Hi everyone! Proxmox VE brings KVM and LXC together under one web interface for managing VMs, containers, storage and networking. You’d think there’d be a “one‑click import” for OVA/OVF files, but there isn’t—so here’s a simple way to treat an OVA like any other tarball.
First, upload your .ova to the Proxmox host (for example into /var/lib/vz/template/) using SCP or WinSCP. Then SSH in, cd to that folder and run:
tar -xvf my-template.ova
You’ll get the .ovf descriptor plus disk images (usually .vmdk or .vhd). Next, convert the disk to a Proxmox‑friendly format:
qemu-img convert -f vpc -O qcow2 disk_image.vhd converted_image.qcow2
Now create a new, empty VM in Proxmox and import your converted disk into it:
qm importdisk 123 /var/lib/vz/template/converted_image.qcow2 local-lvm
Once that’s done, attach the disk to your VM (for example with qm set 123 -scsi0 local-lvm:vm-123-disk-1 or --virtio0), remove the auto‑created blank disk, and make sure the controller and NIC types match what your image expects. Finally, boot the VM, install or update VirtIO drivers, tweak GRUB/UEFI if needed, and you’ll have SSH and networking up and running.
For a deeper dive into common pitfalls and tweaks on LVM, ZFS or Ceph storage, check out my full write‑up here:
👉 How to Import OVA/OVF in Proxmox?
Feel free to click through and share any questions or tips!
