| No boot menu / USB ignored |
Legacy vs UEFI, bad stick |
Re-flash USB; force UEFI boot entry; confirm cmp → MATCH |
dd looks stuck after progress |
conv=fdatasync flushing |
Wait; quiet period can be several minutes on slow USB |
cmp → MISMATCH |
Incomplete write / wrong device |
Check $DEV is the stick, re-run dd, then cmp again |
| Graphical installer blank or garbled |
GPU / mode issues |
Use Terminal UI; try nomodeset |
| No NIC in network step |
Cable / driver / link down |
Plug Ethernet; check link lights; pick a NIC marked UP |
| Wrong disk wiped |
Selected USB or wrong drive |
Restore from backup; never choose the installer stick |
Mirror shows DEGRADED |
Disk missing or failing |
Reseat or replace; run zpool status |
| Mirror smaller or slower than expected |
Size and speed follow the weaker disk |
Expected for mixed NVMe + SATA |
| Installer failure mid-copy |
Media / disk / hardware |
Ctrl+Alt+F2 for logs; re-flash USB; check SMART |
No /dev/kvm |
VT-x / AMD-V off |
Enable virtualization in firmware; reboot |
| Web UI timed out |
Wrong IP / HTTP / VLAN |
Use https://IP:8006; same LAN; check ip -br a and systemctl status pveproxy |
| Browser certificate warning |
Self-signed cert |
Expected on a fresh host; proceed for lab use |
curl -kI returns 501 |
API rejects HEAD |
Use GET: curl -k -sS -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" https://IP:8006/ |
apt update 401 on enterprise |
No subscription key |
Disable enterprise; enable pve-no-subscription (Update host) |
Malformed stanza in .sources |
Blank line before Enabled: |
Keep Enabled: false inside the same deb822 stanza |
| Hostname regrets |
FQDN hard to rename |
Rebuild, or see Renaming a PVE node |
| Router has no DNS domain |
DHCP Domain empty |
Pick a local suffix (e.g. home.arpa) for the installer FQDN |
| Subscription dialog every login |
No paid key |
Click OK; cosmetic only |
| “no-subscription not for production” badge |
Free repo warning |
Expected on the default path; keep enterprise if you have a key |