How to Install Proxmox VE: A Step-by-Step Setup Guide

If you've already read our Proxmox vs TrueNAS vs Unraid comparison and decided Proxmox is the right starting point, this guide walks through the actual install: making the installer USB, getting through the setup wizard, and — the part almost every beginner hits within the first ten minutes — dealing with the "no valid subscription" warning the first time you log into the web dashboard. None of this requires prior Linux experience, but a few steps trip people up in predictable ways, so we call those out as they come up.

What you'll need

• A machine with a 64-bit CPU that supports hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) — nearly any CPU from the last decade qualifies, including the budget mini PCs covered in our mini PC buying guide, but you'll need to confirm it's enabled in the BIOS, since it ships disabled on some machines.
• At least 2GB of RAM to technically boot, but plan on 8GB minimum for a real first build, and 16GB if you intend to run more than two or three virtual machines at once.
• A drive of at least 32GB for the Proxmox install itself — separate from any drives you plan to use for VM storage or a media library.
• A USB flash drive, 4GB or larger, that you're okay with wiping.
• Another computer to download the ISO and write the USB drive, plus a way to reach the target machine's web browser afterward (either directly, or from another device on the same network).

Step 1: Download the ISO and create a bootable USB

Download the current Proxmox VE ISO from the official downloads page at proxmox.com. Then write it to your USB drive with imaging software — do not just drag-and-drop the ISO file onto the drive, it needs to be written as a bootable image:

• On Windows: use Rufus. When Rufus detects the Proxmox ISO, it will prompt you to choose between "ISO Image mode" and "DD Image mode" — pick DD Image mode. This is the single most common step beginners get wrong; picking ISO mode instead produces a USB drive that won't boot correctly on some hardware.
• On macOS or Linux: balenaEtcher is the simplest option — select the ISO, select the USB drive, and flash. No mode selection needed.

Step 2: Check BIOS settings before you boot the installer

Restart the target machine, enter the BIOS/UEFI setup (commonly Del, F2, or F10 depending on the manufacturer), and confirm two things:

• Virtualization is enabled — look for "Intel VT-x," "Intel Virtualization Technology," or "AMD-V/SVM Mode" and set it to enabled. Proxmox will still install without it, but you won't be able to start most virtual machines afterward, which is a confusing dead end if you don't catch this first.
• The USB drive is set to boot first, or you know the one-time boot-menu key (often F12 or Esc) to select it manually.

On used corporate mini PCs (OptiPlex, ThinkCentre, EliteDesk), it's common to find virtualization disabled by default from the factory — don't skip this check just because the machine is "modern enough."

Step 3: Run the installer

Boot from the USB drive and choose "Install Proxmox VE" from the boot menu. The graphical installer will walk you through:

1. Target disk. Pick the drive Proxmox itself will be installed to. Click "Options" if you want to choose the filesystem — for a single-disk beginner build, leave it on the default ext4. ZFS is offered here too, but ZFS really wants either a mirrored pair of disks or ECC RAM to deliver its main benefits, and using it on a single consumer SSD mostly just adds overhead without the protection it's known for — save ZFS for a dedicated storage build or a TrueNAS VM running on top of Proxmox later.
2. Location, time zone, keyboard layout. Straightforward, but keyboard layout matters — a wrong layout can make your root password appear to fail because certain characters type differently than expected.
3. Administrator password and email. Set a real password (you'll use it constantly) and an email address — Proxmox uses it for system alert notifications, not account verification, so any address you can plausibly check works fine.
4. Network configuration. Set a static IP here if you can (rather than DHCP) — you'll be typing this address into a browser every time you manage the server, and a static IP means it won't change on you after a router reboot. If you're not sure what to pick, use an IP outside your router's DHCP range, your router's IP as the gateway, and 8.8.8.8 or your router's IP as the DNS server.

After confirming the summary screen, the install itself takes 5–10 minutes and reboots automatically when done. Remove the USB drive when prompted.

Step 4: The "no valid subscription" warning (and how to fix it)

The very first time you log into the web dashboard, you'll almost always see a pop-up dialog stating something like "No valid subscription" — this is expected, not an error, and it's the most-searched Proxmox beginner question for a reason. Proxmox ships configured to pull system updates from an enterprise repository that requires a paid subscription; without one, that repository is inaccessible and apt update will actually fail with 401 errors if you don't fix this first.

The fix is to switch to the free no-subscription repository, intended exactly for this use case:

1. Open a shell — either through the web UI's Shell button on the node, or by SSHing into the server's IP as root.
2. Disable the enterprise repo by editing /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list and commenting out (adding a # in front of) the line inside it.
3. Add the no-subscription repo by creating /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-no-subscription.list containing a line such as deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription (the codename after your Proxmox version — check the official docs for the exact line matching your version, since it changes between major Proxmox releases).
4. Run apt update, then apt full-upgrade, to pull the latest packages from the correct repo.

Step 5: Access the web dashboard

From any device on the same network, open a browser and go to https://<your-server-ip>:8006 — note the https and the :8006 port, both required. Your browser will show a certificate warning because Proxmox uses a self-signed certificate by default; this is expected on a local network and safe to proceed past (look for "Advanced" then "Proceed," wording varies by browser). Log in with username root and the password you set during install, with realm set to "Linux PAM."

Step 6: Create your first VM or container

Once you're in, you'll see your node in the left sidebar. From here you can create either:

• An LXC container — lighter weight, shares the host's Linux kernel, faster to create, good for single Linux services. Proxmox can download templates (Debian, Ubuntu, etc.) directly from its built-in template list.
• A full VM — fully isolated, can run a different OS entirely (including Windows or TrueNAS), needs an ISO uploaded first, uses more resources than a container doing the same job.

A common first project is spinning up a small Ubuntu Server VM or LXC container and installing Docker on it, then managing containers through Portainer rather than the raw command line — a natural next step once Proxmox itself is running.

Common beginner mistakes

• Skipping the no-subscription repo fix, then being confused when apt update throws 401 errors later.
• Choosing ZFS on a single consumer SSD out of habit, without the mirrored disks or RAM headroom that make it worthwhile.
• Leaving the host on DHCP, then losing track of the dashboard's IP address after a router restart hands out a different lease.
• Forgetting to enable virtualization in the BIOS, then getting a vague error when trying to start a VM for the first time.
• Giving every VM the maximum possible RAM "just in case" and starving the Proxmox host itself — leave the host at least 1–2GB of headroom beyond what you assign to VMs.

Once Proxmox is up and updated, the natural next decisions are what to run on top of it for storage — see our TrueNAS Scale vs Core comparison if you're running TrueNAS in a VM for file storage — and how you'll actually manage the containers you spin up, which is exactly what our Portainer guide covers.