Project: Proxmox Standalone GPU Passthrough Server Build
This Chapter is for a proxmox build and passing a GPU into one of the virtual machines.

Project: Proxmox Standalone GPU Passthrough Server Build
Date: May 31st 2025 Category: Virtualization / Homelab Build 

 

 Hardware Overview 

 

 

 

 Component 

 Model / Spec 

 

 

 

 

 Motherboard 

 Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite AX V2 

 

 

 CPU 

 AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (8-core / 16-thread) 

 

 

 GPU 

 NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super 

 

 

 RAM 

 32GB DDR4 3200 MHz 

 

 

 Drive 1 (OS) 

 Kioxia 512GB NVMe Gen4 

 

 

 Drive 2 (VMs) 

 Inland 512GB NVMe Gen3 

 

 

 Host OS 

 Proxmox VE 8.2.7 

 

 

 Primary VM 

 Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS (NVIDIA ISO) 

 

 

 

 

 BIOS Setup for Proxmox + GPU Passthrough 

 Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite AX V2 

 1. Enter BIOS 

 

 

 Press DEL repeatedly during boot to enter BIOS. 

 

 

 

 2. Load Optimized Defaults (Recommended) 

 

 

 Go to the Save & Exit tab. 

 

 

 Choose Load Optimized Defaults 

 

 

 Press F10 to reboot and re-enter BIOS. 

 

 

 

 3. Enable Virtualization (SVM Mode) 

 

 

 Navigate to: Tweaker → Advanced CPU Settings 

 

 

 Set SVM Mode → Enabled 

 

 

 

 4. Enable IOMMU 

 

 

 Go to: Settings → IO Ports 

 

 

 Set IOMMU → Enabled 

 

 

 

 5. Enable Above 4G Decoding 

 

 

 Also under: Settings → IO Ports 

 

 

 Set Above 4G Decoding → Enabled 

 

 

 

 6. Set Initial Display Output 

 

 

 Go to: Settings → IO Ports 

 

 

 Set Initial Display Output → PCIe 1 Slot 

 

 

 

 7. Disable CSM for UEFI Boot 

 

 

 Go to: Boot 

 

 

 Set CSM Support → Disabled 

 

 

 

 8. Resizable BAR Support (Optional) 

 

 

 Settings → IO Ports 

 

 

 Set Re-Size BAR Support → Disabled (recommended for stability) 

 

 

 

 9. Fan Control (Optional) 

 

 

 Smart Fan 5 Settings 

 

 

 Set profiles for optimal cooling: Silent, Normal, Full-Speed 

 

 

 

 10. Save and Exit 

 

 

 Press F10 , confirm changes, and reboot. 

 

 

 Now its time to install proxmox on the new setup.

Installing Proxmox VE 8.2 on a Standalone GPU Passthrough Server
Date: June 1st, 2025 Category: Virtualization / Proxmox Deployment Backlink: Project: Proxmox Standalone GPU Passthrough Server Build 

 

 Requirements 

 

 

 Proxmox VE 8.2 ISO Installer 

 

 

 Bootable USB creation tool (Etcher or Rufus) 

 

 

 At least 1 NVMe SSD (recommended Gen4 for performance) 

 

 

 BIOS configured for UEFI boot, IOMMU, virtualization, and passthrough (see backlink for full BIOS setup) 

 

 

 

 Step 1: Download and Flash Proxmox ISO 

 

 

 Go to Proxmox Downloads 

 

 

 Download the latest ISO: proxmox-ve_8.2-1.iso (or newer) 

 

 

 Use Balena Etcher or Rufus to flash it to a USB drive 

 

 

 Select ISO 

 

 

 Select USB 

 

 

 Click Flash 

 

 

 

 

 

 Step 2: Install Proxmox VE 

 

 

 Boot from the USB using UEFI Boot Mode 

 

 

 Select Install Proxmox VE from the menu 

 

 

 Accept license agreement 

 

 

 Choose the Gen4 NVMe (Kioxia in this case) as the target disk 

 

 

 Configure: 

 

 

 Region & Timezone 

 

 

 Strong root password & email 

 

 

 Hostname (e.g. proxmox-node2.local ) 

 

 

 Static IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.101 ) or use DHCP for testing 

 

