Requirements#

• A computer/server to act as your node — at least 2 GB RAM (4 GB+ recommended), 32 GB+ storage (SSD/NVMe recommended)
• An 8 GB+ USB drive
• A second computer to create the bootable USB
• A stable internet connection

Download the Proxmox VE ISO#

Head to the official downloads page and grab the latest Proxmox VE ISO:

• https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads

TIP

If you want to be thorough, verify the ISO’s checksum after downloading to confirm the file wasn’t corrupted or tampered with. The hashes are listed right next to the download link.

Create a Bootable USB Drive#

Use whichever tool you’re comfortable with. Rufus is my go-to on Windows; Balena Etcher works everywhere.

Boot from the USB Drive#

1. Enter your BIOS/UEFI setup by pressing F2, F12, Delete, or Esc during boot. The exact key varies by manufacturer — watch the boot screen for the prompt.
2. Disable Secure Boot if it’s present.
3. Set the USB drive as the first boot priority.
4. Save and exit. The system should boot into the Proxmox VE installer.

Installing Proxmox VE#

1. When the boot screen appears, select Install Proxmox VE and press Enter.

2. Read and accept the End User License Agreement by clicking I agree.

3. Target hard disk: choose your installation drive.

   Filesystem Choice

   Click Options here to pick your filesystem. I use EXT4 on a single-drive setup — it’s fast, lightweight, and uses less RAM. If you have multiple drives and want RAID redundancy, data-integrity checks, and snapshots, choose ZFS and set the RAID level (e.g. RAID1/mirror for two drives). Swap size is auto-calculated but can be customized under Options too.

4. Select your country, time zone, and keyboard layout.

5. Create a strong root password (you’ll log in with this), confirm it, and enter a valid email address for system notifications.

6. Management network configuration: the interface is usually auto-detected. Enter a hostname like pve.local, then choose:

   • DHCP — automatic IP assignment (easiest for beginners), or
   • Static IP — more control. Example values:
     • IP Address: 192.168.1.10/24
     • Gateway: 192.168.1.1
     • DNS Server: 1.1.1.1

7. Review everything in the installation summary, then click Install.

First Boot and Login#

When installation completes, remove the USB drive when prompted and click Reboot so the system starts from the hard drive. On first boot you’ll see Linux boot messages, then a console login prompt showing the node’s IP address.

To reach the web interface, open a browser on another computer on the same network and go to:

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https://YOUR-PROXMOX-IP:8006

For example: https://192.168.1.10:8006

Accept the self-signed certificate warning, then log in with:

• Username: root
• Password: the one you set during installation
• Realm: Linux PAM standard authentication

You’ll see a “No valid subscription” notice — that’s completely normal for home use. Click OK to continue. We’ll get rid of that popup in the next section.

Post-Install: Fix the Repositories#

A fresh install points at the enterprise repository, which requires a paid subscription and will throw errors on apt update. For a homelab you want the no-subscription repo instead.

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bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/community-scripts/ProxmoxVE/main/tools/pve/post-pve-install.sh)"

Reclaim Space: Delete local-lvm and Resize local#

Read This First

This assumes a fresh install without ZFS as the root filesystem. It’s only worth doing if you have a small boot drive and need to reclaim space. If you run all your VM/CT disks on that same boot drive, skip this section. If you’re new to LVM, watch this video before touching anything.

By default Proxmox splits the boot drive into local (ISOs, templates, backups) and local-lvm (VM/CT disks). If you store your VMs and containers on a separate storage pool, that local-lvm partition just sits there unused. Here’s how to delete it and give the space back to local.

1. Delete local-lvm from the web interface under Datacenter > Storage.
2. Open Node > Shell and run:

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lvremove /dev/pve/data
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lvresize -l +100%FREE /dev/pve/root
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resize2fs /dev/mapper/pve-root

Check under Node > Disks > LVM (or df -h) to confirm local is now using the full available space. Reassign storage for your containers and VMs if needed.

Enable IOMMU (for PCI / GPU Passthrough)#

If you plan to pass a GPU, NIC, or other PCIe device through to a VM, you need IOMMU enabled — first in the BIOS, then in GRUB.

