Install and Run Proxmox on Laptop Hardware

#ProxMoxVE #Hypervisor #VirtualMachines #Laptop

What is Proxmox VE?
 
The Hardware
The laptop I used in this video is an Asus G74Sx. It sports a 4 core/8 thread i7-2670QM @ 2.20 GHz, 16GB of DDR3 RAM, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M with 2GB of vRAM and a Kingston 120GB SSD.
 
Things You Will Need
 
Preparing the Installation Media
   03. Extract the downloaded .zip file
   05. Plug in a USB flash drive at least 4 GB in size
   06. Click the refresh icon
   07. Select the flash drive from the device dropdown
   08. Click the Install button
   09. After the installation completes, copy the downloaded Proxmox VE .iso to the Ventoy partition
   10. Safely remove the USB flash drive
   11. Plug the flash drive into the target laptop and power it on
   12. Boot to the flash drive
   13. Select the Proxmox VE .iso from the Ventoy menu
 
Installation and Setup
   01. Select Install Proxmox VE and press Enter
   02. Click the I agree button to accept the EULA
   03. Select the appropriate Target Harddisk from the dropdown ≫ Click Next
   04. Set the Country, Time zone and Keyboard Layout ≫ Click Next
   05. Enter a password and confirm, Enter an email address ≫ Click Next
   06. Give the Proxmox device a hostname, confirm the network settings ≫ Click Next
   07. Click the Install button
   08. Wait for Proxmox to be installed and configured
   09. After the installation succeeds, take note of the IP address and port
   10. Click the Reboot button
 
Installing a Desktop Environment
   01. Log back into Proxmox
   02. Run the following commands
         # update software repositories
         apt update
         # install available software updates
         apt dist-upgrade -y
         # install xfce desktop environment
         apt install xfce4 chromium lightdm sudo -y
         # create a new user account
         adduser ≪%username%≫
         # follow the prompts to set the user's password
         # add the new user to the sudo group
         usermod -aG sudo ≪%username%≫
         # reboot
         reboot now
   03. After the reboot, a graphical login screen should be displayed
   04. Log in with the new user account
   06. Welcome to Proxmox VE running on laptop hardware
 
Optional Configuration
   01. Launch a terminal and run the following commands
         # elevate to root
         sudo su
         # disable proxmox commmercial repo
         # add the proxmox community repo
         # update software repositories
         apt update
         # remove no subscription nag popup
         # if running promox 6
         # if running proxmox 7
         # restart pveproxy service
         # download the dark theme setup script
         # run the downloaded script
 
 

### Connect with me and others ###

[donaldwilliams]

Nice video. Just my 0.02 background music doesn't enhance tutorial videos. If you must I suggest the volume be very low. It's really distracting to some folks. Thank you

[yar]

you're the man very good video, there is a lot of people that don't have two computers or two laptops, thanks man

[peterkambasis]

Just wanted to say that your videos are awesome. They have helped me so much with Proxmox and installing a desktop environment on top of it so i don't have to log into another computer to view the vms? Amazing and thanks again!

Question (and maybe a future video idea): Do you know if it's possible to run a light desktop on top of an OpenMediaVault install, similar to what you've done here for Proxmox? Thanks!

[taurolyon]

Thank you for this. I wanted to experiment with PVE clusters, but I didn't have enough x86_64 clients (many arm64/aarch64). I had a laptop that I was just using occasionally (with Arch, BTW), and now it's switched over to PVE without issues. I would mention an ethernet connection, USB ethernet dongle, or laptop docking station is required as PVE doesn't come pre-installed with wireless network backends like wpa_supplicant or IWD, making wifi implementation impossible until these packages are installed.

I'm going to go digging in my old hardware boxes and get more of these old laptops setup. I'm just waiting for my wife to ask "Why do you have a dozen old laptops running?" to which I will reply "Proxmox goes

[manicmarauder]

This is absolute gold, not just for Proxmox desktop and dark mode, but somehow I hadn't heard of Ventoy before and had been doing it the hard way. Thanks for the video!

[ronaldkristijanto]

Nice ... I didn't know if ProxMox can have a dark theme :) ... Thank you

[Riisdahl]

Great video :)
I am considering doing this on a laptop as well, as I like the idea of using an old study laptop for this and a convenient built-in UPS. Do you know a way to control the battery charging? I would like to keep it at a set percentage eg. 50%, to put less stress on the battery. Also maybe some graceful shutdown functions relating to this :)

[edmundzed]

OK so far so good, now I want two VM's on it, Windows11 and Linuxmint and actually use those OSes with sound wifi and everything. Don't need both at the same time, usage as "dual boot" is good enough. It must be possible but I am on a dead end at the moment...

[saarhadad]

This is what I was looking for, big thanks

[vgx-sam]

Great video with nice explanation. I finally managed to get a desktop 🖥️ environment.
Btw I want to try the GPU passthrough in my laptop, i watched lots of videos, guides forums and what not but all of them either bricked my proxmox and just hanged up while booting. It would be very very helpful of you make a video on this, i really appreciate your help

My specs are:
Ryzen 5600H
8gb ddr4 ram
1650 graphics
500gb nvme (windows only)
500gb hdd ( proxmox )

[KonradCha]

This is what I was looking for! Thank you.

[bgbl]

thank you, just what i was looking for, as a noob the videos are realy easy to fallow

[kojam]

So i take it that you have to be hardwired to your router b\c i didn't see a wifi setup being done? how can i set up my wifi so i can install a desktop etc?

[Lik-eh]

Getting “No Network Interface found!” When attempting to install

[trebbia]

Hiiii Thanks a lot for all those super great videos/guide, how will work if I passthrough the GPU (the dedicated one of the laptop) to the VM's??? I mean do I need to use an external monitor in that case?

[shauncullen]

hey mate I tried following this but my laptop is not connected to any LAN so how do I get Proxmox to download updates via the laptops Wifi?? any help much appreciated

[sijojose]

Any video to use as guide to install & setup proxmox on Laptop without Ethernet? As there is no ethernet, internet connection through WIFI. Is it possible? IF yes, any video guide?

[Mohta]

Hey there! Great video, though i do have a question:
Does installing and setting up proxmox erase/reset the entire drive? (i dont really want to lose my personal files, i do not have any bootloader except the one that comes preinstalled with windows or whatever it is lol)

[sohamsarkar]

Great video. One doubt I have do we require a static IP address or dynamic will work ?

[magicmanj]

Can you install proxmox on laptop and create vm to use laptop screen like a normal laptop with proxmox running in background