 

 

 

 

 Step 3: First Boot and Web GUI Access 

 

 

 Remove the USB when prompted 

 

 

 Log into the Proxmox web GUI: 

 https://<your-proxmox-ip>:8006 

 

 

 Accept the self-signed certificate 

 

 

 

 Step 4: Secondary Drive (Optional) 

 If you have a second NVMe (like an Inland Gen3): 

 

 

 Go to Datacenter > Disks 

 

 

 Select /dev/nvme1n1 

 

 

 Wipe the disk 

 

 

 Initialize it with GPT 

 

 

 Create a new storage: 

 

 

 As LVM-Thin for VM disk storage 

 

 

 Or as Directory for ISOs/backups

Installing Pop!_OS (NVIDIA Edition) in Proxmox
Date: June 1st, 2025 Category: Virtualization / VM Guest OS Configuration Backlink: Installing Proxmox VE 8.2 on a Standalone GPU Passthrough Server 

 

 Goal 

 Install Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS (NVIDIA ISO) as a Proxmox VM with a passed-through RTX 2070 Super GPU , ensuring full graphics acceleration and NVIDIA driver functionality. 

 

 Step 1: Download the Pop!_OS NVIDIA ISO 

 Download directly to Proxmox or to your workstation: 

 🔗 Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS NVIDIA ISO 

 Option 1: Upload via Proxmox GUI 

 

 

 Go to Datacenter > local (proxmox89) > ISO Images 

 

 

 Click Upload and choose the ISO file from your computer 

 

 

 Option 2: Download from URL 

 

 

 In ISO Images , click **Download from URL` 

 

 

 Paste the ISO link above and click Query URL 

 

 

 Confirm filename and click Download 

 

 

 The ISO will appear in the list once it's downloaded. 

 

 Step 2: Create the Pop!_OS VM 

 General Tab 

 

 

 Node: proxmox89 

 

 

 VM ID: 100 (or next available) 

 

 

 Name: POP_OS_NVIDIA 

 

 

 ✅ Start at boot 

 

 

 OS Tab 

 

 

 Use ISO: pop-os_22.04_amd64_nvidia_53.iso 

 

 

 System Tab 

 

 

 BIOS: OVMF (UEFI) 

 

 

 Machine: q35 

 

 

 ✅ Add EFI Disk 

 

 

 ❌ Pre-Enrolled Keys (disable Secure Boot) 

 

 

 SCSI Controller: VirtIO SCSI single 

 

 

 ✅ QEMU Agent 

 

 

 Graphic Card: Default (or change to None later for passthrough) 

 

 

 Disks Tab 

 

 

 Bus: SCSI 

 

 

 Storage: Inland512 

 

 

 Size: 200 GiB 

 

 

 ✅ IO thread 

 

 

 CPU Tab 

 

 

 Sockets: 1 

 

 

 Cores: 6–8 

 

 

 Type: host 

 

 

 Memory Tab 

 

 

 Size: 16384 MiB 

 

 

 Network Tab 

 

 

 Bridge: vmbr0 

 

 

 Model: VirtIO (paravirtualized) 

 

 

 ✅ Firewall (optional) 

 

 

 Click Finish to create the VM. 

 

 Step 3: Attach GPU (Passthrough) 

 

 

 Stop the VM. 

 

 

 Go to Hardware > Add > PCI Device 

 

 

 Select both: 

 

 

 01:00.0 NVIDIA VGA Controller 

 

 

 01:00.1 NVIDIA HD Audio 

 

 

 

 

 Enable: 

 

 

 ✅ All Functions 

 

 

 ✅ Primary GPU 

 

 

 ✅ ROM-Bar 

 

 

 

 

 

 Step 4: Boot and Install Pop!_OS 

 

 

 Start the VM 

 

 

 If passthrough is correct, output will show on monitor connected to GPU 

 

 

 Use “Erase Disk and Install” 

 

 

 Set username and password 

 

 

  

Setting Up SSH Access in Pop!_OS (Proxmox VM)
Date: June 1st, 2025 Category: Remote Access / Virtual Machine Setup Backlink: Installing Pop!_OS (NVIDIA Edition) in Proxmox with GPU Passthrough 

 

 Goal 

 Enable secure remote access to your Pop!_OS virtual machine via SSH. 

