Prologue

With this guide you should be able to install Proxmox.

Things you need:

A server or computer that supports virtualization
2 GB USB stick or larger
Basic networking skills and a network
Internet connectivity

Downloads

First you download the Proxmox ISO-file from the official website: Click here.

Then you can head over to the Rufus website, and download the portable version of Rufus: Click here.

Insert your USB stick and make sure to copy everything away that you still need, the next steps will completely erase the USB stick.

Preparing the USB stick

Start Rufus, and make sure the correct device is selected.

Then click on SELECT and select the Proxmox VE ISO-file.

Great! Now you have to click on START.

Once the process is done, make sure to eject the USB stick properly before removing it.

Preparing the hardware

You can practically install Proxmox on any computer, however it is advised to properly configure the hardware for redundancy.

One way to achieve this, is to add multiple drives of the same size to the computer/server, that way you can create a RAID which will avoiding data loss when a disk breaks.

Proxmox uses ZFS raid, which you have to configure when you first install Proxmox, during the setup you can also select your multiple drives and the type of raid you want.

Here's an overview of the types of RAID you can do with ZFS:

ZFS Name	Raid Type	Minimum disks
Striping	Raid 0	1
Mirror	Raid 1	2
RAIDZ1	Raid 5	3
RAIDZ2	Raid 6	4
RAIDZ3	-	5

RAIDZ3 is basically like RAID 6, except 3 drives can fail without data loss.

RAID Controller

Now that you've made the decision which drive configuration you want to use, it is time to decide if you want to manage your RAID from a hardware RAID controller or entirely through ZFS.

This is often a question of the budget, however there's multiple advantages and disadvantages which I will list here:

Please note, this list can go on forever, so I will put some of the most important points in here.

ZFS Raid

Advantages

No raid controller required
Direct access to disks for improved disk monitoring
Easily configurable during setup
Made for high capacity storage
Advanced features like snapshots, compression, and deduplication
Open Source

Disadvantages

Requires CLI to replace failed drive
Can be resource-intensive (memory and CPU)

Hardware Raid Controller

Advantages

Offloads RAID calculations from CPU
Integrations into servers integrated management module
Failed drives can be replaced without CLI, if supported by the hardware

Disadvantages

Often pretty expensive
Another hardware point of failure
Not all hardware raid controllers are supported
Potential for compatibility issues with future hardware

Flash RAID

Flash raid is the "on-board" RAID of the mainboard, which is not supported by Proxmox.

Important notes

Don't install ZFS on top of a hardware RAID.
If you need to use a RAID card with ZFS, put it in HBA mode, or JBOD passthrough. (ZFS needs to see all drives individually)
Always plan for extra storage, so you can keep backups next to your VMs.
If you don't use ZFS, some Proxmox features like ZFS Snapshots won't work.

Installing Proxmox

Insert your USB stick into your server, and connect network, a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse as well.

Power it on.

For servers follow the instructions on the monitor on which key to press to select the boot device, for computers this usually depends on the manufacturer, searching for your mainboard online can give you some hints if you struggle to enter the boot menu.

Once you're booted into the installation media, it'll look like this: