ProxMenux LogoProxMenux

Create VM

Virtual Machines~2 minView script

ProxMenux groups VM creation into an interactive dispatcher. Pick the operating system family and the matching wizard handles ISO selection, CPU, RAM, BIOS, network, storage and — optionally — GPU passthrough.

What this menu is for

The Create VM menu is a router, not a single wizard. It asks which operating system family you want to install and loads the appropriate ISO selector and configurator. Default flows use sensible ProxMenux presets; Advanced flows expose every configurable option before the VM is created.

Opening the menu

From ProxMenux's main menu, select Create VM. You will see this:

Create VM dispatcher with 3 ProxMenux options (NAS / Windows / Linux) followed by the Community Scripts section (macOS / Others)

Three OS families

The three ProxMenux entries at the top of the menu share the same underlying engine and post-ISO flow — they just route to different ISO selectors and apply defaults tuned for each family. Pick the one that matches the guest you want to install.

System NAS

Seven NAS operating systems as dedicated VMs. Most use the auto-ISO flow; Synology DSM runs the specialised loader wizard.

  • Synology DSM (ARC / RR / TinyCore loaders)
  • TrueNAS SCALE and CORE (ZFS)
  • OpenMediaVault (Debian-based)
  • XigmaNAS (FreeBSD ZFS)
  • Rockstor (openSUSE / Btrfs), ZimaOS

System Windows

Windows 10, 11 and Server editions with Windows-friendly defaults (q35 + OVMF + TPM 2.0) and VirtIO drivers pre-mounted.

  • UUP Dump for up-to-date ISOs
  • Or local ISO from /var/lib/vz/template/iso
  • TPM 2.0 added automatically
  • VirtIO drivers ISO attached to ide3
  • Guest agent channel enabled

System Linux

Curated catalogue of official Linux ISOs auto-downloaded from upstream, plus a local-ISO picker for anything else.

  • Ubuntu (Desktop / Server, 20.04–25.10)
  • Debian (Desktop / Netinst, 11–13)
  • Fedora, Arch, Rocky, Mint, openSUSE
  • Alpine, Kali, Manjaro
  • Local ISO path for custom images

Community scripts (not documented here)

The two entries below the Community Scripts separator run code that is not part of ProxMenux, so they are intentionally left outside this documentation:
  • System macOS — runs the external OSX-PROXMOX installer. It clones the upstream repository, prepares the host and reboots automatically when finished. Refer to the project's own documentation.
  • System Others (Linux-based) — loads a curated list of community Linux-based installers (home-server OSes, router/firewall appliances, etc.). Each community script is maintained outside ProxMenux.

What happens after you pick an OS

Once the ISO is selected, the dispatcher takes the same path regardless of OS family:

  1. Default vs Advanced. A confirmation dialog lets you accept ProxMenux presets or open the full configurator (CPU model/cores, RAM, BIOS/UEFI, NIC model, machine type).
  2. Storage plan. You combine one or several virtual disks, imported disks and PCI passthrough devices (whole controller / NVMe) in the same VM.
  3. Optional GPU passthrough. If a compatible GPU is detected on the host, ProxMenux offers to launch the GPU assistant after the VM is created — a reboot may be required.
  4. VM creation. The VM is built, tagged, and a styled HTML description is attached to it for quick reference in the Proxmox UI.

Prefer Advanced for VMs you intend to keep

Default presets work well for quick tests. For a VM you intend to keep, the Advanced path lets you pick the right BIOS (SeaBIOS vs OVMF/UEFI), machine type (i440fx vs q35) and disk controller (VirtIO SCSI single vs SATA) up front — these are painful to change later.

Scripts involved

The dispatcher sources several shared component scripts not documented as individual pages. They are listed here for reference. Each sub-page links to the main script relevant to its flow.

ScriptRole
menus/create_vm_menu.shEntry point dispatcher.
vm/select_nas_iso.shISO / appliance selector for NAS systems (Synology, TrueNAS, OMV, Rockstor, ZimaOS).
vm/select_windows_iso.shWindows ISO selector. Delegates to the UUP Dump builder when needed.
vm/select_linux_iso.shLinux ISO selector for the Linux flow (mainstream distributions).
vm/synology.shSynology DSM flow: fetches loader and DSM image and prepares the VM profile.
vm/zimaos.shZimaOS flow: downloads the image and wires it into the VM definition.
vm/vm_configurator.shDefault vs Advanced wizard: CPU model/cores, RAM, BIOS, NIC, machine type.
vm/disk_selector.shStorage plan: virtual disk, disk import, or Controller/NVMe passthrough.
vm/vm_creator.shFinal VM creation: applies the config, attaches storage, writes the HTML description.
vm/guest_agent_config.shOptional QEMU guest agent setup hook, used by several flows.

Related

ProxMenux Scripts: Previous
Switch GPU Mode (VM ↔ LXC)
ProxMenux Scripts: Next
System NAS