New install of Proxmox encounters error while installing Windows 10 in new VM

[mbmast]

I am new to Proxmox and I'm experimenting with it. On a Windows 10 machine running VMWare Workstation, I create a VM, give it 16GB RAM and 40GB hard drive space and install Proxmox in the new VMW workstation. With the Proxmox VM running and with a browser I navigate to Proxmox. Within Proxmox I create a new Windows 10 VM and give it 16GB hard drive space and begin the install of Windows 10 (to be very clear, I have Windows 10 running VMW which is running Proxmox in a VM, which is running Windows 10 (the install, anyway) in a Proxmox VM). The install of Windows 10 proceeds fairly normally but after a while it freezes. From a Proxmox shell I query the status of the VM attempting to install Windows. The status is `io-error`.

The Proxmox System log contains this line:

May 09 08:23:41 test dmeventd[480]: WARNING: Thin pool pve-data-tpool data is now 100.00% full.

And the console under `Disks > LVMThin` it shows the usage at 100%, the size at 11.20GB, used at 11.20GB.

As I've yet to complete the installation of the VM, I've never taken a snapshot. I've heard that "over provisioning" can cause this, but I don't understand what over provisioning is or if I'm somehow guilty of that.

root@test:~# pversion -v
-bash: pversion: command not found
root@test:~# pveversion -v
proxmox-ve: 8.2.0 (running kernel: 6.8.4-2-pve)
pve-manager: 8.2.2 (running version: 8.2.2/9355359cd7afbae4)
proxmox-kernel-helper: 8.1.0
proxmox-kernel-6.8: 6.8.4-2
proxmox-kernel-6.8.4-2-pve-signed: 6.8.4-2
ceph-fuse: 17.2.7-pve3
corosync: 3.1.7-pve3
criu: 3.17.1-2
glusterfs-client: 10.3-5
ifupdown2: 3.2.0-1+pmx8
ksm-control-daemon: 1.5-1
libjs-extjs: 7.0.0-4
libknet1: 1.28-pve1
libproxmox-acme-perl: 1.5.0
libproxmox-backup-qemu0: 1.4.1
libproxmox-rs-perl: 0.3.3
libpve-access-control: 8.1.4
libpve-apiclient-perl: 3.3.2
libpve-cluster-api-perl: 8.0.6
libpve-cluster-perl: 8.0.6
libpve-common-perl: 8.2.1
libpve-guest-common-perl: 5.1.1
libpve-http-server-perl: 5.1.0
libpve-network-perl: 0.9.8
libpve-rs-perl: 0.8.8
libpve-storage-perl: 8.2.1
libspice-server1: 0.15.1-1
lvm2: 2.03.16-2
lxc-pve: 6.0.0-1
lxcfs: 6.0.0-pve2
novnc-pve: 1.4.0-3
proxmox-backup-client: 3.2.0-1
proxmox-backup-file-restore: 3.2.0-1
proxmox-kernel-helper: 8.1.0
proxmox-mail-forward: 0.2.3
proxmox-mini-journalreader: 1.4.0
proxmox-offline-mirror-helper: 0.6.6
proxmox-widget-toolkit: 4.2.1
pve-cluster: 8.0.6
pve-container: 5.0.10
pve-docs: 8.2.1
pve-edk2-firmware: 4.2023.08-4
pve-esxi-import-tools: 0.7.0
pve-firewall: 5.0.5
pve-firmware: 3.11-1
pve-ha-manager: 4.0.4
pve-i18n: 3.2.2
pve-qemu-kvm: 8.1.5-5
pve-xtermjs: 5.3.0-3
qemu-server: 8.2.1
smartmontools: 7.3-pve1
spiceterm: 3.3.0
swtpm: 0.8.0+pve1
vncterm: 1.8.0
zfsutils-linux: 2.2.3-pve2
root@test:~#

root@test:~# qm config 100
boot: order=ide0;ide2;net0
cores: 2
cpu: x86-64-v2-AES
ide0: local-lvm:vm-100-disk-0,size=16G
ide2: cdrom,media=cdrom
machine: pc-i440fx-8.1
memory: 4096
meta: creation-qemu=8.1.5,ctime=1715273240
name: TestWindows10
net0: e1000=BC:24:11:8F:81:52,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1
numa: 0
ostype: win10
scsihw: virtio-scsi-single
smbios1: uuid=3d53a334-4928-4a57-bc5a-eca0b011d43f
sockets: 2
vmgenid: 3641fa76-448e-4f34-808e-ca9be16fac46
root@test:~#

 

[Kingneutron]

You're giving proxmox waay too little disk space to work with.

Typically I would recommend a minimum of 120GB-256GB for a proxmox lvm+ext4 root install. You need enough space for root and lvm-thin (plus a bit of free space) if you're not using ZFS.

Go back, increase Workstation's vdisk size for the proxmox vm to at least 120GB
Then run the proxmox installer again from ISO (this will wipe out everything on the disk)

In Advanced options, limit your ext4 root size to ~20GB or so (typically I would recommend 30-40GB rootfs on bare metal for ISOs and housekeeping) and give the rest to LVM, 2GB swap, leave at least 1GB in minfree field

https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Installation#advanced_lvm_options

https://www.jamescoyle.net/how-to/261-proxmox-advanced-install-settings

Alternatively, add another disk to the vm of sufficient size and make a ZFS filesystem on it under Storage in the proxmox GUI. Use that for your VMs instead of lvm-thin

 

[mbmast]

That did the trick. I started over, this time with 500GB. My virtual ESXi 6 machine, which also contains a virtual Windows 10 machine, consumes only 30GB, so I thought I was safe giving Proxmox 40GB.

 

[Kingneutron]

Good on ya. Yah, I would put that down to ESXI being more of a minimalist stripped-down hypervisor while PVE is built on top of Debian.