specified. The password must consist of at least 5 characters. It&#8217;s highly
 
recommended to use a stronger password. Some guidelines are:
If you already got Virtually Appliances you can upload them via the upload button. To install a virtual machine from an ISO image (using KVM full virtualization) just upload the ISO file via the upload button.
Use a minimum password length of at least 12 characters.
 
Include lowercase and uppercase alphabetic characters, numbers, and symbols.
===== Directly to file system =====
Avoid character repetition, keyboard patterns, common dictionary words,
 
  letter or number sequences, usernames, relative or pet names, romantic links
Templates and ISO images are stored on the Proxmox VE server (see /var/lib/vz/template/cache for openvz templates and /var/lib/vz/template/iso for ISO images). You can also transfer templates and ISO images via secure copy (scp) to these directories. If you work on a windows desktop, you can use a graphical scp client like [http://winscp.net winscp].
  (current or past), and biographical information (for example ID numbers,
 
  ancestors' names or dates).
=== Optional: Reverting Thin-LVM to "old" Behavior of <code>/var/lib/vz</code> (Proxmox 4.2 and later) ===
The email address is used to send notifications to the system administrator.
 
For example:
If you installed Proxmox 4.2 (or later), you see yourself confronted with a changed layout of your data. There is no mounted <code>/var/lib/vz</code> LVM volume anymore, instead you find a thin-provisioned volume. This is technically the right choice, but one sometimes want to get the old behavior back, which is described here. This section describes the steps to revert to the "old" layout on a freshly installed Proxmox 4.2:
Information about available package updates.
 
Error messages from periodic cron jobs.
* After the Installation your storage configuration in <code>/etc/pve/storage.cfg</code> will look like this:
All those notification mails will be sent to the specified email address.
<pre>
The last step is the network configuration. Network interfaces that are UP
dir: local
show a filled circle in front of their name in the drop down menu. Please note
        path /var/lib/vz
that during installation you can either specify an IPv4 or IPv6 address, but not
        content iso,vztmpl,backup
both. To configure a dual stack node, add additional IP addresses after the
 
installation.
lvmthin: local-lvm
The next step shows a summary of the previously selected options. Please
        thinpool data
re-check every setting and use the Previous button if a setting needs to be
        vgname pve
changed.
        content rootdir,images
After clicking Install, the installer will begin to format the disks and copy
</pre>
packages to the target disk(s). Please wait until this step has finished; then
* You can delete the thin-volume via GUI or manually and have to set the local directory to store images and container aswell. You should have such a config in the end:
remove the installation medium and restart your system.
<pre>
Copying the packages usually takes several minutes, mostly depending on the
dir: local
speed of the installation medium and the target disk performance.
        path /var/lib/vz
When copying and setting up the packages has finished, you can reboot the
        maxfiles 0
server. This will be done automatically after a few seconds by default.
        content backup,iso,vztmpl,rootdir,images
Installation Failure
</pre>
If the installation failed, check out specific errors on the second TTY
* Now you need to recreate <code>/var/lib/vz</code>
(CTRL + ALT + F2) and ensure that the systems meets the
<pre>
minimum requirements.
root@pve-42 ~ > lvs
If the installation is still not working, look at the
  LV  VG  Attr      LSize  Pool Origin Data%  Meta%  Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
how to get help chapter.
  data pve  twi-a-tz-- 16.38g            0.00  0.49
Accessing the Management Interface Post-Installation
  root pve  -wi-ao----  7.75g
After a successful installation and reboot of the system you can use the Proxmox VE
  swap pve  -wi-ao----  3.88g
web interface for further configuration.
 
Point your browser to the IP address given during the installation and port
root@pve-42 ~ > lvremove pve/data
  8006, for example: https://youripaddress:8006
Do you really want to remove active logical volume data? [y/n]: y
Log in using the root (realm PAM) username and the password chosen during
  Logical volume "data" successfully removed
  installation.
 
Upload your subscription key to gain access to the Enterprise repository.
root@pve-42 ~ > lvcreate --name data -l +100%FREE pve
  Otherwise, you will need to set up one of the public, less tested package
  Logical volume "data" created.
  repositories to get updates for security fixes, bug fixes, and new features.
 
