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Utilities & Tools

Utilities~5 minView script

Six tools that round out the day-to-day Proxmox VE workflow: ISO creation, system maintenance and VM portability. Each option is independent — pick the one you need; nothing is installed until you ask for it.

What this menu is for

Three groups of unrelated but commonly-needed tools: build a Windows ISO from UUP Dump, maintain the Proxmox host (CLI utilities, updates, the major-version upgrade), and move VMs in and out of Proxmox using the standard OVA / OVF format.

Opening the menu

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

Utilities menu with UUP Dump, system utilities, update, upgrade, export and import

Three tool groups

The six tools fall into three independent groups. Click a card below to jump to the matching section.

ISO creation

Build official Windows ISOs from UUP Dump on the Proxmox host itself.

  • UUP Dump shared link → bootable ISO
  • Dependencies installed automatically
  • Result drops into Proxmox's ISO template path

System maintenance

Keep the host healthy: CLI tooling, regular updates, and the major-version upgrade when it's time.

  • System Utilities Installer (26 CLI tools)
  • Proxmox System Update (apt + dist-upgrade)
  • PVE 8 → PVE 9 major upgrade

VM portability

Move VMs in and out of Proxmox using the standard OVA / OVF format.

  • Export Proxmox VM → OVA / OVF
  • Import OVA / OVF → Proxmox VM
  • Compatible with VMware and VirtualBox

The PVE 8 → 9 upgrade is destructive and not reversible

A major-version upgrade rewrites the Debian base (Bookworm → Trixie) and the Proxmox stack in place. There is no rollback path — you need verified backups of every VM and CT and console / IPMI / iKVM access before you start. The upgrade tool refuses to run from the Proxmox web terminal for this reason.

ISO creation

Build a fresh, up-to-date Windows installation ISO directly on the Proxmox host. The script automates the whole UUP Dump flow: dependency install (aria2c, cabextract, wimlib-imagex, …), parallelised download of the update files via aria2, and conversion into a single bootable ISO that lands in /var/lib/vz/template/iso ready to attach to a VM.

UUP Dump ISO Creator
Build an up-to-date Windows installation ISO from a UUP Dump shared link. Dependencies, download and conversion fully automated; the resulting ISO lands in /var/lib/vz/template/iso ready for VM creation.

System maintenance

Three tools cover the day-to-day and once-in-a-while host work. System Utilities Installer sets up the CLI tools you actually use after a fresh install. Proxmox System Update is the weekly / monthly hygiene run. Upgrade PVE 8 to PVE 9 is the once-per-major-cycle big move — handled with extra safety gates because it's not reversible.

System Utilities Installer
Curated picker for 26 CLI tools (htop, btop, iperf3, jq, tmux, ncdu, ...) with custom selection or predefined groups (basic, dev, compression, multiplexers, analysis, network). Uses the canonical repo + verify-command flow.
Proxmox System Update
Repo hygiene + apt update + apt dist-upgrade with reboot prompt. Detects PVE major version (8 or 9) and routes to the matching worker. Switches to no-subscription, removes conflicting packages, runs autoremove.
Upgrade PVE 8 to PVE 9
Major-version upgrade (Debian Bookworm → Trixie + PVE 8 → 9). Pre-flight checks, repository migration, automated or interactive mode, post-upgrade validation and reboot. Refuses to run from the web terminal.

VM portability (OVA / OVF)

OVA and OVF are the cross-hypervisor packaging formats from the DMTF standard — supported by VMware, VirtualBox and Proxmox. The two tools are designed to round-trip: a VM exported from Proxmox can be imported back, and vice versa. Use them to migrate workloads off ESXi, take a portable backup of a VM, or share a prepared VM with someone running VirtualBox.

Export VM to OVA / OVF
Convert a Proxmox VM into a portable OVA archive or OVF directory. Standard DMTF schema, SHA1 manifest, streamOptimized VMDK disks. Importable on VMware (ESXi / Workstation / Fusion), VirtualBox and back into Proxmox.
Import VM from OVA / OVF
Bring a VMware / VirtualBox / ProxMenux export back into Proxmox. Auto-extracts OVA, parses OVF metadata, creates the VM and imports each disk as the storage-native format.

A note on disk space for export / import

Both tools convert disk formats: export uses qemu-img convert -O vmdk -o subformat=streamOptimized; import uses qm importdisk to convert back to the storage-native format (qcow2 / raw). Plan for ~120% of virtual disk size for OVF and ~220% for OVA — the conversion writes the full disk before any compression. Check the destination directory has the headroom before you start.

How the menu fits together

Each tool has a dedicated script under scripts/utilities/. The Proxmox System Update is a wrapper that delegates to one of two worker scripts in scripts/global/ depending on the detected major version (PVE 8 or PVE 9). The PVE 8 → 9 upgrade exposes two extra menu actions inside its own flow — a stand-alone Pre-upgrade check (runs pve8to9 --full) and a read-only Manual upgrade guide (17-step runbook) — for users who want to inspect or operate by hand instead of the automated path.

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