How to Install Proxmox on the Raspberry Pi

Source

• Type: webpage
• Origin: https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-proxmox/
• Imported: 2026-06-11
• Images: 5 downloaded to ./assets/pimylifeup-raspberry-pi-proxmox/ (thumbnail, Postfix prompts, login, web interface)

Content

Proxmox Virtual Environment is an open-source virtualization platform with a powerful web interface for managing virtual machines and containers on a Raspberry Pi. Recent Proxmox VE releases support ARM systems, but the upstream project does not ship ARM64 builds. This guide uses PXVirt, a third-party fork that maintains feature parity with Proxmox VE and adds ARM optimizations.

• Bookworm → Proxmox 8
• Trixie → Proxmox 9

Use a clean 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS Lite install (Bookworm or Trixie). Avoid heavy VMs; newer Pis (especially Pi 5) work best.

Requirements

• Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit (Bookworm or Trixie)
• Static IP address (DHCP reservation recommended)
• Clean OS install recommended

Preparing the Raspberry Pi

1. Update packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

2. Install curl (needed for the PXVirt GPG key):

sudo apt install curl

3. Configure a static IP (router DHCP reservation or Pi-side config).

Modify /etc/hosts

Proxmox expects the hostname to resolve to the Pi’s LAN IP, not 127.0.0.1.

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Change:

127.0.0.1            raspberrypi

To (replace with your Pi’s IP):

192.168.0.32            raspberrypi

Verify:

hostname --ip-address

Disable Cloud-Init hosts management

Cloud-init can overwrite /etc/hosts on reboot. Comment out update_etc_hosts:

sudo nano /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg

Under cloud_init_modules, change:

  - update_etc_hosts

To:

#  - update_etc_hosts

Set root password

Required for Proxmox web login:

sudo passwd root

Add the PXVirt repository

1. Import GPG key:

curl -L https://mirrors.lierfang.com/pxcloud/lierfang.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/lierfang.gpg >/dev/null

2. Load OS codename:

source /etc/os-release

3. Add repository:

echo "deb [arch=arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/lierfang.gpg] https://mirrors.lierfang.com/pxcloud/pxvirt $VERSION_CODENAME main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pveport.list

4. Refresh package lists:

sudo apt update

Prepare networking for Proxmox

Disable NetworkManager

sudo systemctl disable NetworkManager
sudo systemctl stop NetworkManager
sudo systemctl mask NetworkManager

Install ifupdown2

sudo apt install ifupdown2

If you see error: Another instance of this program is already running.:

sudo rm /tmp/.ifupdown2-first-install
sudo apt install ifupdown2

Configure /etc/network/interfaces

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Add (replace placeholders):

auto lo
  iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
  iface eth0 inet manual

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet manual
        address <IPADDRESS>
        gateway <GATEWAY>
        dns-nameservers <DNS>
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        bridge-ports eth0
        bridge-stp off
        bridge-fd 0

Example:

auto lo
  iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
  iface eth0 inet manual

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet manual
        address 192.168.0.200
        gateway 192.168.0.1
        dns-nameservers 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        bridge-ports eth0
        bridge-stp off
        bridge-fd 0

Reboot to apply:

sudo reboot

Install Proxmox VE

sudo apt install proxmox-ve postfix open-iscsi pve-edk2-firmware-aarch64

During Postfix setup, choose Local only if unsure:

Leave the default system mail name unless you know otherwise:

If installation fails with Errors were encountered while processing: pxvirt-spdk, re-run the install command.

Access the web interface

Get the Pi IP:

hostname -I

Open in a browser:

https://<IPADDRESS>:8006

Log in as root with the password set earlier:

After login, use the web UI to create VMs and configure the host:

Key Takeaways

• Official Proxmox VE has no ARM64 builds; PXVirt is the third-party fork used for Raspberry Pi.
• Requires 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Bookworm or Trixie), a static IP, and hostname/IP alignment in /etc/hosts.
• Disable NetworkManager and configure vmbr0 bridging before install to avoid losing network access.
• Web UI: https://<pi-ip>:8006 as user root.
• Keep VM workloads light; Pi 5 is the recommended hardware class for this experiment.