Questions and answers for category service

You are installing Windows on a virtual machine in Proxmox VE and the setup wizard shows no disks at all? This is one of the most common issues when working with Proxmox – and it has a very simple fix. Below you will find a complete step-by-step guide.

Why Does Windows Not See the Disk in Proxmox?

Proxmox VE uses the VirtIO SCSI controller by default – an optimized paravirtual driver for virtual environments. Windows 10 and Windows 11 do not include a built-in VirtIO driver. Because of this, the installation wizard cannot detect the disk at all.

Linux distributions include VirtIO drivers in the kernel – that is why Ubuntu or Debian install without any issues. Windows requires these drivers to be supplied manually, from a separate ISO image.

💡 Short answer: Mount the virtio-win.iso image to your VM and load the driver during setup. The whole process takes just a few minutes.

What Do You Need Before You Start?

1. Windows ISO image – Windows 10 or 11, downloaded from Microsoft.
2. VirtIO ISO image – the virtio-win.iso file with free drivers (link below).
3. Proxmox VE access – web panel on port 8006, administrator privileges.
4. Virtual machine – configured with a VirtIO SCSI disk and VirtIO SCSI Single controller.

Step 1 – Download VirtIO Drivers

VirtIO drivers for Windows are provided free of charge by the Fedora project as a ready-to-use ISO image.

Download virtio-win.iso from:
https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso

Then upload the file to Proxmox:

1. Log in to the Proxmox VE panel (https://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8006).
2. In the left panel select your node → Local → ISO Images tab.
3. Click Upload and select the downloaded virtio-win.iso file.

Step 2 – Configure the Virtual Machine

If you are creating a new VM, pay attention to the following settings:

• Disk: Bus/Device → SCSI, size at least 60 GB, Cache: Write back, IO thread: enabled.
• SCSI Controller: set to VirtIO SCSI Single.
• Network card: Model → VirtIO (paravirtualized).

The VM must have two CD/DVD drives attached at the same time:

Drive	ISO Image	Purpose
IDE 2	Windows 10/11.iso	Operating system installation
IDE 3	virtio-win.iso	VirtIO drivers available during setup

Step 3 – Install Windows and Load the Driver

Start the VM and go through the first steps of the Windows installer normally (language selection, license agreement). On the “Where do you want to install Windows?” screen the disk list will be empty. Follow these steps:

1. Click “Load driver” (button below the empty disk list).
2. Click “Browse” and locate the CD drive with virtio-win.iso.
3. Navigate to the correct folder:
   amd64\w10 – for Windows 10
   amd64\w11 – for Windows 11
4. Click OK.
5. The list will show “Red Hat VirtIO SCSI controller” – select it and click Next.
6. Your virtual disk will now appear in the disk list. You can continue the installation.

⚠️ Driver path:
virtio-win.iso \ amd64 \ w10 (Windows 10)  or  amd64 \ w11 (Windows 11)

Step 4 – Install Remaining VirtIO Drivers

The disk driver alone is enough to complete the Windows installation. After the system boots, you should install the full driver package – especially the network adapter driver.

Recommended method:

1. Make sure virtio-win.iso is still mounted to the CD drive.
2. Open File Explorer and browse to the CD drive.
3. Run the file virtio-win-gt-x64.msi.
4. Follow the installation wizard – select all components.
5. Restart the system when prompted.

✅ What does virtio-win-gt-x64.msi install?
VirtIO SCSI disk driver • Network adapter driver (NetKVM) • Memory balloon driver • RNG driver • Serial driver • QEMU Guest Agent

Step 5 – QEMU Guest Agent

QEMU Guest Agent is a small program running inside the VM that communicates with the hypervisor. It enables proper VM shutdown from the Proxmox panel, consistent snapshots, and system state monitoring.

Installation:

1. On the virtio-win.iso disc, open the guest-agent folder.
2. Run qemu-ga-x86_64.msi and install using the default settings.

Enable in Proxmox:

1. Select your VM in the Proxmox panel.
2. Go to Options → QEMU Guest Agent.
3. Set Enabled = Yes and save.

Common Issues and Solutions

Problem	Solution
After clicking “Browse” I don’t see the VirtIO drive	Go back to VM settings and confirm that virtio-win.iso is attached to a second CD drive. Restart the VM.
I see the drive but there is no driver folder	For Windows 10 use the w10 folder, for Windows 11 use w11. Both must be inside the amd64 subfolder.
Installation fails with a missing driver error	Download the latest version of virtio-win.iso. Older versions may not include drivers for Windows 11.
System runs but there is no internet connection	Install the full virtio-win-gt-x64.msi package. The network adapter driver (NetKVM) is not installed automatically by Windows.
VM shuts down with an error after migration or snapshot	Install QEMU Guest Agent and enable it in Proxmox: Options → QEMU Guest Agent → Enabled = Yes.

Summary – Checklist

• ✅ Windows ISO image downloaded (Microsoft.com)
• ✅ virtio-win.iso downloaded (fedorapeople.org)
• ✅ Both ISO files uploaded to Proxmox storage
• ✅ VM configured with VirtIO SCSI disk
• ✅ SCSI controller set to VirtIO SCSI Single
• ✅ Two CD drives attached to VM: Windows ISO and VirtIO ISO
• ✅ VirtIO SCSI driver loaded during installation
• ✅ Windows installed successfully
• ✅ virtio-win-gt-x64.msi installed after first boot
• ✅ QEMU Guest Agent installed and enabled

✅ All done! Your Windows virtual machine is now running with full VirtIO drivers. The system is optimized for Proxmox VE and hypervisor management works fully as expected.