Check the IP configuration and hostname.
root@pve-42 ~ > mkfs.ext4 /dev/pve/data
Check the timezone.
mke2fs 1.42.12 (29-Aug-2014)
Check your Firewall settings.
Discarding device blocks: done
Advanced LVM Configuration Options
Creating filesystem with 5307392 4k blocks and 1327104 inodes
The installer creates a Volume Group (VG) called pve, and additional Logical
Filesystem UUID: 310d346a-de4e-48ae-83d0-4119088af2e3
Volumes (LVs) called root, data, and swap, if ext4 or xfs is used. To
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
control the size of these volumes use:
        32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
hdsize
        4096000
Defines the total hard disk size to be used. This way you can reserve free space
 
on the hard disk for further partitioning (for example for an additional PV and
Allocating group tables: done
VG on the same hard disk that can be used for LVM storage).
Writing inode tables: done
swapsize
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Defines the size of the swap volume. The default is the size of the installed
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
memory, minimum 4 GB and maximum 8 GB. The resulting value cannot be greater
</pre>
than hdsize/8.
* Then add the new volume in your <code>/etc/fstab</code>:
If set to 0, no swap volume will be created.
<pre>
maxroot
/dev/pve/data /var/lib/vz ext4 defaults 0 1
Defines the maximum size of the root volume, which stores the operation
</pre>
system. The maximum limit of the root volume size is hdsize/4.
* Restart to check if everything survives a reboot.
maxvz
 
Defines the maximum size of the data volume. The actual size of the data
You should end up with a working "old-style" configuration where you "see" your files as it was before Proxmox 4.2
volume is:
 
datasize = hdsize - rootsize - swapsize - minfree
=== Video Tutorials ===
Where datasize cannot be bigger than maxvz.
 
In case of LVM thin, the data pool will only be created if datasize is
*See [http://www.youtube.com/proxmoxve Proxmox VE YouTube Channel]
bigger than 4GB.
 
If set to 0, no data volume will be created and the storage
== Virtual Machines (KVM) ==
configuration will be adapted accordingly.
 
minfree
Just click "Create VM":
Defines the amount of free space that should be left in the LVM volume group
 
pve. With more than 128GB storage available, the default is 16GB, otherwise
=== General ===
hdsize/8 will be used.
 
LVM requires free space in the VG for snapshot creation (not required for
*Node: If you have several Proxmox VE servers, select the node where you want to create the new VM
lvmthin snapshots).
*VM ID: choose a virtual machine identification number, just use the given ID or overwrite the suggested one
Advanced ZFS Configuration Options
*Name: choose a name for your VM (this is not the hostname), can be changed any time
The installer creates the ZFS pool rpool, if ZFS is used. No swap space is
*Resource Pool: select the previously resource pool (optional)
created but you can reserve some unpartitioned space on the install disks for
 
swap. You can also create a swap zvol after the installation, although this can
=== OS ===
lead to problems (see ZFS swap notes).
 
ashift
Select the Operating System (OS) of your VM
Defines the ashift value for the created pool. The ashift needs to be set at
 
least to the sector-size of the underlying disks (2 to the power of ashift is
=== CD/DVD ===
the sector-size), or any disk which might be put in the pool (for example the
 
replacement of a defective disk).
*Use CD/DVD disc image file (iso): Select the storage where you previously uploaded your iso images and choose the file
compress
*Use physical CD/DVD Drive: choose this to use the CD/DVD from your Proxmox VE node
Defines whether compression is enabled for rpool.
*Do not use any media: choose this if you do not want any media
checksum
 
Defines which checksumming algorithm should be used for rpool.
=== Hard disk ===
copies
 
Defines the copies parameter for rpool. Check the zfs(8) manpage for the
* Bus/Device: choose the bus type, as long as your guest supports go for ''virtio''
semantics, and why this does not replace redundancy on disk-level.
* Storage: select the storage where you want to store the disk Disk size (GB): define the size
ARC max size
* Format: Define the disk image format. For good performance, go for raw. If you plan to use snapshots, go for qcow2.
Defines the maximum size the ARC can grow to and thus limits the amount of
* Cache: define the cache policy for the virtual disk
memory ZFS will use. See also the section on
* Limits: (if necessary) set the maximum transfer speeds
how to limit ZFS memory usage for more
 
details.
=== CPU ===
hdsize
 
Defines the total hard disk size to be used. This is useful to save free space
*Sockets: set the number of CPU sockets
on the hard disk(s) for further partitioning (for example to create a
*Cores: set the number of CPU Cores per socket
swap-partition). hdsize is only honored for bootable disks, that is only the
*CPU type: select CPU type
first disk or mirror for RAID0, RAID1 or RAID10, and all disks in RAID-Z[123].
*Total cores: never use more CPU cores than physical available on the Proxmox VE host
Advanced BTRFS Configuration Options
 
