So I’m using dwm as an interface for Proxmox currently, but here’s my gripes.
- Config requires rebuilding.
- Hotkeys seem to break for no reason*, last when I created a new user for controlling proxmox.
- No real mouse controls for stuff.
Now I realize dwm is mostly a keyboard focused window manager.*
For context, proxmox runs on debian, but doesn’t necessarily support everything properly (ie plasma has heavy visual glitching from something).
using proxmox without the web gui is possible but it is expected to be accessed via webgui or term/ssh and the VMs on there accessed via ssh,rdp,vnc,novnc,etc.
Due to it fundamentally being an advanced qemu/kvm/virtio frontend you can use virtmanager to access the VM from a desktop. In this instance try something like i3, awesomewm, bspwm or even xfce (it can be very light weight).
Commented on this twice already, so see those replies;
I’m using the web ui, I just need to use it from dwm on the same system for the initial master vm configuration.
After I have gpu-p and such configured, I can access the web ui from inside the vm.
The question was though what other options than dwm would be more fit for me, and what’s available on debian/proxmox.
Because while dwm is lightweight like i3, awesome, bspwm, etc, it’s not a great fit right now.
What’s wrong with the native web interface?
Single PC setup.
So you’re using your Proxmox host as a workstation? That’s not really recommended, but okay.
So what’s wrong with running the web interface from your workstation desktop?
Proxmox doesn’t have a desktop by default? That’s why I need something like dwm.
From dwm I can access the web interface, shell, and everything else I need.
If you’re going to use it as a workstation, are you not going to just use Gnome, KDE, xfce, etc.? I’m still pretty confused about what your actual use case is, since you haven’t explained it.
I mostly use win11 as my main os, and using proxmox as a base lets me properly use things like pihole, homeassistant, nextcloud, and other such services, because Windows really sucks for virtualizing those.
And OS hopping is a lot easier when I have a backend like proxmox.
Want to try arch but not sure if nvidia/wayland support is there yet? Roll up a gpu-p’d VM for it, instead of wiping the entire disk.
Edit: To further elaborate on what I have setup.
- Go through the typical proxmox install.
- Get debian up to date.
- Add Librewolf’s sources.
apt install picom lightdm dwm librewolf- Reboot.
- Login to dwm via lightdm, and open up librewolf.
- Navigate to the web ui.
- Add W11 VM image to storage.
- Create a W11 VM.
- Install W11 via VNC.
- GPU-P + USB Passthrough to W11.
- You’re now in Windows.
I assume you’re dual booting, otherwise I’d just say use the web interface from Windows.
But I don’t see any reason here that you can’t just use a standard desktop on top of Proxmox. Or, for that matter, just using plain old Debian and qemu.
Why would I ever dualboot?
And plasma/gnome et al. don’t seem to work with proxmox.
Thus something like dwm.
Proxmox is meant to be an appliance. Meaning, you shouldn’t mess with the base OS .
If you want a desktop it might be better to make a dedicated VM in proxmox for it.
Probably shouldn’t, no.
But I have no other way to use proxmox.
Sure I can use tty to achieve some of the stuff, but that’s it.
Dwm is needed to properly configure Proxmox from the Web UI.
