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As an IT professional using proxmox server how do I pass a windows harddrive to a proxmox ve vm?

Copilot

Certainly! As an IT professional working with Proxmox VE, you can pass a physical hard drive from your Proxmox host to a virtual machine (VM). This process is known as disk passthrough. Here are the steps to achieve this:

• Identify the Disk:
  • First, you need to identify the physical disk you want to pass through to the VM. Note down the vendor, serial number, and other relevant details.
  • Avoid using device names like /dev/sdc, as these can change between reboots. Instead, use the stable /dev/disk/by-id paths.
• Update VM Configuration:
  • Log in to the Proxmox VE web interface or use the console.
  • Take note of the VM ID that the physical hard disk will connect to.
  • Use the following command to add the physical device as a new virtual SCSI disk:

/sbin/qm set [VM-ID] -virtio2 /dev/disk/by-id/[DISK-ID]

Replace [VM-ID] with the actual VM ID and [DISK-ID] with the disk ID obtained earlier.

• Uncheck Backup Option:
  • In the VM hardware settings, uncheck the backup option for the disk you’ve added.
• Configure the Disk in Windows:
  • Start the VM and log in to the Windows guest.
  • Initialize the disk using Windows Disk Management.
  • Create a new simple volume and assign a drive letter.
• Access the Disk:
  • Once configured, you’ll be able to access the passed-through disk within the Windows VM. Remember that this process prevents live migration of the VM and may impact host system I/O performance when running disk-intensive tasks on the VM . Always ensure backups and test thoroughly before implementing this in a production environment. 🚀
• Proxmox doc - Passing a Physical Drive throught to VM