No swap space is created when BTRFS is used but you can reserve some
=== Memory ===
unpartitioned space on the install disks for swap. You can either create a
 
separate partition, BTRFS subvolume or a swapfile using the btrfs filesystem
*Memory (MB): set the memory (RAM) for your VM
mkswapfile command.
 
compress
=== Network ===
Defines whether compression is enabled for the BTRFS subvolume. Different
 
compression algorithms are supported: on (equivalent to zlib), zlib, lzo
*Briged mode: this is the default setting, just choose the Brigde where you want to connect your VM. If you want to use VLAN, you can define the VLAN tag for the VM
and zstd. Defaults to off.
*NAT mode
hdsize
*No network device
Defines the total hard disk size to be used. This is useful to save free space
*Model: choose the emulated network device, as long as your guest support it, go for virtio
on the hard disk(s) for further partitioning (for example, to create a
*MAC address: use 'auto' or overwrite with a valid and unique MAC address
swap partition).
*Rate limit (MB/s): set a speed limit for this network adapter
ZFS Performance Tips
ZFS works best with a lot of memory. If you intend to use ZFS make sure to have
enough RAM available for it. A good calculation is 4GB plus 1GB RAM for each TB
RAW disk space.
ZFS can use a dedicated drive as write cache, called the ZFS Intent Log (ZIL).
Use a fast drive (SSD) for it. It can be added after installation with the
following command:
# zpool add &lt;pool-name&gt; log &lt;/dev/path_to_fast_ssd&gt;
Adding the nomodeset Kernel Parameter
Problems may arise on very old or very new hardware due to graphics drivers. If
the installation hangs during boot, you can try adding the nomodeset
parameter. This prevents the Linux kernel from loading any graphics drivers and
forces it to continue using the BIOS/UEFI-provided framebuffer.
On the Proxmox VE bootloader menu, navigate to Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI) and
press e to edit the entry. Using the arrow keys, navigate to the line starting
with linux, move the cursor to the end of that line and add the
parameter nomodeset, separated by a space from the pre-existing last
parameter.
Then press Ctrl-X or F10 to boot the configuration.
Unattended Installation
It is possible to install Proxmox VE automatically in an unattended manner. This
enables you to fully automate the setup process on bare-metal. Once the
installation is complete and the host has booted up, automation tools like
Ansible can be used to further configure the installation.
The necessary options for the installer must be provided in an answer file. This
file allows the use of filter rules to determine which disks and network cards
should be used.
To use the automated installation, it is first necessary to prepare an
installation ISO.
Visit our wiki for more
details and information on the unattended installation.
Video Tutorials
See the list of all official tutorials on our
Proxmox VE YouTube Channel
See Also
Prepare Installation Media
Install Proxmox VE on Debian 12 Bookworm
System Requirements
Package Repositories
Host System Administration
Network Configuration
Installation: Tips and Tricks
</pvehide>
<!--PVE_IMPORT_END_MARKER-->


=== Confirm ===
This tab shows a summary, please check if everything is done as needed. If you need to change a setting, you can jump to the previous tabs just by clicking. After you clicked "Finish", all settings are applied - wait for completion (this process just takes a second).
== Video Tutorials ==
*See [http://www.youtube.com/proxmoxve Proxmox VE YouTube Channel]
== Managing Virtual Machines ==
Go to "VM Manager/Virtual Machines" to see a list of your Virtual Machines.
Basic tasks can be done by clicking on the red arrow - drop down menu:
*start, restart, shutdown, stop
*migrate: migrate a Virtual Machine to another physical host (you need at least two Proxmox VE servers - see [[Proxmox VE Cluster]]
*console: using the VNC console for container virtualization automatically logs in via root. For managing KVM Virtual Machine, the console shows the screen of the full virtualized machine)
For a '''detailed view''' and '''configuration changes''' just click on a Virtual Machine row in the list of VMs.
"Logs" on a container Virtual Machine:
*Boot/Init: shows the Boot/Init logs generated during start or stop
*Command: see the current/last executed task
*Syslog: see the real time syslog of the Virtual Machine
== Networking and Firewall ==
See [[Network Model]] and [[Proxmox VE Firewall]]


