Proxmox offers an easy way to create and manage virtual machines for any operating system, such as Windows 11, 10, Windows Server 2022, 2019, and older versions, Linux distributions, etc., and in this guide, you will learn the basics to deploy your first virtualization.
Before proceeding with the instructions, you will need to download the ISO with the installation files for the operating system you want to run on a virtual machine, and you have to upload the ISO file to the Proxmox server.
Although it’s not a requirement, it’s a good idea to set up a storage drive on Proxmox to run the virtual machine separately from the system drive.
This guide will teach you the steps to create your first virtual machine on Proxmox.
Create virtual machine on Proxmox
To create a virtual machine on a Proxmox server, use these steps:
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Open Proxmox (web).
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Right-click the server and select the Create VM option.
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Confirm a name for the virtual machine in the “Name” setting.
Quick note: When specifying the name, don’t use spaces or special characters. -
Click the Next button.
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Select the location to store the virtual machine in the “Storage” setting.
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Select the ISO with the operating system installation files in the “ISO image” setting.
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Choose the platform (Windows, Linux, etc.) from the “Type” setting.
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Select the operating system version from the “Version” setting.
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Click the Next button.
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Click the Next button again.
Quick note: Although you can specify various hardware settings, such as graphics card, firmware, and storage controller, you want to use the default settings most of the time. -
(Optional) Select the SATA option in the “Bus/Device” setting.
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Choose the storage location to store the virtual drive in the “Storage” setting (if applicable).
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Specify the size of the virtual drive in the “Disk size (GiB)” settings.
Quick note: The size is in GiB, not GB. For instance, 25GiB is about 26GB~. -
Choose the QEMU image format option in the “Format” setting.
Quick note: You can also store the virtual drive as a raw disk image or VMware image format. You should also leave the remaining default settings on the page. -
Click the Next button.
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Select the number of processor cores to assign the Proxmox virtual machine in the “Cores” setting.
Quick note: You don’t have to change other settings on this page unless necessary. -
Click the Next button.
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Choose the amount of memory to assign the machine in the “Memory (MiB)” setting. (Again, remember that the option is MiB, not MB.)
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Click the Next button.
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Click the Next button again.
Quick note: In the “Network” tab, you can configure various advanced settings, but to create a basic virtual machine, you can use the default configuration. -
Click the Finish button.
Once you complete the steps, Proxmox will create the virtual machine on the server.
You can find the virtual machine on the left navigation pane inside the server components.
When you select the machine on the right side, you can access the settings, including a summary of the current stats, remote console, hardware, settings, and more.
In the “Hardware” tab, you can view the current configuration, and you even update the settings. For instance, you can add more memory and virtual cores.
In the “Options” tab, you will find many of the system configurations, which you can select and click the “Edit” button to modify the setting, such as the virtual machine name, boot order, firmware, and other settings.
When you are ready, select the virtual machine, click the “Start” button, and click the “Console” button to access the device through a remote connection.