Server build - Part III

Posted on Jan 22, 2026
tl;dr: Getting Proxmox onto the box, updated, and ready for the real work

So you have your shiny (or at least, finally assembled) hardware, you’ve decided you’re a Proxmox person, and now you’re staring at an empty machine thinking “right then… how do I make this thing do server things”.

This is the part where we turn a very expensive space heater into something useful.

Getting Proxmox onto the box

First job: install media.

  1. Grab the Proxmox VE ISO from the official site.
  2. Flash it to a USB stick (Balena Etcher, Rufus, dd, interpretive dance, whatever your vibe is).
  3. Boot the server and jump into BIOS/UEFI.

A couple of BIOS bits worth double-checking:

  • SVM (AMD virtualisation) enabled
  • IOMMU enabled (you said you wanted it, so lets actually turn it on)
  • Boot mode set to UEFI
  • Boot order set to your USB stick first

If you can’t find SVM/IOMMU, it will be hiding in some “Advanced” menu like a shy goblin.

Installing Proxmox (the boring wizard, but important)

The installer is pretty straightforward, but a few choices matter later:

  • Target disk:
    You can install Proxmox onto one NVMe and keep the other for VM storage, as planned.
    You should consider mirroring the two NVMes (ZFS mirror) if you value uptime more than you value living dangerously.

  • Hostname: pick something sensible like pve01.home.arpa (or something less sensible, I’m not your boss).

  • Static IP: do yourself a favour and set a static IP now. DHCP is fine for laptops, not for the box you’ll be SSH-ing into at 2am.

Once it finishes, it will hand you the management URL:

https://<your-ip>:8006

Accept the scary certificate warning (it’s self-signed, not haunted) and log in as root.

First boot jobs: updates, repos, and basic sanity

If you don’t have a Proxmox subscription, the default enterprise repo will complain like a toddler that’s been denied biscuits. Fix that first.

SSH in (or use the local console), then:

# Disable enterprise repo (no subscription, no party)
sed -i 's/^deb/# deb/' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list

# Add no-subscription repo
echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-no-subscription.list

apt update
apt full-upgrade -y
reboot

After reboot, log back into the web UI and make sure you’re not drowning in update prompts.