[[Category:HOWTO]] [[Category:Installation]]
[[Category:HOWTO]] [[Category:Installation]]
[[Category:Reference Documentation]]

Latest revision as of 12:09, 28 November 2024

Proxmox VE is based on Debian. This is why the install disk images (ISO files) provided by Proxmox include a complete Debian system as well as all necessary Proxmox VE packages.

Tip See the support table in the FAQ for the relationship between Proxmox VE releases and Debian releases.

The installer will guide you through the setup, allowing you to partition the local disk(s), apply basic system configurations (for example, timezone, language, network) and install all required packages. This process should not take more than a few minutes. Installing with the provided ISO is the recommended method for new and existing users.

Alternatively, Proxmox VE can be installed on top of an existing Debian system. This option is only recommended for advanced users because detailed knowledge about Proxmox VE is required.

Using the Proxmox VE Installer

The installer ISO image includes the following:

  • Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)

  • The Proxmox VE installer, which partitions the local disk(s) with ext4, XFS, BTRFS (technology preview), or ZFS and installs the operating system

  • Proxmox VE Linux kernel with KVM and LXC support

  • Complete toolset for administering virtual machines, containers, the host system, clusters and all necessary resources

  • Web-based management interface

Note All existing data on the selected drives will be removed during the installation process. The installer does not add boot menu entries for other operating systems.

Please insert the prepared installation media (for example, USB flash drive or CD-ROM) and boot from it.

Tip Make sure that booting from the installation medium (for example, USB) is enabled in your server’s firmware settings. Secure boot needs to be disabled when booting an installer prior to Proxmox VE version 8.1.
screenshot/pve-grub-menu.png

After choosing the correct entry (for example, Boot from USB) the Proxmox VE menu will be displayed, and one of the following options can be selected:

Install Proxmox VE (Graphical)

Starts the normal installation.

Tip It’s possible to use the installation wizard with a keyboard only. Buttons can be clicked by pressing the ALT key combined with the underlined character from the respective button. For example, ALT + N to press a Next button.
Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI)

Starts the terminal-mode installation wizard. It provides the same overall installation experience as the graphical installer, but has generally better compatibility with very old and very new hardware.

Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI, Serial Console)

Starts the terminal-mode installation wizard, additionally setting up the Linux kernel to use the (first) serial port of the machine for in- and output. This can be used if the machine is completely headless and only has a serial console available.

screenshot/pve-tui-installer.png

Both modes use the same code base for the actual installation process to benefit from more than a decade of bug fixes and ensure feature parity.

Tip The Terminal UI option can be used in case the graphical installer does not work correctly, due to e.g. driver issues. See also adding the nomodeset kernel parameter.
Advanced Options: Install Proxmox VE (Graphical, Debug Mode)

Starts the installation in debug mode. A console will be opened at several installation steps. This helps to debug the situation if something goes wrong. To exit a debug console, press CTRL-D. This option can be used to boot a live system with all basic tools available. You can use it, for example, to repair a degraded ZFS rpool or fix the bootloader for an existing Proxmox VE setup.

Advanced Options: Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI, Debug Mode)

Same as the graphical debug mode, but preparing the system to run the terminal-based installer instead.

Advanced Options: Install Proxmox VE (Serial Console Debug Mode)

Same the terminal-based debug mode, but additionally sets up the Linux kernel to use the (first) serial port of the machine for in- and output.

Advanced Options: Install Proxmox VE (Automated)

Starts the installer in unattended mode, even if the ISO has not been appropriately prepared for an automated installation. This option can be used to gather hardware details or might be useful to debug an automated installation setup. See Unattended Installation for more information.

