Create a VM
The seven-step New VM wizard, how names map to VMIDs, placement, and what happens after Create.
The wizard
Click New VM on the Virtual Machines page (needs vm.create). Every step is limited by what a project admin configured, so the wizard cannot produce a VM that breaks project policy.
| Step | What you choose |
|---|---|
| Cluster | Only clusters enabled for the project appear |
| Template | Only templates allowed for the project on that cluster |
| Resources | vCPU, memory and disk, clamped between the template's minimums and its caps |
| Identity | Name and optional comma-separated tags |
| Owner | A user or a group; the owner receives alerts and lease reminders |
| Network | Network, VLAN and an optional static IP |
| Review | The full spec plus the target node and why it was chosen |
A template's provisioning rule can force resources, network, a naming scheme and the storage. Forced steps are skipped in the wizard. Project quotas are an additional hard limit.
The name decides the VMID
When a name ends in a number, that number is the VMID. A VM named web-prod-252 becomes VMID 252, or it is refused with a clear reason. The portal never silently picks a different VMID for a numbered name.
- With a template naming rule, the name must be the rule's prefix followed by digits, and the digits are the VMID.
- Without a rule, a number after the last hyphen or underscore counts when it is 100 or higher. Names like web-04 or dc01 carry no VMID.
- A name without a VMID lets the portal choose: the next free ID in the template's range, otherwise the next free ID on the cluster.
| Refusal | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Already in use | Another guest on the cluster has this VMID |
| Freed recently | The VMID belonged to a deleted VM and is on the reuse blacklist |
| Outside the template's range | The template's rule only allows a specific VMID range |
| Not a valid VMID | Proxmox VMIDs run from 100 to 999999999 |
The check runs in the wizard, again when the VM is created (also through the REST API), and once more right before the clone.
Placement
- The load balancer picks the target node from the hosts enabled for the project. The Review step shows the node and the reason.
- VMIDs of deleted VMs go on a blacklist for a configurable time, so a new VM never inherits an old machine's backups or directory entries.
After you click Create
Provisioning runs as a background job on the server, so you can close the browser. The VM appears right away as provisioning; open it to watch the live deployment view with its stages, tasks and the latest message from the guest.
- 1The template is cloned onto the target node and the VM is started.
- 2The VM is added to its node's backup job, when the template is configured for it.
- 3The Verlocx agent in the guest sets the hostname, joins the domain, adds the owner as local administrator and verifies the result. Reboots in between are handled; the agent resumes where it left off.
- 4The VM is registered for high availability last, when the template is configured for it.
A template can replace these built-in steps with its own deployment workflow. See Deployment workflows.
Troubleshooting
- “No clusters enabled for this project”: a project admin needs to enable one in the project's Settings under Infrastructure.
- No templates on a cluster: a template manager has to allow templates for the project (template.manage).
- Name field locked: a provisioning rule enforces the naming scheme. Holders of project.settings may edit the name but must keep the prefix and range.
- Provisioning failed: the deployment view shows which step failed and the error. The failure is also in Activity.
- Deploy in a VM's action menu re-runs the guest deployment on an existing VM (needs vm.create).
Features on this page
- New VM wizard
- VMID from the nameNEW
- Load-balanced placement
- Background provisioning
- Redeploy
- Hostname and domain join
More in Virtual machinesAll topics
Power actionsStart, shutdown, reboot, hard stop, suspend and resume, each with its own permission, for one VM or many.The VM page and consoleThe Virtual Machines list, a VM's tabs, and the browser console (noVNC, SSH and RDP).Resources and disk usageLive CPU, memory and disk resizing, behaviour settings, and an on-demand scan of what fills a disk.