Windows 11 on ProxMox

These instructions are how to install Windows11 onto ProxMox.  It is useing a bootable usb key from the microsoft site, mounted onto the ProxMox server, and then the guest VM is built from that.

1. Download the Windows 11 ISO Download Windows 11 (search for "Windows 11 Media Creation Tool")
   
   Create a bootable Image USB stick.  You can use this link on this site as a reference how to mount it in Proxmox
   
   
2. Download VirtIO Drivers ISO  VirtIO Drivers This link is from the wikipedia page 
   
3. Upload the VirtIO iso to ProxMax repository.
4. In Proxmox, select Create VM to start creating a new virtual machine.
   
5. Assign a VM ID and Name, then click Next.
   
   
   
   
6. Under GUEST OS, select the uploaded Windows 11 ISO
7. Set the TYPE to Microsoft Windows.  At time of writing the version was 11/2022/2025.
8. Select "Add Additional Drive for VIrtIO drivers"
9. Select the ISO image of the virtio iso.
10. Click Next
    
    
    
    
11. Select: QEMU Agent.
12. Set BIOS to OVMF (UEFI)
13. Select "ADD TPM" and set TP storage
14. Select q35 for machine
15. Set an EFI Storage location
    
    
    
    In the Disks section: 
16. Set the disk size to at least 64GB. 
17. Set Cache to Write back 
18. Select Discard option (for reclaiming unused storage space on thin-provisioned storage).
    
    
    
    
19. In this example show below, 2 sockets and 2 cores have been configured. 
    Everything else in this screen shot were default settings.
    
    
    
    
20. Assign ram.  In this example, 8 Gig has been assigned.
    
    
    
    
21. The networking was left at their default settings
    
    
    
    
22. Confirm everything is right and click "FINISH"
    
    
    
    
23. Start the VM and open the console to begin the Windows 11 installation.
    
    
    
    
24. You'll be prompted to press a key during the boot for windows to start the installation.
    
    
    
    
25. Go through the installation process of windows, 
    
    
    
    
26. Follow the Windows installer steps until you reach the Custom (advanced) installation type. At time of writing the screen to watch for is the one below.
27. Click Load driver 
    
    
    
    
28. Click BROWSE and go to the drive that has the ISO "virtio-win-0.1.285.iso" mounted.
    
    
    
    
29. Browse to \amd64\w11 and select "Red Hat VirtIO SCSI pass-through controller"
30. Select "INSTALL"
    
    
    
    
31. After installation completes successfully you will be brought back to this screen.
    In my example, after loading those drivers I could pick the local storage where I needed to install the Guest OS onto.
    
32. Select "LOAD DRIVER" again.
    
    
    
    
33. Browse to \NetKVM\w11\amd64 and install the "Red Hat VirtIO Ethernet Adapter"
    
    
    
    
34. Select "LOAD DRIVER" again
35. Browse to \balloon\w11\amd64 and install the "VirtIO Balloon Driver
    
    
    
    
36. After loading the drivers, select the drive to install Windows on and continue with the Windows installation.
37. Once Windows is installed, install the QEMU Guest Agent from the VirtIO ISO (guest-agent\qemu-ga-x86_64.msi) to fix mouse pointer issues and enable advanced features.
38. Install all remaining drivers using the virtio-win-gt-x64.msi file on the VirtIO ISO. Restart the VM after installation.
39. Complete the Windows 11 setup by configuring regional settings, user accounts, and privacy preferences.
40. Verify that all drivers are installed in Device Manager.