Create a Proxmox Thin Client with Almost Any Hardware

#ProxMox #Hypervisor #ThinClient #SPICE

Full steps can be found at https://i12bretro.github.io/tutorials/0752.html

Background I was looking for a simple and effective way to utilize cheap thin client hardware to connect to Proxmox VMs. After looking at several distros and solutions that don't support the SPICE protocol, I came across this method using a Raspberry Pi or really any hardware than can run Linux. The original idea and steps for this process, as well as the author of the script used is apalrd. Check out his blogpost (https://www.apalrd.net/posts/2022/raspi_spice_login/) and video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNgmMxrnLn8) outlining how he approached the problem and how this setup came to exist.   The Hardware The device I used in this video is a HP t520 thin client I picked up used for about $27. It sports a 2 core/2 thread AMD GX-212JC @ 1.20 GHz, 4GB DDR3L RAM and a 16GB M.2 SSD.   Things You Will Need    - A USB flash drive, at least 8 GB  https://amzn.to/3wkR5ju |  https://amzn.to/3qkrJ1p |  https://amzn.to/3Nhu9b9   Preparing the Installation Media    01. Download the Debian .iso file  https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd/debian-11.3.0-amd64-netinst.iso    02. Download the Ventoy installer  https://www.ventoy.net/en/download.html    03. Extract the downloaded .zip file    04. Run Ventoy2Disk.exe    05. Plug in a USB flash drive at least 4 GB in size    06. Click the refresh icon    07. Select the flash drive from the device dropdown    08. Click the Install button    09. After the installation completes, copy the downloaded Debian .iso to the Ventoy partition    10. Safely remove the USB flash drive    11. Plug the flash drive into the target thin client device   Debian Installation and Setup    01. Power on the thin client device and start pressing Delete    02. When the install dialog displays, arrow down to Install ≫ Press Enter    03. Select a language ≫ Click Continue    04. Select a Location ≫ Click Continue    05. Select a keyboard layout ≫ Click Continue    06. Enter a hostname for the VM ≫ Click Continue    07. Enter a Domain name or leave it empty ≫ Click Continue    08. Leave the root password blank ≫ Click Continue    09. Enter the full name for the new user ≫ Click Continue    10. Enter the username for the new user ≫ Click Continue    11. Enter and confirm a password for the new user ≫ Click Continue    12. Select a timezone ≫ Click Continue    13. Select Guided - user entire disk ≫ Click Continue    14. Select the target disk ≫ Click Continue    15. Select All files in one partition ≫ Click Continue    16. Select Finish partitioning and write changes to disk ≫ Click Continue    17. Select Yes to confirm writing the changes ≫ Click Continue    18. Wait for Debian to copy and install files    19. When prompted, select Yes to enable a network apt mirror ≫ Click Continue    20. Select a country to use for the apt mirror ≫ Click Continue    21. Select a mirror from the list ≫ Click Continue    22. Setup a HTTP proxy if necessary ≫ Click Continue    23. Select No to participating in package survey ≫ Click Continue    24. On the Software selection menu, deselect GNOME and select LXDE and SSH Server ≫ Press Enter to Continue    25. Select Yes to install GRUB ≫ Click Continue    26. Select /dev/sda for the boot loader location ≫ Click Continue    27. After the bootloader is installed select reboot to finish the installation    28. Welcome to Debian 11   Proxmox Configuration    01. Open a web browser and navigate to the Proxmox Web UI and log in    02. Select Datacenter from the left navigation menu    03. Expand Permissions in the left sub-navigation menu ≫ Users    04. Click the Add button    05. Complete the Add User form as follows:          User name: virt-viewer          Realm: Proxmox VE authentication server          Password: ≪%password%≫          Confirm password: ≪%password%≫    06. Click Add to complete adding the user    07. Click Permissions in the left sub-navigation menu    08. Click Add ≫ User permission    09. Select /vms/≪%vm id%≫ from the Path dropdown    10. Select the virt-viewer user from the User dropdown    11. Select the PVEVMUser role from the Role dropdown    12. Click Add to complete the permissions setup    13. Expand the node ≫ Select the target VM from the left navigation panel    14. Select Hardware from the left sub-navigation menu    15. Double-click Display ≫ Set the value to SPICE     NOTE: If the VM guest is Windows based, it is required to install the virtio drivers  https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Windows_VirtIO_Drivers#Installation   Configuring the Thin Client Script    01. Log into Debian thin client device using the username and password created during the install

....Full steps can be found on GitHub [link at the top]

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