Advanced Options: Rescue Boot

With this option you can boot an existing installation. It searches all attached hard disks. If it finds an existing installation, it boots directly into that disk using the Linux kernel from the ISO. This can be useful if there are problems with the bootloader (GRUB/systemd-boot) or the BIOS/UEFI is unable to read the boot block from the disk.

Advanced Options: Test Memory (memtest86+)

Runs memtest86+. This is useful to check if the memory is functional and free of errors. Secure Boot must be turned off in the UEFI firmware setup utility to run this option.

You normally select Install Proxmox VE (Graphical) to start the installation.

screenshot/pve-select-target-disk.png

The first step is to read our EULA (End User License Agreement). Following this, you can select the target hard disk(s) for the installation.

Caution By default, the whole server is used and all existing data is removed. Make sure there is no important data on the server before proceeding with the installation.

The Options button lets you select the target file system, which defaults to ext4. The installer uses LVM if you select ext4 or xfs as a file system, and offers additional options to restrict LVM space (see below).

Proxmox VE can also be installed on ZFS. As ZFS offers several software RAID levels, this is an option for systems that don’t have a hardware RAID controller. The target disks must be selected in the Options dialog. More ZFS specific settings can be changed under Advanced Options.

Warning ZFS on top of any hardware RAID is not supported and can result in data loss.
screenshot/pve-select-location.png

The next page asks for basic configuration options like your location, time zone, and keyboard layout. The location is used to select a nearby download server, in order to increase the speed of updates. The installer is usually able to auto-detect these settings, so you only need to change them in rare situations when auto-detection fails, or when you want to use a keyboard layout not commonly used in your country.

screenshot/pve-set-password.png

Next the password of the superuser (root) and an email address needs to be specified. The password must consist of at least 5 characters. It’s highly recommended to use a stronger password. Some guidelines are:

  • Use a minimum password length of at least 12 characters.

  • Include lowercase and uppercase alphabetic characters, numbers, and symbols.

  • Avoid character repetition, keyboard patterns, common dictionary words, letter or number sequences, usernames, relative or pet names, romantic links (current or past), and biographical information (for example ID numbers, ancestors' names or dates).

The email address is used to send notifications to the system administrator. For example:

  • Information about available package updates.

  • Error messages from periodic cron jobs.

screenshot/pve-setup-network.png

All those notification mails will be sent to the specified email address.

The last step is the network configuration. Network interfaces that are UP show a filled circle in front of their name in the drop down menu. Please note that during installation you can either specify an IPv4 or IPv6 address, but not both. To configure a dual stack node, add additional IP addresses after the installation.

screenshot/pve-installation.png

The next step shows a summary of the previously selected options. Please re-check every setting and use the Previous button if a setting needs to be changed.

After clicking Install, the installer will begin to format the disks and copy packages to the target disk(s). Please wait until this step has finished; then remove the installation medium and restart your system.

screenshot/pve-install-summary.png

Copying the packages usually takes several minutes, mostly depending on the speed of the installation medium and the target disk performance.

When copying and setting up the packages has finished, you can reboot the server. This will be done automatically after a few seconds by default.

Installation Failure

If the installation failed, check out specific errors on the second TTY (CTRL + ALT + F2) and ensure that the systems meets the minimum requirements.

If the installation is still not working, look at the how to get help chapter.

Accessing the Management Interface Post-Installation

screenshot/gui-login-window.png

After a successful installation and reboot of the system you can use the Proxmox VE web interface for further configuration.

  1. Point your browser to the IP address given during the installation and port 8006, for example: https://youripaddress:8006

  2. Log in using the root (realm PAM) username and the password chosen during installation.

  3. Upload your subscription key to gain access to the Enterprise repository. Otherwise, you will need to set up one of the public, less tested package repositories to get updates for security fixes, bug fixes, and new features.

  4. Check the IP configuration and hostname.

  5. Check the timezone.

  6. Check your Firewall settings.

Advanced LVM Configuration Options

The installer creates a Volume Group (VG) called pve, and additional Logical Volumes (LVs) called root, data, and swap, if ext4 or xfs is used. To control the size of these volumes use:

hdsize

Defines the total hard disk size to be used. This way you can reserve free space on the hard disk for further partitioning (for example for an additional PV and VG on the same hard disk that can be used for LVM storage).

swapsize

Defines the size of the swap volume. The default is the size of the installed memory, minimum 4 GB and maximum 8 GB. The resulting value cannot be greater than hdsize/8.

