Proxmox VE Default Login: Username, Password, Root Password Reset and Installation

Updated: 10 October 2026 · Applies to: Proxmox VE 9.2 on Debian 13 (repository and key checked: proxmox-ve 9.2.0, pve-manager 9.2.21) and Proxmox Backup Server; login, installer and reset steps according to Proxmox

Proxmox VE has no default password. The username is root, the realm is Linux PAM standard authentication (so the full user name is root@pam), and the password is the one you typed in the installer. If you installed Proxmox VE on top of Debian, it is the Debian root password. Log in at https://SERVER-IP:8006. Proxmox Backup Server works the same way, on port 8007.

Log in for the first time

1. Open https://SERVER-IP:8006 (with https and the port). Your browser warns about the certificate, because Proxmox VE signs it with its own certificate authority until you add a trusted one; continue to the page.
2. Enter User name root and the root password, and set Realm to Linux PAM standard authentication.
3. Without a subscription, a dialog titled No valid subscription appears. Click OK to continue.
4. Protect the account: add two-factor authentication under Datacenter › Permissions › Two Factor (TOTP, WebAuthn or recovery keys), and allow port 8006 only from your own IP addresses.

The root user is created by the installer and cannot be deleted. According to Proxmox, the installer requires a root password of at least 8 characters and recommends 12 or more.

When the login fails

• Wrong realm. The root password only works with Linux PAM standard authentication. Users you created in the web interface usually belong to the Proxmox VE authentication server realm (name@pve) and must log in with that realm.
• Forgotten password of a pve user: as root, run pveum passwd name@pve. Two-factor lockouts are cleared with pveum user tfa unlock name@pve.
• Changed the root password in the web interface on a cluster: according to Proxmox, a PAM password change applies only to that node, so the other nodes keep the old password.
• Forgotten root password: reset it from the console, as below.

Reset a forgotten Proxmox root password

You need the server's console. On a dedicated server, use the IPMI or iKVM console in your browser (see how to use the Supermicro IPMI HTML5 console and virtual media). These are the two methods from the Proxmox wiki:

Method 1: edit the boot entry

1. In the boot menu (GRUB or systemd-boot), select the Proxmox kernel and press e.
2. Add init=/bin/bash to the end of the kernel line (the line starting with linux /vmlinuz- in GRUB). Boot with Ctrl+X in GRUB or Enter in systemd-boot.
3. In the shell that opens:

   mount -o remount,rw /
   passwd

4. Restart the server.

Method 2: from the installer ISO (useful with ZFS)

1. Boot the Proxmox VE ISO and choose Advanced Options › Install Proxmox VE (Graphical, Debug Mode), which boots a live system with the basic tools. According to the Proxmox wiki, use the second debug console; Ctrl+D leaves a console.
2. Mount the installed root file system at /mnt. For ZFS: zpool import -f -R /mnt rpool.
3. Set the new password inside the mounted system, then unmount (or zpool export rpool) and reboot:

   passwd -R /mnt

We checked passwd -R on Debian 13 against a copied system folder: it printed passwd: password updated successfully and changed the root entry in that folder's /etc/shadow only, not on the running system.

Containers: an LXC container has the root password you set in the Create CT wizard. To reset it, run pct enter VMID on the host, then passwd and exit. Virtual machines use whatever login their own operating system installer set.

Install Proxmox VE

Proxmox VE needs a dedicated server with hardware virtualisation (Intel VT-x or AMD-V on x86 servers); install it on a dedicated server, not inside a VPS.

Option 1: the ISO installer (recommended by Proxmox). Boot the server from the Proxmox VE ISO, for example through HTML5 virtual media in the IPMI console. Choose Install Proxmox VE (Graphical), select the disk (ZFS RAID1 is a good choice with two disks), then set the country, the root password and email, and the network. This is where the login password comes from.

Option 2: on top of Debian 13. On a fresh Debian 13 server with a static IP and its hostname in /etc/hosts pointing to that IP (not 127.0.1.1), add the repository and key. We ran these on Debian 13; the key's checksum matched the one Proxmox publishes:

wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-archive-keyring-trixie.gpg -O /usr/share/keyrings/proxmox-archive-keyring.gpg
sha256sum /usr/share/keyrings/proxmox-archive-keyring.gpg
136673be77aba35dcce385b28737689ad64fd785a797e57897589aed08db6e45  /usr/share/keyrings/proxmox-archive-keyring.gpg
cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-install-repo.sources <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve
Suites: trixie
Components: pve-no-subscription
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/proxmox-archive-keyring.gpg
EOF
apt update && apt full-upgrade

Then, according to Proxmox, install and boot the Proxmox kernel, install the packages and remove the Debian kernel:

apt install proxmox-default-kernel
systemctl reboot
apt install proxmox-ve postfix open-iscsi chrony
apt remove linux-image-amd64 'linux-image-6.12*'
update-grub
apt remove os-prober

Log in as root with your Debian root password and the Linux PAM realm, as above.

Updates without a subscription

An ISO install enables the pve-enterprise repository, which needs a subscription key. Without one, according to Proxmox, add Enabled: no to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.sources and use the pve-no-subscription repository (the same entry as above). Proxmox does not recommend that repository for production servers, because its packages are less tested.

Need hardware for it? Ucartz unmanaged dedicated servers come with full root access and a free IPMI KVM console for installing from the ISO.