Installing Proxmox VE on Raspberry Pi: A Step-by-Step Guide

Proxmox has always been quietly… quietly paying attention to ARM, and core developers have repeatedly stated: as long as needed, an ARM version of Proxmox VE can be provided at any time.

They have also mentioned that they never restrict users from porting Proxmox VE to ARM.

In fact, in 2021, a German developer created a project called Pimox6, which ported Proxmox VE 6 to the Raspberry Pi 4, proving that Proxmox’s claims are not false. Later, Pimox7 was developed, which also ported Proxmox VE 7 to the Raspberry Pi… continuing to demonstrate that Proxmox’s official statements are indeed true.

Without further ado, here are simple steps to install Proxmox on the Raspberry Pi 4.

Prerequisites:
– Raspberry Pi (recommended model 4B)
– SD card (recommended USB-SSD)
– Internet connection
– RPi-OS-64bit ( Download Link)
– Know how to create a USB boot device (Windows: RasPiImager, balenaetcher, Win32DiskImager; Linux: dd)…
– Know how to connect to Raspberry Pi via ssh
– 30 minutes to 2 hours of spare time (mainly depending on your Raspberry Pi model, disk speed, and network speed)
Step 1: Start the Raspberry Pi, update the system, and install necessary tools with the following commands:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo apt install -y gnupg curl #nmon #screen

Step 2: Note your system version number, confirm that the current system version should be Debian 10 buster, and then delete all software sources:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list

Step 3: Add Debian 11 bullseye software source.
Open the sources.list configuration file with an editor:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Ensure it contains the following content:
# Raspberry Pi Bullseye Repo
deb http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/ bullseye main
# Pimox7 Repo
deb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pimox/pimox7/master/ dev/
# Debian Repo
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
# Security Updates
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib non-free

Step 4: Add the Pimox7 project’s key:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pimox/pimox7/master/KEY.gpg | sudo apt-key add -

Step 5: Update the Debian 11 system and install the kernel header package:

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade -y && sudo apt install -y raspberrypi-kernel-headers

Step 6: Edit the interfaces configuration file to assign a static IP to the Raspberry Pi:

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Example configuration file:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.xxx.xxx/24
gateway 192.168.xxx.1

Step 7: Set the hostname and remove all IPv6 settings from the hosts file:

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname RPi4-PVE-01

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Example hosts configuration:
192.168.xxx.xxx RPi4-PVE-01
127.0.0.1 localhost

Step 8: Uninstall dhcpclient to ensure static IP is always used (since dhcp is not needed anymore, it’s cleaner to remove it):

sudo apt purge -y dhcpcd5 && sudo apt autoremove -y

Step 9: Set a password for the root user:

sudo -u root passwd

Step 10: Install Proxmox VE:

screen -S pveinst sudo apt install -y proxmox-ve && sudo systemctl reboot

The installation process may show some errors, such as some services not starting or symbolic links in RPiOS not existing. Just ignore these errors.

After installation, the Raspberry Pi will automatically reboot, and you can access your Proxmox VE through your browser.

Forum Link

BTW: I believe that Proxmox can indeed release an ARM version of PVE at any time… it’s just that the ARM server ecosystem is still a bit chaotic and small. Especially in the European and American markets, x86 remains the mainstream, while in the Chinese market, the habit of paying has not yet developed; from a commercial perspective, Proxmox’s support for ARM is not profitable. In the short term, if you want to use ARM, you can only rely on yourself or try projects like Pimox7. Proxmox has always provided users with almost unlimited freedom and joy. Good night and sweet dreams to everyone.