Proxmox Notes

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Proxmox! Everyone's...favourite? virtualization stack.

Turns out it has some "fun" quirks when it comes to retro computing specifically.

This Wiki page exists as a sort of mental scratchpad of things that I've spent weeks of my finite existence fucking fighting with tripped over so that other users (particularly of CGHMN) don't repeat my mistakes!

Windows

Windows is...mostly? pretty well behaved on Proxmox. Probably because of the sheer amount of effort that's gone into QEMU and Proxmox in keeping it working. But there's still some gnawing issues that need to be kept in mind!

  • Windows versions older than Server 2003 or XP have broken (or non-existent) SMP ACPI support. This means if you create a Windows NT VM (or Windows Server 2000) and provide it more than a single CPU core, the VM will consume 100% of all available CPU cycles on the server host endlessly. There are no patches or 'idle drivers' that can correct this behavior.
  • Virtio kind of works? At least in Windows 2000 or newer. You will want to do a normal install using IDE + RTL 8139. Patch the system with every update available (hey have you checked out LegacyUpdate? it's pretty fuckin cool). Once that's done, download the Virtio drivers here. Add them to your VM (don't forget WinRAR!) and attach a virtio network card and hard drive to the VM. Once Windows has completed its driver install process. Shut down the VM, remove the "legacy" hardware and enjoy the enormous speed boost of native virtio support.
  • DOS and friends don't really work that well. This includes Windows 9x. If you want to use a legacy system to prototype with just use WinXP in a Proxmox VM

Mac(OS/X)

Yeah so uh Macs basically are unusable in Proxmox by design. Because Apple are shitasses and demand you use their special hardware. (Reportedly) if you install VMware ESXi (huuuurgh) on a Mac you can then run Mac VM guests so yeah good luck with that

Linux

The biggest headache is by default Proxmox will give you a Realtek RTL8139C the C revision seemingly came late enough that Debian 2.2 "Potato" won't have drivers and thus won't automatically configure it during install

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