Install Proxmox on Debian

Two methods of installation are available for Proxmox: using the official ISO image, or installing the required packages yourself from the official repository. This post explains the second method.

• Goal: Install Proxmox 9 on Debian 13
• Environment: Debian 13.1 (trixie)

Foreword#

Installing Proxmox on top of your Debian implicitly assumes that you already master the base system (installation and configuration of the usual packages and tools) and that your local storage is already set up (with LVM, for example).

If you are not sure about your installation or about managing the pre-install phase of Proxmox, prefer the official ISO image, which does the job for you in a few clicks with a similar result.

Requirements and configuration#

Before starting the Proxmox installation and its tools, make sure your system is up to date with a quick sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade.

Your host needs a static IP and a correctly filled /etc/hosts file. This is required to have a fully functional hypervisor, even more so if you want to build a cluster of several machines. Check the /etc/hosts file; you should have at least this information:

127.0.0.1 localhost
<ip-server> <hostname>

## EXAMPLE
# 192.168.1.120 pve1

It is essential to comment out the line 127.0.1.1 <hostname> to avoid network problems when installing Proxmox. You can read more information in this bug report .

Let’s now create a file with the address of the official Proxmox repository:

echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve trixie pve-no-subscription" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-install.list

It is necessary to authenticate the repository using its GPG key, to ensure that the packages come from a recognized and valid source. The GPG key is available from the official site and is imported as follows:

wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-trixie.gpg -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-trixie.gpg

This key applies to both the enterprise and no-subscription repositories. Let’s start by installing the kernel.

Installation of the “pve” kernel#

Proxmox provides Linux kernels that are specially patched and optimized, offering robust support, especially for KVM virtualization. These configurations, validated by Proxmox technical support, ensure that a PVE host is genuinely prepared to support various types of virtualization.

To get the latest available kernels, update the repository list in your terminal:

sudo apt update

The method recommended by Proxmox is to install the proxmox-default-kernel meta-package, which automatically pulls in the recommended kernel and keeps it up to date across upgrades:

sudo apt install proxmox-default-kernel

Note: the old pve-kernel-* package names no longer exist; kernels are now named proxmox-kernel-*. If you want to pin a specific branch, list the available kernels with apt search proxmox-kernel, then install it directly (for example proxmox-kernel-6.14). At the time of updating this article (May 2026), the default branch on Proxmox VE 9 is 6.14, with 6.17 available as an opt-in.

Don’t forget to reboot your machine once the installation is complete so the new kernel is activated.

Once your system has rebooted, you can proceed with the Proxmox installation to fully benefit from its features.

Proxmox installation#

Installation is really simple. Update the repository list with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y.

Another handy requirement to manage networking more dynamically is the ifupdown2 package. This tool lets you create/modify/delete Linux Bridges without having to restart the host. Installation is done with sudo apt install ifupdown2 and will remove/override the conflicting ifupdown package.

Finally, install the proxmox-ve meta-package; a list of more than 690 packages will then be automagically fetched and configured.

sudo apt install proxmox-ve -y

A configuration dialog about the mail server will appear, offering several choices. You can skip this step and configure this feature later. To do so, select “No configuration” when you reach the “Postfix configuration” step.

Remove the Debian kernel#

This step is often forgotten but essential: Proxmox ships its own kernel, and keeping the default Debian kernel sooner or later causes package conflicts during upgrades (I learned this the hard way — see the article Proxmox, system update impossible ). So remove the Debian kernel meta-package:

sudo apt remove linux-image-amd64 'linux-image-6.12*'

Then remember to update the GRUB configuration with update-grub (not needed if you use systemd-boot).

It is also recommended to remove the os-prober package, which scans all of the host’s partitions — including those of your VMs — to create unwanted boot entries: sudo apt remove os-prober.

That’s it for the installation. Reboot your host with systemctl reboot and enjoy your freshly installed hypervisor! Open a browser and go to https://ipServer:8006.

Source: Proxmox wiki — Install Proxmox VE on Debian 13 Trixie