I have a good PC at home with an Intel i9 12th Gen processor, 96GB RAM, and 1TB of unused disk storage. It’s our family PC for everyday use, games, and media, but I decided to give it an additional role: homelab virtualization. Proxmox VE is a popular virtualization platform, but many of us hesitate to dedicate a full machine for it. I wanted to run Proxmox while still using my Windows 11 PC for everyday tasks, so I decided to run Proxmox nested under Hyper-V. This setup allows me to spin up VMs under Proxmox while still keeping Hyper-V for other experiments, and it also gives the kids at home a place to try new applications and learn without messing up the main PC.
Here’s how I set it up:
1. Enable Hyper-V on Windows 11
Start by enabling Hyper-V:
- Go to “Turn Windows features on or off.”
- Check Hyper-V and let it install.
- Reboot your machine if required.
2. Download Proxmox ISO
Head to the Proxmox downloads page and grab the latest Proxmox VE ISO installer.
3. Prepare a Dedicated Physical Disk for Proxmox
I wanted Proxmox to have the full 1TB disk directly for its use, so I prepared the disk for passthrough:
- Open PowerShell as Administrator.
- List your disks:
Get-Disk
- Identify your unused 1TB disk’s number.
- Set it offline for Hyper-V to take control:
Set-Disk -Number <disk number> -IsOffline $true
- Now Hyper-V can use this physical disk for the Proxmox VM.
4. Create the Proxmox VM in Hyper-V
- Open Hyper-V Manager.
- Create a new virtual machine:
- Generation 1 is often easier for Proxmox in Hyper-V.
- Assign 20 Cores and 64GB RAM (adjust based on your needs).
- Attach the Proxmox ISO to the DVD drive.
- For the hard disk, use “Physical Hard Disk” and select the 1TB disk you set offline.
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- Attach a Virtual Switch:
- I created an External Virtual Switch so Proxmox can access the internet and my LAN.
- Go to Advanced Features under the Network Adapter and enable:
- MAC address spoofing.
- This allows VMs inside Proxmox to get IP addresses correctly while nested under Hyper-V.
5. Install Proxmox
Start the VM and proceed with the Proxmox installation as you normally would, selecting the passthrough 1TB disk for installation.
6. Enable Nested Virtualization (if needed)
If you encounter errors with VMs inside Proxmox not starting, ensure your Hyper-V host supports and has nested virtualization enabled:Set-VMProcessor -VMName "ProxmoxVMName" -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true
Replace "ProxmoxVMName" with your VM’s name.
7. Access Proxmox Web UI
After installation, note the IP shown on the console screen, then access:https://<Proxmox-IP>:8006
using your browser to start managing your nested Proxmox.
8. Create VMs inside Proxmox
Now you can create VMs inside Proxmox as usual, using ISO images or cloud-init images for your tests.
With MAC address spoofing enabled and external networking set, your nested VMs will receive IP addresses and access the internet, making it a practical lab for homelab learning, CI/CD pipelines, and OS testing.
Why This Setup?
- Utilize unused hardware while maintaining your main OS.
- Learn Proxmox without dedicating a physical machine.
- Prepare for certifications and experiments without risking your host system.
- Test homelab networking and nested virtualization.
- For just running VMs, you can simply run them with WSL, without the need for all of that.
