You normally run Proxmox on a server or a NAS, not as your desktop operating system or in a virtual machine.To my surprise, both worked better than I expected.This is what I found.
I ran Proxmox as my main operating system Everything in a VM was fun Under normal circumstances, Proxmox is used as a server operating system.Typically, you'd only ever control it through the web interface or the command-line interface over SSH.However, when I built my new PC (which has more cores and RAM than I could reasonably use) I decided to try and run Proxmox as my primary operating system.
Of course, Proxmox itself isn't suitable for use as a desktop operating system.Luckily, it does allow you to open up virtual machines and containerized operating systems with the click of a few buttons.No More Dual Booting Since I couldn't directly use Proxmox as an OS (it doesn't even have a GUI), I tried creating multiple virtual machines for use as my desktop operating systems instead.
I started with Windows, Kubuntu, and a few instances of Ubuntu Server that I wanted to use for hosting various services.I was able to quickly and easily swap between Linux and Windows without restarting my PC.If I wanted another instance of Linux for something, I could fire it up with a few clicks.
I didn't need to worry about whether a Windows update would do something to break the bootloader and make my Linux installs inaccessible.I didn't have to worry about accidentally overwriting the wrong partition.It was wonderful to escape the intricacies dual booting, and, on the whole, it worked pretty well.
Trying a new service was a breeze I run Proxmox on an old Windows 10 PC because it makes trying new services so easy, and I found the same benefit when I ran it on my regular desktop.If I wanted a game server, all I needed to do was fire up the right turnkey distro, assign some hardware specs to the LXC container, and I was up and running.I expected that sharing system resources would wind up hurting performance, since I've often found that hosting services on my Windows PC while simultaneously using those services resulted in worse performance than having a dedicated server.
Interestingly, that was not the case—servers and clients alike ran extremely well.Passthrough was a problem One of the few downsides to the approach was passthrough.Because everything was running in virtual machines or containers, I regularly had to worry about making sure that USB and GPU passthrough were working correctly.
It wasn't the biggest problem, but it was a bit annoying.If I'd stuck to only one or two distros it would have been less of a headache.There was latency I could not fix Despite all of the interesting perks, I did run into one problem I was never able to solve: very slight latency.
It wasn't really an issue when I was doing basic office work, like writing or checking emails, since they're not things that require perfect timing.Nor was it a noticeable problem on the web, where latency between my PC and the server was dominant.It did present an issue with gaming, however.
The very slight delay—which must have only been a few dozen milliseconds at worst—was just barely perceptible, but enough to make the experience unpleasant.Ultimately, one of the few reasons I still have a Windows PC at all is gaming, and the latency was enough to make running all of my operating systems as VMs in Proxmox unappealing.Proxmox works in nested virtual machine A risk-free approach to testing Proxmox Proxmox is designed to run bare metal, and the developers explicitly advise against running Proxmox itself in a virtual machine.
However, just because you shouldn't do it doesn't mean you can't.Subscribe to the newsletter for practical Proxmox tips Join the newsletter to keep exploring Proxmox experiments, receive practical configuration and troubleshooting insights, and get hands-on findings that help you evaluate Proxmox for your own machines with less guesswork.Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe anytime.To this day, I still run Proxmox in a VM fairly regularly for one reason: experimentation.Test anything without risk Proxmox is an operating system like any other, and with new releases come new features, new options, and, unfortunately, new bugs.
My repurposed Windows 10 PC runs all of my heavier services that I use day in and day out, and it'd be an enormous headache if I lost them during a failed update or migration, or while I was messing with Proxmox itself.To ensure my services remain safe, I run Proxmox itself in a virtual machine when I'm testing things out for the first time, or when I'm trying to do something unorthodox just to see what happens.It isn't perfect, and there are occasionally problems that arise due to nested virtualization, but I'd much rather contend with those on my test system than on the system I rely on day in and day out.
If you're interested in gaming, I'd recommend against running Proxmox as your "daily driver" operating system, since it introduces latency and potential problems with anti-cheat software.However, if you only use your PC for jobs similar to office work, it is probably a viable option.
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