Install Windows 11 on ProxMox using a USB key

This is a possible method to install Windows11 onto ProxMox.  

It is using 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")
   
   
2. Create a bootable USB key using RUFUS.  This app is handy because it can tweak the Windows 11 settings for a more custom Windows install.
   
   
3. Download VirtIO Drivers ISO  VirtIO Drivers This link is from the Wikipedia page 
   
   
4. Upload the VirtIO iso to ProxMax repository.
   
   
5. In ProxMox, select Create VM to start creating a new virtual machine.
   
   
6. Assign a VM ID and Name, then click Next.
   
   
   
   
7. Select "Do Not use any media"  (we will be mounting a USB key, not an ISO)
8. Under GUEST OS, select "Microsoft Windows"
9. Set the TYPE to Microsoft Windows.  At time of writing the version was 11/2022/2025.
10. Select "Add Additional Drive for VIrtIO drivers"
11. Select the ISO image of the virtio iso that you uploaded
12. Click Next
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. Select: QEMU Agent checkbox
14. Set BIOS to OVMF (UEFI)
15. Select "ADD TPM" check box
16. Set TPM storage location
17. Set VERSION to v2.0
18. Select q35 for machine
19. Select "Add EFI DISK"
20. Set an EFI Storage location
21. Select NEXT
    
    
    
    In the Disks section: 
    
    
22. Set the disk size This example uses 100GB of storage. 
23. Set Cache to Write back 
24. Select Discard option (for reclaiming unused storage space on thin-provisioned storage).
    
    
    
    
25. Select "NEXT"
26. In this example shown below, 2 CPU sockets and 2 cores have been configured. 
    Everything else in this screen shot were default settings.
    
    
    
    
    
27. Assign ram.  In this example, 8 Gig has been assigned.
    
    
    
    
28. The networking was left at their default settings
    
    
    
    
29. Confirm everything is right and click "FINISH"
    
    
    
    
    
30. It may take a few seconds, but your guest will appear in the list
    
    
    
    
    
31.  Select the guest, then click on "hardware" and then ADD
    
32. Select USB DEVICE
    
    
33. Select "Use USB port" -> Passthrough a full port -> then select your device from the drop box
    
    In this example, the Kingston DataTraveler 3.0 key has the Windows 11 image burned on it with RUFUS.
    
    Once selected, click on "ADD"
    
    
    
    
34. You should see your device in the hardware list
35. Now you can power up your VM.
    Click on "CONSOLE" then "Start Now"
    
    
    
    
    
    
36. You'll may be prompted to press a key during the boot for windows to start the installation.
    
    
    
    
37. Go through the installation process of windows, 
    
    
    
    
38. Follow the Windows installer steps until you reach the setup window that (at time of writing) looks similar to the screenshot below.
    
    
39. Click Load driver 
    
    
    
    
    
40. Click BROWSE and go to the drive that has the ISO "virtio-win-0.1.285.iso" mounted.
    
    
    
41. Browse to \amd64\w11 and select OK
    
    
42. Select "Red Hat VirtIO SCSI pass-through controller" from the list
    
    
43. Select "INSTALL"
    
    
    
    
44. After installation completes successfully you will be brought back to this screen.
    
    
    
    
    
    
45. Select "LOAD DRIVER" again.
    
    
    
    
46. You may be prompted to accept license terms again. Select virtio-win-0.1.285
    
    
47. Browse to \NetKVM\w11\amd64 in the "cd drive" that is called virtio-win-0.1.285 and select OK.
48. Select the "Red Hat VirtIO Ethernet Adapter"
49. Click on INSTALL
    
    
    
    
50. You'll be taken to this screen again
    
    

    
    
    
51. Select "LOAD DRIVER" again
    
    
52. Accept the license terms if asked again (you may need to select "LOAD DRIVER" additionally)
    
    
53. Browse to \balloon\w11\amd64 in the in the "cd drive" that is called virtio-win-0.1.285 and install the "VirtIO Balloon Driver
    
    
    
    
54. You will once again be taken to this screen.
    
    
    
    
55. Select the partition you want to install Windows 11 on (generally DISK 1) and will be the drive with the largest size.
56. Select NEXT
    
    Windows will start to install
    

    
    
    
57. Once Windows is installed, go to "MY COMPUTER" and there should be your mounted ISO of "Virtio-win" drivers.  Run the installer called "Virtio-win-gt-x65"
    
    

    

    
    
58. 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.
    
    

    

    
    Complete the Windows 11 setup by configuring regional settings, user accounts, and privacy preferences.
    
    
59. Verify that all drivers are installed in Device Manager.
60. Once this is completed, shutdown the guest
61. Select "HARDWARE" and look for the virtio-win-0.1.285 iso and double click it.
62. Set the CD/DVD drive to "Do Not use any media" and then select "OK"
    
    
63. You should be able to start your guest and continue using it!
64. If you want to be able to VNC to the image without going through ProxMox, follow this link
    
    
65. 
    