In the BIOS, the layout differs per manufacturer:

• AMD boards: usually under AMD CBS > NBIO Settings.
• Intel boards: usually VT-d under the CPU options.

In GRUB, open the config from the Node > Shell:

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nano /etc/default/grub

Find the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet" and add intel_iommu=on or amd_iommu=on depending on your chipset:

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# Should look like this (Intel example)
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GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on"

Update GRUB and reboot:

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update-grub

After the reboot, confirm it’s active:

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dmesg | grep -e DMAR -e IOMMU
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dmesg | grep 'remapping'

For the full picture on GPU passthrough and PCI passthrough in general, the official docs are excellent:

• https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/PCI_Passthrough

(Optional) Create a ZFS Storage Pool#

NOTE

Skip this if you only have one storage device in your PC, mini-PC, or server. This is for adding extra drives with redundancy.

Adding drives as a ZFS pool gives you redundancy (a failed drive won’t take your data with it), compression, and snapshots. Proxmox makes it painless.

1. Go to Node > Disks and confirm all your drives are detected.

2. Wipe every disk you plan to use via Node > Disks > Wipe Disk.

   WARNING

   Wiping erases everything on the disk. Make sure there’s no important data on it and back up first if you’re unsure.

3. Go to Node > Disks > ZFS > Create: ZFS.

4. Select the drives you want in the pool and pick a RAID level:

   • single — one drive (no redundancy)
   • mirror — two drives (RAID1-style)
   • RAIDZ — three or more drives

5. Enable compression (lz4 or zstd are great defaults).

6. Name the pool something like tank, and check “Add to Storage” so it’s immediately usable for VMs and containers.

(Optional) Bond Two NICs with LACP#

NOTE

Skip this if your node has a single NIC. This bonds two physical ports into one faster, redundant link.

If your node has two network ports and your switch supports 802.3ad (LACP), you can bond them into a single logical link — in my case, two 2.5G ports become one 5 Gbps pipe with automatic failover if a cable dies.

Because the Proxmox GUI validates network changes strictly, the trick is the “drop and catch” method: you queue up the config on the Proxmox side (which drops the connection), then configure the switch to complete the LACP handshake and restore it.

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/interface bonding
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add name=bond-pve slaves=ether1,ether2 mode=802.3ad transmit-hash-policy=layer-2-and-3
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/interface bridge port
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remove [find interface=ether1]
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remove [find interface=ether2]
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add bridge=bridge interface=bond-pve

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auto bond0
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iface bond0 inet manual
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        bond-slaves nic0 nic1
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        bond-miimon 100
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        bond-mode 802.3ad
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        bond-xmit-hash-policy layer2+3
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auto vmbr0
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iface vmbr0 inet static
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        address 192.168.1.10/24
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        gateway 192.168.1.1
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        bridge-ports bond0
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        bridge-stp off
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        bridge-fd 0

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cat /proc/net/bonding/bond0
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ethtool bond0 | grep Speed
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ip -br link

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Bonding Mode: IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic link aggregation
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Transmit Hash Policy: layer2+3 (2)
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MII Status: up
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        Actor Key: 11
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        Partner Key: 11
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Slave Interface: nic0    MII Status: up    Speed: 2500 Mbps
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Slave Interface: nic1    MII Status: up    Speed: 2500 Mbps

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Speed: 5000Mb/s

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/interface bonding monitor bond-pve

Mount an NFS Share from a NAS#

Pulling storage from a NAS (like a Synology) over NFS is the cleanest way to give your VMs and containers access to bulk storage — media libraries, downloads, backups, whatever. There are two sides: export the folder on the NAS, then add it in Proxmox.

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nano /etc/pve/lxc/100.conf

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lxc.mount.entry: /mnt/pve/synology-media mnt/media none bind,create=dir 0 0

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ls /mnt/media

Conclusion#

That’s a homelab-ready Proxmox node: installed, on the right repositories, with wasted space reclaimed, IOMMU ready for passthrough, and proper storage and networking underneath it. From here the fun part begins — spinning up VMs and containers for whatever you want to self-host. Build it, break it, learn from it.

Happy Homelabbing!