Basic Linux Installation Guide

Installing Linux systems

The installation process for both the desktop physical machines and Linux VMs is pretty straight forward. The idea is to get a vanilla basic installation that can be built from. The process is similar doing it on a physical machine as it is on a VM. There

Create a Bootable USB key

If you are installing on a VM, skip on down.

Or Create a VM from the Proxmox Console

Pretty much stick to the defaults. Make sure to create the disk on fast1, fast2 or fast3. The distribution ISO files are on local (pve). The current usual candidate is Kubuntu 26.04, but other distributions are available and loaded in the library.

If a distribution that is not currently available is wanted, select local (pve) from the left panel, click on ISO Images and the upload. This will load an image from the local machine to the pve system.

A minimal install will work on server VMs. The complete set of tools that comes with the full distribution is not needed. It is nice to have a desktop display that can be run from the console, however.

Click on Create VM on the upper right to start the process. Proxmox will assign a number, or you can assign one that is not currently in use. Pick a memorable name based on use. I use the distro name if I am testing. Pick volume that has sufficient space to hold the vdisk.

The only configuration that is normally needed is to set the number of cores to be assigned. and the size to allocate for memory.

The system will boot after confirmation. Go to the console for the machine to continue the installation of the OS.

Install the Linux Disro

This is pretty much a case of answer obvious questions and then waiting for the install to complete.

Installation screen: Next 
Timezone: Next unless you want the machine to be elsewhere
Keyboard: Next
Installation mode: Select full for a desktop, minimal for a server VM
  Select Download and install updates: Next
In partitions, the disk is already selected, select erase: Next
Set the user and machine information. Since we are all friends, click on Log oin automatically: Next
Review the confirmation page and fix if necessary: Install
There will be a popup confirming that the disk contents will be destroyed, but we don't care: Install now

Now you can go away for a while. Don't panic, the progress stalls at around 90% for a while but everything is working correctly.

After the install completes, the system will need to reboot. 
Proxmox takes care to boot from the drive rather than the virtual CD: Done

The Kubuntu splash screen will appear and move on to configuring the system.

The process for installing native Ubuntu has a few more options, particularly on formatting the disk. The process is pretty much the same though.

Note: If you are installing Ubuntu DO NOT install with the ZFS option