Installing Windows Server 2022 on Proxmox VE: Step-by-Step Guide

Running Windows Server 2022 as a KVM guest on Proxmox VE gives stable performance when paired with the VirtIO paravirtualized storage, network, and ballooning drivers.

Required Images

Before creating the virtual machine, upload two ISO images to your Proxmox node (local > ISO Images):

1. Windows Server 2022 ISO from the Microsoft Evaluation Center or your licensing portal.
2. VirtIO Windows Drivers ISO (virtio-win.iso) from the Fedora VirtIO driver downloads.

VM Hardware Configuration

Sign in to https://<your-proxmox-ip>:8006, click Create VM, and apply these settings:

• General: Assign a VM ID and hostname (for example, ws2022-lab).
• OS:
  • Select the Windows Server 2022 ISO image.
  • Set Type to Microsoft Windows and Version to 11/2022.
  • Enable Add additional drive for VirtIO drivers and attach virtio-win.iso.
• System:
  • Machine: q35
  • BIOS: OVMF (UEFI) (add an EFI Disk on the target storage)
  • QEMU Agent: Checked
• Disks:
  • Bus/Device: VirtIO Block (or VirtIO SCSI single with Discard enabled on SSD/thin pools)
  • Disk size: at least 60 GB
• CPU: 4 cores or more, type host (or x86-64-v2-AES for live migration compatibility across heterogeneous nodes)
• Memory: at least 4096 MB
• Network: Model VirtIO (paravirtualized) connected to vmbr0

Windows Setup and VirtIO Drivers

1. Start the VM and open the noVNC console, pressing a key when prompted to boot from the optical drive.
2. Choose Windows Server 2022 Standard/Datacenter (Desktop Experience) or Server Core according to your role requirements, and select Custom: Install Microsoft Server Operating System only (advanced).
3. Because the virtual disk uses VirtIO, Windows Setup will initially show no target drives:
   • Click Load driver and browse the mounted virtio-win.iso.
   • Select the storage driver matching your disk bus (viostor\2k22\amd64 for VirtIO Block or vioscsi\2k22\amd64 for VirtIO SCSI).
   • Once the disk appears, proceed with partitioning and installation.
4. After Windows finishes installing and you log in as Administrator, open the mounted VirtIO ISO in File Explorer and run virtio-win-guest-tools.exe to install:
   • NetKVM (paravirtualized network adapter)
   • Balloon (memory ballooning service)
   • QEMU Guest Agent (IP reporting and clean ACPI shutdowns from Proxmox)
5. Reboot once and confirm in Proxmox Summary that guest IP addresses appear without missing-device warnings in Windows Device Manager.