Proxmox VE is based on Debian, therefore the disk image (ISO file) provided by us includes a complete Debian system ("buster" for version 6.x) as well as all necessary Proxmox VE packages.
Using the installer will guide you through the setup, allowing you to partition the local disk(s), apply basic system configurations (e.g. timezone, language, network) and install all required packages. Using the provided ISO will get you started in just a few minutes, that’s why we recommend this 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 since detailed knowledge about Proxmox VE is necessary.
System Requirements
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.
Proxmox VE can use local storage (DAS), SAN, NAS and also distributed storage (Ceph RBD). For details see chapter storage.
Minimum Requirements, for Evaluation
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CPU: 64bit (Intel EMT64 or AMD64)
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Intel VT/AMD-V capable CPU/Mainboard for KVM Full Virtualization support
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RAM: 1 GB RAM, plus additional RAM used for guests
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Hard drive
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One NIC
Recommended System Requirements
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Intel EMT64 or AMD64 with Intel VT/AMD-V CPU flag.
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Memory, minimum 2 GB for OS and Proxmox VE services. Plus designated memory for guests. For Ceph or ZFS additional memory is required, approximately 1 GB memory for every TB used storage.
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Fast and redundant storage, best results with SSD disks.
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OS storage: Hardware RAID with batteries protected write cache (“BBU”) or non-RAID with ZFS and SSD cache.
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VM storage: For local storage use a hardware RAID with battery backed write cache (BBU) or non-RAID for ZFS. Neither ZFS nor Ceph are compatible with a hardware RAID controller. Shared and distributed storage is also possible.
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Redundant Gbit NICs, additional NICs depending on the preferred storage technology and cluster setup – 10 Gbit and higher is also supported.
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For PCI passthrough a CPU with VT-d/AMD-d CPU flag is needed.
Simple Performance Overview
On an installed Proxmox VE system, you can run the included pveperf script to obtain an overview of the CPU and hard disk performance.
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this is just a very quick and general benchmark. More detailed tests are recommended, especially regarding the I/O performance of your system. |
Supported web browsers for accessing the web interface
To use the web interface you need a modern browser, this includes:
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Firefox, a release from the current year, or the latest Extended Support Release
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Chrome, a release from the current year
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Microsofts currently supported version of Edge
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Safari, a release from the current year
If Proxmox VE detects you’re connecting from a mobile device, you will be redirected to a lightweight touch-based UI.
Using the Proxmox VE Installer
You can download the ISO from https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads. It includes the following:
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Complete operating system (Debian Linux, 64-bit)
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The Proxmox VE installer, which partitions the local disk(s) with ext4, ext3, xfs or ZFS and installs the operating system.
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Proxmox VE kernel (Linux) with LXC and KVM support
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Complete toolset for administering virtual machines, containers and all necessary resources
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Web based management interface for using the toolset
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During the installation process, the complete server is used by default and all existing data is removed. |
Please insert the installation media (e.g. USB stick, CD-ROM) and boot from it.

After choosing the correct entry (e.g. Boot from USB) the Proxmox VE menu will be displayed, you can now select one of the following options:
- Install Proxmox VE
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Start normal installation.
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It is possible to only use the keyboard to progress through the installation wizard. Buttons can be pressed by pressing down the ALT key, combined with the underlined character from the respective Button. For example, ALT + N to press a Next button. |
- Install Proxmox VE (Debug mode)
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Start installation in debug mode. It opens a shell console at several installation steps, so that you can debug things if something goes wrong. Please press CTRL-D to exit those debug consoles and continue installation. This option is mostly for developers and not meant for general use.
- Rescue Boot
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This option allows you to boot an existing installation. It searches all attached hard disks and, if it finds an existing installation, boots directly into that disk using the existing Linux kernel. This can be useful if there are problems with the boot block (grub), or the BIOS is unable to read the boot block from the disk.
- Test Memory
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Runs memtest86+. This is useful to check if your memory is functional and error free.

You normally select Install Proxmox VE to start the installation. After that you get prompted to select the target hard disk(s). The Options button lets you select the target file system, which defaults to ext4. The installer uses LVM if you select ext3, ext4 or xfs as file system, and offers additional option to restrict LVM space (see below)
You can also use ZFS as file system. ZFS supports several software RAID levels, so this is specially useful if you do not have a hardware RAID controller. The Options button lets you select the ZFS RAID level, and you can choose disks there. Additionally you can set additional options (see below).

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

You then need to specify an email address and the superuser (root) password. The password must have at least 5 characters, but we highly recommend to use stronger passwords - here are some guidelines:
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Use a minimum password length of 12 to 14 characters.
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Include lowercase and uppercase alphabetic characters, numbers and symbols.
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Avoid character repetition, keyboard patterns, dictionary words, letter or number sequences, usernames, relative or pet names, romantic links (current or past) and biographical information (e.g., ID numbers, ancestors' names or dates).
It is sometimes necessary to send notifications to the system administrator, for example:
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Information about available package updates.
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Error messages from periodic CRON jobs.
The last step is the network configuration. Please note that you can use either IPv4 or IPv6 here, but not both. If you want to configure a dual stack node, you can easily do that after installation.

