Import CloudInit images into Proxmox

Table of Contents

Introduction #

Proxmox VE is a powerful open-source virtualization platform that allows you to manage virtual machines and containers with ease. One of its great features is the ability to use cloud-init images, which are pre-configured virtual machine images that can be easily deployed and customized using cloud-init.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to import a cloud image into Proxmox VE and create a virtual machine from it. For this example, we’ll use an Ubuntu 24.04 cloud image, but the process is similar for other distributions as long as the image supports cloud-init.

All steps to create this template are done via the CLI using qm commands, but you can also achieve this through the web interface.

Step-by-Step Guide #

Download the Cloud Image: First, download the cloud image you want to use on your Proxmox server. You can find official cloud images for various distributions on their respective websites. For Ubuntu, check Ubuntu Cloud Images.
```
wget https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/noble/current/noble-server-cloudimg-amd64.img
```
Create a New VM: Use the qm create command to create a new virtual machine. Specify the VM ID, name, memory size, and network configuration.
```
qm create 900 --name ubuntu2404 --memory 2048 --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0
```
Import the Cloud Image: Use the qm importdisk command to import the downloaded cloud image into the newly created VM. Specify the VM ID, image path, storage location, and format.
Tip: I recommend not expanding the disk of the template itself. It’s better to resize the disk after cloning. This avoids wasting time when creating full clones.
```
qm importdisk 900 noble-server-cloudimg-amd64.img local -format qcow2
```
Attach the Disk to the VM: Attach the imported disk to the VM with qm set.
```
qm set 900 --scsihw virtio-scsi-pci --scsi0 local:vm-900-disk-0
```
Create a Cloud-Init Drive: Configure cloud-init for the VM. This will create and attach a cloud-init drive, set the boot order, and configure console access.
```
qm set 900 --ide2 local:cloudinit --boot c --bootdisk scsi0 --serial0 socket --vga serial0
```
Configure Cloud-Init Settings: Set network configuration, SSH keys, and user password.
a. Set IP Configuration (DHCP recommended for templates):
```
qm set 900 --ipconfig0 ip=dhcp
# Or static (not recommended for templates, can cause conflicts if cloned):
# qm set 900 --ipconfig0 ip=192.168.255.10/24,gw=192.168.255.254
```
b. Add SSH Key:
```
qm set 900 --sshkey ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
```
c. Set User Password:
I personally prefer using an SSH key for authentication, but if you don’t set a password here, you won’t be able to log in via the console.
```
qm set 900 --cipassword YourSecurePassword
```
Convert to Template:
Now that everything is set up we can convert the VM into a template to start using it.
```
qm template 900
```

Clone and Test the Template: Create a clone (linked or full) from the template, resize the disk if necessary, and configure the network.

qm clone 900 901 --name ubuntu2404-clone1
qm resize 901 scsi0 +30G
qm set 901 --ipconfig0 ip=192.168.255.10/24,gw=192.168.255.254
qm start 901

Access the VM: Once started, access your VM via SSH.
```
ssh ubuntu@192.168.255.10
```

Conclusion #

It’s a simple and efficient workflow — I no longer install VMs manually. I use cloud-init for all my quick tests and development setups. For more advanced use cases, you can even write full cloud-init configs and inject them via Proxmox snippets. I’ll cover that in a future article.