    

Install a guest using a bootable USB key with ProxMox

Create a guest VM in Proxmox using a bootable USB key

1. Plug in your key into your ProxMax Server
   
   
2. Click on the "HARDWARE" section in your Windows guest summary and click on ADD
   
   
   
   
3. Select USB DEVICE
   
   
   
4. Select "Use USB port" -> Passthrough a full port -> then select your device
   
   In this example, the Kingston DataTraveler 3.0 key has the Windows 11 image on it.
   Once selected, click on "ADD"
   
   
   You should see your device in the hardware list

Under summary, go to OPTIONS - >BOOT ORDER

Select the USB USB device, and drag the entry to the top to boot first and press OK

Configure an XTOUCH with an X32

To configure the X-Touch to control the X32 Rack mixer, follow these steps:

1. Connect the X-Touch and the X32 Rack to your network. (Assuming DHCP enabled on network)
   
   
2. Power up your x32
   
   
3. Under "SETUP -> REMOTE" make sure "X-Touch over Ethernet" is check boxed
   
   
4. With the X-Touch powered OFF, hold down "SETUP" button on Input 1 and then turn on the unit.
   
   
5. On Fader 1, set the MODE in the screen to "XCTL"
   
   
6. On Fader 2, set the mode to "NETWORK"
   
   
7. On Fader 3, set the mode to "DHCP"
   
   
8. An IP address should show up after 5-10 seconds.
   
   
9. Select "SCAN" on fader 8.  (this will search for an x32 on the network)
   
   
10. In a couple of seconds your Xtouch should light right up with all the settings that are in the X32 reflected on its surface.

Setup a fixture in QLC+

 1>  Set your DMX adapter as an OUTPUT in the Input/Output tab

2>  Add your fixture.  

If you have to create your own, use the fixture definition editor that comes with QLC+.  

The Slimline 9Q8 definition is available on the QLC community forum page.  But this process will be similar to any fixture.

3> Create a basic scene for your fixture. 

 In this example below, we create a Scene called "RED" which, when activated will make the fixture go red when a button is pressed.

If you have the DMX adapter selected properly, your light connected with the matching DMX values, this step SHOULD trigger your light to respond to the changes as you move these faders.

4>  Assign a button to the scene you created.

5>  Go into "OPERATE" mode (pressing the green arrow) and then press the button you created in step 4 should make the light go red.

OBS Hotkey Buttons

 This is a program that I wrote to give me 9 buttons that, upon selection, would run a batch file.
You can use this for most anything, I use it in OBS to trigger camera recalls.

Here is the link

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ykz7O9Jtv8FseBUAVkGHXUBMF83hNtoo?usp=sharing

This is the application.

Put it in its own folder, and run the app.  It will create a few files:

It will create a .CONF file and it will create 9 test .bat files.

You can customize each button name

You can change the title of the window itself

You can customize the color of the background and the font size.

The Batch files are test and simply echo "This is a test" for 5 seconds.

If you don't want to use these, just delete them.  But the program itself, each button looks for a file name called "preset1.bat" or "preset2.bat", the number reflecting the button being pressed.

I use this in OBS to trigger events.  You can use "Window Dock" plugin to dock these right into the OBS screen.

Windows Route add and delete

ADD syntax:

route add LOCALIP mask SUBNET GATEWAY

EXAMPLE
route add 141.196.0.0 mask 255.255.0.0 192.168.129.248

DELETE syntax:

route delete IP

EXAMPLE;
route delete 141.196.0.0

Send VISCA commands using windows batch file

Have a situation where I want to control some FOMAKO cameras using VISCA, but from a Windows command prompt.  These commands for VISCA are HEX values which are sent.

You'll need two programs

1:  NCAT  (this will send the actual HEX commands)

https://nmap.org/dist/nmap-7.98-setup.exe

2:  XXD   (This tool will translate HEX commands)

https://sourceforge.net/projects/xxd-for-windows/

Download and install these.

From a simplicity sake, drop XXD into a folder that will contain your batch files.  You can add it to your system path, there are lots of online tutorials already

The command syntax is as follows:

echo 'HEX VALUE' | xxd -r -p | ncat CAMERA_IP VISCA_PORT

So the example below will send the HEX to the camera at 192.168.0.11 port 52381 and change it to recall a set point #3 (substitute 03 in bold for 01 or 02 or whatever preset value you want to recall.

echo '8101043f0203ff' | xxd -r -p | ncat 192.168.0.11 52381

I incorporated it a batch file because I wanted to send some other commands.

This batch file example send command from one computer to another computer running OBS. 
So the first computer runs a .bat file and it looks like this:

echo '8101043f0203ff' | xxd -r -p | ncat 192.168.0.11 52381

timeout /T 3 /NOBREAK > NUL

C:\OBSCommand\OBSCommand.exe /server=192.168.0.10:4455 /password="password01" /scene="Slide1" /delay=1

So the above syntax contained in a BAT file to do the following:

Command camera @ 192.168.0.11 to move to Preset #3

Wait 3 seconds 

Sends a WebSocket command to OBS to change the scene called "Slide1".

Here are my camera network settings, just in case you run into issues with your camera, to help troubleshooting.