If you press Next now, you will see an overview of your entered configuration. Please re-check every setting, you can still use the Previous button to go back and edit all settings here.
If you press Install now, installation starts to format disks, and copies packages to the target. Please wait until that is finished, then remove the installation media and restart your system.

If the installation failed check out specific errors on the second TTY (‘CTRL + ALT + F2’), ensure your systems mets the minimum requirements. If the installation is still not working then look at our how to get help chapter.
Further configuration can be done via the Proxmox web interface. Just point your browser to the IP address given during installation (https://youripaddress:8006).
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Default login is "root" (realm PAM) and the root password was defined during the installation process. |
Advanced LVM Configuration Options
The installer creates a Volume Group (VG) called pve, and additional Logical Volumes (LVs) called root, data and swap. The size of those volumes can be controlled with:
- hdsize
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Defines the total HD size to be used. This way you can save free space on the HD for further partitioning (i.e. for an additional PV and VG on the same hard disk that can be used for LVM storage).
- swapsize
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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.
If set to 0, no swap volume will be created. - maxroot
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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
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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.
In case of LVM thin, the data pool will only be created if datasize is bigger than 4GB. If set to 0, no data volume will be created and the storage configuration will be adapted accordingly. - minfree
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Defines the amount of free space left in LVM volume group pve. With more than 128GB storage available the default is 16GB, else hdsize/8 will be used.
LVM requires free space in the VG for snapshot creation (not required for lvmthin snapshots).
Advanced ZFS Configuration Options
The installer creates a ZFS pool rpool. When selecting ZFS, no swap space is created by default. You can leave some unpartitioned space for swap or create a swap zvol after installation, though the latter can lead to problems (see ZFS swap notes).
- ashift
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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 (e.g. during replacing a defective disk).
- compress
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Defines whether compression is enabled for rpool.
- checksum
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Defines which checksumming algorithm should be used for rpool.
- copies
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Defines the copies parameter for rpool. Check the zfs(8) manpage for the semantics, and why this does not replace redundancy on disk-level.
- hdsize
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Defines the total HD size to be used. This way you can save free space on the HD(s) for further partitioning (e.g. for creating a swap-partition). hdsize is only honored for bootable disks, i.e., only the first disk or mirror for RAID0, RAID1 or RAID10, and all disks in RAID-Z[123].
ZFS Performance Tips
ZFS uses a lot of memory, so it is best to add additional RAM if you want to use ZFS. A good calculation is 4GB plus 1GB RAM for each TB RAW disk space.
ZFS also provides the feature to use a fast SSD drive as write cache. The write cache is called the ZFS Intent Log (ZIL). You can add that after installation using the following command:
zpool add <pool-name> log </dev/path_to_fast_ssd>
Install from USB Stick
The Proxmox VE installation media is a hybrid ISO image, working in two ways:
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An ISO image file ready to burn on CD
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A raw sector (IMG) image file ready to directly copy to flash media (USB Stick)
Using USB sticks is faster and more environmental friendly and therefore the recommended way to install Proxmox VE.
Prepare a USB flash drive as install medium
In order to boot the installation media, copy the ISO image to a USB media.
First download the ISO image from https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads/category/iso-images-pve
You need at least a 1 GB USB media.
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Using UNetbootin or Rufus does not work. |
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Make sure that the USB media is not mounted and does not contain any important data. |
Instructions for GNU/Linux
You can simply use dd on UNIX like systems. First download the ISO image, then plug in the USB stick. You need to find out what device name gets assigned to the USB stick (see below). Then run:
dd if=proxmox-ve_*.iso of=/dev/XYZ bs=1M
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Be sure to replace /dev/XYZ with the correct device name. |
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Be very careful, and do not overwrite the hard disk! |
Find Correct USB Device Name
You can compare the last lines of dmesg command before and after the insertion, or use the lsblk command. Open a terminal and run:
lsblk
Then plug in your USB media and run the command again:
lsblk
A new device will appear, and this is the USB device you want to use.
Instructions for OSX
Open the terminal (query Terminal in Spotlight).
Convert the .iso file to .img using the convert option of hdiutil for example.
hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o proxmox-ve_*.dmg proxmox-ve_*.iso
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OS X tends to put the .dmg ending on the output file automatically. |
To get the current list of devices run the command again:
diskutil list
Now insert your USB flash media and run this command again to determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g. /dev/diskX).
diskutil list diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskX
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replace X with the disk number from the last command. |
sudo dd if=proxmox-ve_*.dmg of=/dev/rdiskX bs=1m
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rdiskX, instead of diskX, in the last command is intended, this will increase write speed |
Instructions for Windows
Download Etcher from https://etcher.io , select the ISO and your USB Drive.
If this doesn’t work, alternatively use the OSForensics USB installer from http://www.osforensics.com/portability.html
Boot your server from USB media
Connect your USB media to your server and make sure that the server boots from USB (see server BIOS). Then follow the installation wizard.
Install Proxmox VE on Debian
Proxmox VE ships as a set of Debian packages, so you can install it on top of a standard Debian installation. After configuring the repositories, you need to run:
apt-get update apt-get install proxmox-ve
Installing on top of an existing Debian installation looks easy, but it presumes that you have correctly installed the base system, and you know how you want to configure and use the local storage. Network configuration is also completely up to you.
In general, this is not trivial, especially when you use LVM or ZFS.
You can find a detailed step by step how-to guide on the wiki.