Proxmox after installation: updates and repositories

Right after installation, you can’t retrieve updates yet. Proxmox is set to the repositories for paying customers, and without a subscription those give an error message. So you enable the free repository once. That takes five minutes.

Step 1: enable the free repository

Click on your server on the left (under Datacenter) and choose Updates → Repositories.
Disable the repositories with enterprise in the name: select them and click Disable. Those are pve-enterprise and, if it’s there, ceph-enterprise.
Click Add and choose No-Subscription. Confirm with Add.

The “No-Subscription” repository is intended for use without a subscription, for example at home. For a business server, Proxmox itself prefers the subscription, with extra tested updates and support. The settings are in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/; the official explanation can be found at pve.proxmox.com.

Step 2: the first update

Go to Updates and click Refresh. A window appears; close it when it’s done.
Click Upgrade. A console opens where you confirm the update with Y.
If a new kernel has been installed, restart the server (top right Reboot).

Prefer the terminal? Open Shell at your server and run this. Use dist-upgrade, not upgrade: Proxmox sometimes needs new packages to depend on.

apt update
apt dist-upgrade

Do this about once a month, and make a backup of your virtual machines before a major update.

What is stored where?

Under your server you see two storage locations (with an installation using ext4):

local: files, such as installation images (ISOs), templates for containers and backups.
local-lvm: the disks of your virtual machines and containers.

If you chose ZFS during installation, the second one is called local-zfs. You can add more storage later under Datacenter → Storage → Add, for example a folder on a NAS.

The “No valid subscription” message

At every login you see a message that you don’t have a subscription. That’s just a reminder. Click OK and continue; Proxmox works just fine.