Running Proxmox in VirtualBox hypervisor prevents the usage of the entire hard disk on the machine. Bobcares, as a part of our Proxmox Support Services, offers solutions to every query that comes our way.

Running Proxmox in VirtualBox hypervisor

Proxmox is an open-source software server for managing virtualization. Installing the Proxmox server inside a machine will allow us to turn it into a Proxmox system, but doing so will use up the entire hard drive and result in the removal of the previous operating system.

To avoid this, we can run it inside a VirtualBox. However, it will affect the performance since it is similar to nested virtualization. Here, we are going to run a Proxmox server on an Oracle VirtualBox. We’ll launch a mini VM in Proxmox after the installation is complete to test the system.

Pre-requisites: Proxmox Virtual Environment Image, Machine with VirtualBox installed.

Steps to run Proxmox in VirtualBox hypervisor

Creating a new Proxmox VM in VirtualBox

1. First, open the VirtualBox.

2. Click on Machine >> New (CTRL+N).

3. The dialog for creating a new virtual machine will now appear. Make sure we selected the wizard’s expert option, which gives us more control over the Proxmox virtual machine we’re about to create. We’ve to enter the details in each textbox as follows.

Name: Name for the VM

Machine folder: Location where we need to install the VM. There will be a default location. But, we can change it

Type: Linux

Version: Debian (Since Proxmox is based on Debian Linux)

Memory: 8GB of memory

Hard disk: Choose “Create a virtual hard disk now”

4. Finally, click on Create.

Creating a virtual hard disk

We’ve to set up the storage space for the Proxmox server now. We are doing it via a virtual hard disk creation wizard. Provide the details in each textbox as follows.

File size: Specify the storage for the VMs.

Hard disk file type: Select the hypervisor for the VM. By default, it will be VDI. We can also select VMDK.

Storage on physical hard disk: Select “Dynamically allocated”.

Lastly, click on Create.

Proxmox Configuration

Proxmox VE Vm will appear now. Right-click on the virtual machine and click on settings.

Under the System, we can set up the CPU count.

Then enable intel VT-x/AMD-V on the bios settings (for AMD CPU). For Intel-based machines, use VirtualBox CLI to enable it.

Setting up Proxmox iso file

Click on Storage-> Under Empty disk -> Browse for the Proxmox iso image.

Network set up

We need to be able to access the Proxmox management GUI from the host machine when the Proxmox installation is complete. The virtual machine we’ll install in the Proxmox has to be able to connect to the internet. So, we select a bridged adapter and make sure we select the appropriate adapter for the LAN network.

Setting up the Proxmox server in VirtualBox

Firstly, start the VM by right-clicking it.

Now, the installation wizard will start. Select to install Proxmox VE.

We can see that within a little period of time, the Proxmox virtual machine has acquired an IP address automatically.

By clicking “I agree”, we agree to the licensing agreement.

As defined in the Proxmox VM, we will see the 100GB of virtual hard disc. Choose next.

We need to select the location and the language of choice and click on Next. Enter the password and the email address. Also, make sure to save this password. The IP address was already assigned using DHCP.

Now we’ll get a Summary page about the setup details. Uncheck the option that says “Automatically reboot after successful installation”. Then click on Install. Don’t click on the Reboot option suddenly after the installation completes.

Uncheck the Proxmox iso image that was checked under Devices-> Optical Drives. Click the instruction that says “Force Unmount.” We can then select Reboot from the installation wizard’s menu.

Running Proxmox in VirtualBox

The Proxmox server will soon load and we’ll see a screen with the URL to access the web GUI of the Proxmox server and the login prompt. We can log in with the root username and password we set during the installation.

We can type the URL that we see on the Proxmox CLI to access the web GUI. A security warning will appear. We can disregard that and carry on. To access the Proxmox online GUI, type root as the username and root as the password, then click Login.

The Proxmox screen with the system information will soon appear.

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Conclusion

While running Proxmox in the VirtualBox, we are performing a kind of nested virtualization. There will be performance issues considering this fact.