 

 Step 1: Install and Enable OpenSSH Server 

 Open a terminal in your Pop!_OS VM and run: 

 sudo apt update

sudo apt install openssh-server -y 

 Then start and enable the service: 

 sudo systemctl enable ssh

sudo systemctl start ssh 

 

 

 Step 2: Verify SSH is Running 

 Check the status of the SSH server: 

 sudo systemctl status ssh 

 You should see: 

 

 

 Active: active (running) 

 

 

 

 

 Step 3: Find the IP Address 

 You can find the IP address in two ways: 

 

 

 From Proxmox Dashboard : Under the VM summary tab 

 

 

 Inside Pop!_OS : 

 

 

 ip a | grep inet 

 

 

 Step 4: SSH From Another Machine 

 From your host machine or another computer on the LAN, connect: 

 ssh zippyb@192.168.1.151 

 You’ll be prompted to accept the fingerprint and then enter your user password. 

 

 

 Optional: Use SCP to Transfer Files 

 scp file.txt zippyb@192.168.1.151:/home/nate/ 

 Or use rsync for large/recurring syncs: 

 rsync -avz project/ zippyb@192.168.1.151:/home/nate/project/ 

 

 Step 4: Enable and Configure UFW Firewall 

 

 

 Enable UFW: 

 

 

 sudo ufw enable 

 

 

 Allow SSH through the firewall: 

 

 

 sudo ufw allow ssh 

 

 

 Check firewall status: 

 

 

 sudo ufw status verbose 

 

 

 Done 

 I can now securely connect to my Pop!_OS VM using SSH for remote configuration and file transfers. 

  

NVIDIA GPU Passthrough in Pop!_OS (Proxmox VE 8.2.7)
Date: June 1st, 2025 Category: Virtualization / GPU Passthrough Backlink: Setting Up SSH Access in POP_OS Proxmox 

 This enable's GPU Passthrough as I'm going to use this VM for Local AI projects 

 

 Step 1: Enable IOMMU in Proxmox 

 Edit the GRUB configuration: 

 nano /etc/default/grub 

 Set this line for AMD CPUs: 

 GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet amd_iommu=on" 

 Update GRUB and reboot: 

 update-grub

reboot 

 

 Step 2: Bind GPU to vfio-pci 

 Get the NVIDIA GPU and related device IDs: 

 lspci -nn | grep -i nvidia 

 Example output: 

 07:00.0 VGA compatible controller [10de:1e84]

07:00.1 Audio device [10de:10f8]

07:00.2 USB controller [10de:1ad8]

07:00.3 Serial bus controller [10de:1ad9] 

 Bind them to vfio-pci : 

 echo "options vfio-pci ids=10de:1e84,10de:10f8,10de:1ad8,10de:1ad9" > /etc/modprobe.d/vfio.conf 

 Then: 

 update-initramfs -u

reboot 

 

 Step 3: Confirm vfio-pci Binding 

 Check if vfio-pci is now in use: 

 lspci -nnk | grep -A 3 -i nvidia 

 You should see something like: 

 Kernel driver in use: vfio-pci 

 

 Step 4: Attach GPU to Pop!_OS VM 

 In the Proxmox Web GUI : 

 

 

 Power off the Pop!_OS VM. 

 

 

 Go to Hardware > Add > PCI Device . 

 

 

 Add only the VGA compatible controller (e.g., 07:00.0 ). 

 

 

 Enable the following checkboxes: 

 

 

 ROM-Bar 

 

 

 Primary GPU 

 

 

 Optional: You can try passing the other 3 GPU functions (Audio, USB, Serial Bus) if needed. 

 

 

 

 

 Start the VM. 

 

 Step 5: Verify GPU Access in Pop!_OS 

 Inside the VM, run: 

 nvidia-smi 

 To check for CUDA: 

 nvcc --version 

 (Optional if GUI is installed): 

 glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer" 

 

 Completion Notes 

 

 

 GPU passthrough is functional. 

 

 

 Host Proxmox system is stable and still accessible via Web GUI. 

 

 

 Pop!_OS VM is now accelerated using the RTX 2070 SUPER. 

 

 

 SSH and firewall (UFW) are set up on the guest.