Installing Proxmox VE on an old Computer

Introduction

Almost every project that i do involves some sort of server or computer. To prevent my house from having Raspberry pi’s and noisy power hungry computers scattered all around i am using a Proxmox Virtual Environment server.

This basically is one computer with multiple computers inside. The big computer is called the Hypervisor and the small computers are called Virtual Machines or VM’s. These computers are easily backupable, restorable and expandable. This opens a lot of possibilities for testing environments and enables me to have multiple servers running without having to spend a load of money on computers and power!

In this guide i am going to show you how you can install Proxmox VE for yourself. u can do it with almost any computer, for instance an old computer that has been sitting at the attic or an old office computer.

As a matter of fact for this guide i am using an old Dell Optiplex that i literally found in the scrap bin. I only had to get some RAM and a SSD to get it going since these were taken out for privacy reasons i presume.

The specs of the pc i am going to be using:

-Dell Optiplex 7010 small form factor computer

-CPU: Intel core i5-3570S quad core 3.10Ghz

-RAM: 8 GB DDR3

-Storage: 250gb Kinston SSD

Creating the installation drive

Start off by downloading the latest “Proxmox VE” installation ISO at https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads/category/iso-images-pve

Now go to https://rufus.ie/en/ and download the Latest version of “Rufus”, Rufus is a program used to write ISO files on to USB drives. this drive is used to install Proxmox on to the computer.

After u have downloaded rufus u can open the program. Now follow the instructions down below. 1 First select your usb drive. Keep in mind that all contents of the drive will be deleted. 2 Now select the ISO file “Proxmox VE” that we just downloaded. 3 Now start the writing proces.

When Rufus asks u this question click on “Write in DD Image mode” and click OK.

U now succesfully made an Proxmox VE installation drive.

Installing Proxmox VE

Start off by booting the computer that u are going to use for Proxmox from the USB that u just made. If the computer doesn’t automatically load from the drive try to push F8/F10/F12 during boot. It will ask u from wich device u want to boot. Choose the USB drive.

As soon as u see a screen like below click “Install Proxmox VE”

Now read their EULA agreement. If u agree click “I agree”, If u don’t the installation will be canceled.

Now u make sure u selected the right Harddrive/SSD. All contents of the selected drive will be deleted upon installation!

Now enter the Country where u live in and your current Time Zone.

Now enter an strong password, remember this will be the password for the main root account of the server. Pick a strong one! Here u also enter the admin email. This the email where system notifications will be send to.

Now setup the management network interface. If your network has an DHCP server it should automatically get an IP assigned. Change it to your needs. now is the only easy moment to do so.

Check if all details are right before confirming the installation. Make an picture of this screen for if u may need some of these details in the future. After u click Install Proxmox VE will be installed and the server will automatically reboot. after this u may remove the installation USB drive.

Connecting to Proxmox VE Web Interface

Note down the URL that the servers screen is showing and enter this URL in your browser. I recommend Google Chrome.

You will likely see the screen down below. Click “Advanced” -> “Proceed to URL (unsafe)” to proceed. Now the web interface should open.

Now log in to the Proxmox web interface. Use the name “root” and the password that u set up during the installation.

If u succeed in logging in and see a screen that somewhat looks like the screen down below u succeeded in the installation of Proxmox VE to your computer!

Wrapping up

You now have an fully working Virtual Machine Hypervisor! U can now start making Virtual Machines, For more information feel free to leave a comment. U can also read Proxmox’s own documentation for more info.