Note If set to 0, no swap volume will be created.
maxroot

Defines the maximum size of the root volume, which stores the operation system. The maximum limit of the root volume size is hdsize/4.

maxvz

Defines the maximum size of the data volume. The actual size of the data volume is:

datasize = hdsize - rootsize - swapsize - minfree

Where datasize cannot be bigger than maxvz.

Note In case of LVM thin, the data pool will only be created if datasize is bigger than 4GB.
Note If set to 0, no data volume will be created and the storage configuration will be adapted accordingly.
minfree

Defines the amount of free space that should be left in the LVM volume group pve. With more than 128GB storage available, the default is 16GB, otherwise hdsize/8 will be used.

Note LVM requires free space in the VG for snapshot creation (not required for lvmthin snapshots).

Advanced ZFS Configuration Options

The installer creates the ZFS pool rpool, if ZFS is used. No swap space is created but you can reserve some unpartitioned space on the install disks for swap. You can also create a swap zvol after the installation, although this can lead to problems (see ZFS swap notes).

ashift

Defines the ashift value for the created pool. The ashift needs to be set at least to the sector-size of the underlying disks (2 to the power of ashift is the sector-size), or any disk which might be put in the pool (for example the replacement of a defective disk).

compress

Defines whether compression is enabled for rpool.

checksum

Defines which checksumming algorithm should be used for rpool.

copies

Defines the copies parameter for rpool. Check the zfs(8) manpage for the semantics, and why this does not replace redundancy on disk-level.

ARC max size

Defines the maximum size the ARC can grow to and thus limits the amount of memory ZFS will use. See also the section on how to limit ZFS memory usage for more details.

hdsize

Defines the total hard disk size to be used. This is useful to save free space on the hard disk(s) for further partitioning (for example to create a swap-partition). hdsize is only honored for bootable disks, that is only the first disk or mirror for RAID0, RAID1 or RAID10, and all disks in RAID-Z[123].

Advanced BTRFS Configuration Options

No swap space is created when BTRFS is used but you can reserve some unpartitioned space on the install disks for swap. You can either create a separate partition, BTRFS subvolume or a swapfile using the btrfs filesystem mkswapfile command.

compress

Defines whether compression is enabled for the BTRFS subvolume. Different compression algorithms are supported: on (equivalent to zlib), zlib, lzo and zstd. Defaults to off.

hdsize

Defines the total hard disk size to be used. This is useful to save free space on the hard disk(s) for further partitioning (for example, to create a swap partition).

ZFS Performance Tips

ZFS works best with a lot of memory. If you intend to use ZFS make sure to have enough RAM available for it. A good calculation is 4GB plus 1GB RAM for each TB RAW disk space.

ZFS can use a dedicated drive as write cache, called the ZFS Intent Log (ZIL). Use a fast drive (SSD) for it. It can be added after installation with the following command:

# zpool add <pool-name> log </dev/path_to_fast_ssd>

Adding the nomodeset Kernel Parameter

Problems may arise on very old or very new hardware due to graphics drivers. If the installation hangs during boot, you can try adding the nomodeset parameter. This prevents the Linux kernel from loading any graphics drivers and forces it to continue using the BIOS/UEFI-provided framebuffer.

On the Proxmox VE bootloader menu, navigate to Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI) and press e to edit the entry. Using the arrow keys, navigate to the line starting with linux, move the cursor to the end of that line and add the parameter nomodeset, separated by a space from the pre-existing last parameter.

Then press Ctrl-X or F10 to boot the configuration.

Unattended Installation

It is possible to install Proxmox VE automatically in an unattended manner. This enables you to fully automate the setup process on bare-metal. Once the installation is complete and the host has booted up, automation tools like Ansible can be used to further configure the installation.

The necessary options for the installer must be provided in an answer file. This file allows the use of filter rules to determine which disks and network cards should be used.

To use the automated installation, it is first necessary to prepare an installation ISO. Visit our wiki for more details and information on the unattended installation.

Video Tutorials

See the list of all official tutorials on our Proxmox VE YouTube Channel

See Also

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