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Proxmox CloudInit virtual machine template

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Create a basic template

Creat VM

  • On Create: Virtual Machine wizard - General Tab

    Enter desired VM ID: exampaple - 5000

    Enter a name: exaple linux-base-template

    Everything else at defaults for this tab

  • On the OS Tab

    Select Do not use any media

    Guest OS: make sure it is set to Linux

  • On the System Tab

    Leave enverything at the defaults

    Can set the QEMU Agent on

  • On the Disks tab

    Delete the disk

  • On the CPU tab

    Enter the desired CPU cores, can adjust to this later if needed

  • On the Memory tab

    Enter the desired memory, can adjust later if needed

  • On the Network tab

    leave at defaults

  • On the Confirm tab

    Make sure everything looks ok, go back and adjust as needed, do not select Start after created

  • Select the VM you created

    select the hardware Tab

    Select Add - CloudInit Drive

    Select the storage that you want this on, then OK

    Select CloudInit tab and enter the info you need there (an SSH key is very helpfull) add username and password. Also helpfull to select DHCP on the IP Config area

    Right clock on the VM and select Convert to Template

    Right click on the selected template and select clone

    Enter the desired info

    Mode: use Full Clone (can use linked clone if desired)

    Select the target storage and format

  • Go to the desired cloud image you want for the base template

    debian can be found here

    https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/

    go to the latest version (bookworm is now)

    go to the latest page and find the one that verion of qcow2 that is needed for your system, amd64 is what I am using.

    this is the current one now

    https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/latest/debian-12-generic-amd64.qcow2

    Right click on the file and select copy link

  • Select the PVE node the VM is on and open the shell

    at the command prompt enter wget https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/latest/debian-12-generic-amd64.qcow2

    it will dowload the file to the system.

    then enter

    1

      qm importdisk 9001 debian-12-generic-amd64.qcow2 local --format qcow2

    adjust to your system setup

    It should transfer the file to the VM and at the end show; example - Successfully imported disk as ‘unused0:local:104/vm-104-disk-0.qcow2’

  • Select the VM

    Select the hardware tab

    select the Unused Disk 0 then select Edit

    change the setting to what you need

    Select Add

  • Start the VM

    Select the Console tab and login

    enter ip a to get the IP addresses the VM is set to use

    Try to log in with SSH to make sure yor key is working

Proxmox, Documentation
homelab documentation proxmox linux
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