Install Proxmox as a second operating system on boot drive

[Ibram]

I try to install Proxmox as second OS on the boot drive, in parallel to an existing WIN 10
On boot drive, there are 300 GB occupied by a WIN 10 installation and 600 GB available/empty/not assigned.
At the very beginning, installer lets me select the drive to install, I select my SSD, and than it displays the 900 GB for getting formatted with ext4.
No notice of potentially existing partitions.
-> it seems to me, the installer does not respect the already assigned disk space, but wants to occupy all 900 GB.
Is there a way to avoid it and install it in parallel?

Cheers,
Ibram

 

[leesteken]

Indeed the installer is not designed to share a drive. Maybe install it on another drive? Or install Debian (which might support sharing) and install Proxmox as a Debian package. Either way, Proxmox VE is a clustered enterprise hypervisor and not designed for sharing consumer hardware with Windows. Then again, it's open-source and built on top of GNU/Linux so you can use it any way you want if you can do it yourself.

 

[Ibram]

Agreed. Understood.
Long term, it is the only primary OS. Earlier or later, the WIN will be converted into a VM and is planned to run under Proxmox control, parallel to other OS
But there might be some time to get it fully operational and bring it to function, and that's the time for WIN 10.
Having to choose, I ll probably go for an additional internal SSD.
Thanks!
Ibram

 

[leesteken]

Having to choose, I ll probably go for an additional internal SSD.

Don't use one with QLC flash memory but get something with good endurance like an enterprise SSD with PLP for your VMs.
Proxmox VE itself can run fine from an HDD (just make sure it is CMR and not the new SMR kind). Proxmox logs a lot which is not great for some SSDs. So if you already have an old HDD laying around that might be perfect to install Proxmox (and for your first VM before moving them to an enterprise SSD).

 

[Ibram]

" So if you already have an old HDD laying around"
More than one (All CMR).

 

[gfngfn256]

While I totally agree with the above advice of segregating the OS's on different disks, you could try initially installing Proxmox on the whole disk & then shrinking that partition down (fiddly but possible) & then installing Windows 10 on a newly created partition on the remainder. AFAIK Windows can be installed on a selected partition. This may not be practical to you, if the already existent Windows data cannot be temporarily backed up/removed & subsequently restored to the new installation.

All this is theoretical - as you may still have issues in such a scenario.
Disclaimer: I have never done this.