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How to Import a Disk on Proxmox VM

In Proxmox, importing a disk onto a virtual machine (VM) can only be done through the command line interface (CLI). This guide will walk you through the steps on how to import a disk onto a Proxmox VM. Please note that you need access to the command line interface (CLI) of Proxmox and a running virtual machine with the disk that you want to import.

Prerequisites​

Before proceeding with the disk import process, make sure you have the following:

  • A Proxmox VE server with at least one VM configured and running
  • Access to the command line interface (CLI) of Proxmox.
  • A disk image file in one of the supported formats, such as qcow2, raw, vmdk, or vhd
  • Sufficient free disk space on the storage where you want to import the disk

Importing a Disk on Proxmox VM​

Follow the steps below to import a disk on a Proxmox VM:

  1. Open a shell session on the Proxmox server and log in as root.

  2. Determine the ID of the VM that you want to import the disk onto by running the command below (Skip this step if you already know the VM ID):

    qm list

  3. Now Change directory to the directory where the disk image is stored and run the following command to import the disk image:

    qm disk import VMID disk_name storage_name --format format
    info

    Replace the following variables in the command above:

    • VMID with the ID of the VM that you want to import the disk onto (e.g. 100)
    • disk_name with the name of the disk image file (e.g. disk1.qcow2)
    • storage_name with the name of the storage where you want to import the disk image file (e.g. local, nfs, or ceph)
    • format with the format of the disk image file (e.g. qcow2, raw, vmdk, or vhd)

    For example, to import a disk named vm-200-disk-0 from storage local-lvm to virtual machine with ID 200, run the following command:

    qm disk import 200 vm-200-disk-0 local-lvm --format qcow2

  4. Verify that the disk has been imported by running the following command:

    qm config VMID
    info

    Replace the VMID variable in the command above with the ID of the VM that you want to import the disk onto (e.g. 100)

    For example, to verify that the disk has been imported on VM with ID 200, run the following command:

    qm config 200

    The output of the command above should show the disk that you just imported:

    ...
    scsi1: local-lvm:vm-200-disk-0,size=8G
    ...

🎊 Congratulations! You have successfully imported a disk onto a Proxmox virtual machine.

Attach the Disk to the VM​

To attach the disk to the VM, follow the steps below:

  1. Open a shell session on the Proxmox server and log in as root.

  2. Run the following command to attach the disk to the VM:

     qm set VMID --scsihw SCSI-HW --scsi0 STORAGE_TYPE:DISK-NAME,size=DISK-SIZE
    info

    Replace the following variables in the command above:

    • VMID with the ID of the VM that you want to import the disk onto (e.g. 100)
    • SCSI-HW with the SCSI hardware type of the VM (e.g. lsi | lsi53c810 | megasas | pvscsi | virtio-scsi-pci | virtio-scsi-single> (default = lsi))
    • STORAGE_TYPE with the type of storage where you want to import the disk image file (e.g. local, nfs, or ceph)
    • DISK-NAME with the name of the disk image file (e.g. vm-200-disk-0)
    • DISK-SIZE with the size of the disk image file (e.g. 8G)

    You can also attach the disk using the Proxmox web interface.

References​