This article addresses the following issues:  

– Incorrect memory monitoring values for Windows virtual machines on Proxmox’s web monitoring page.  

– Enabling paravirtualization for Windows virtual machines on Proxmox.  

– Failure to install Windows systems on Proxmox, with the error: “We couldn’t find any drives. To get a storage driver, click ‘Load Driver.’”  

Paravirtualization

1. Download the driver files from the official website.  

2. Upload them to the corresponding Windows system or use a CD/DVD drive.  

Scenario 1: Uninstalled Windows Virtual Machine  

Error: “We couldn’t find any drives. To get a storage driver, click ‘Load Driver.’”  

1. Click Load Driver (L).  

2. Select the driver we added, find the corresponding system under the root directory in “amd64”, and click OK.  

3. Continue with the steps: Create/Format Partition → Install.  

4. After installation is complete, proceed with the following steps.

Scenario 2: Already Installed Windows Virtual Machine  

In this article, we use a CD/DVD drive.  

1. If you haven’t added a drive before, you can add one yourself and check if it appears. If it doesn’t, restart the VM.  

2. Keep clicking Next until the installation is successful (Successful).  

3. Restart the virtual machine. You will see a service under This PC → Manage → Services.  

4. The memory monitoring for the virtual machine on Proxmox’s web control page will now display correctly. (Previously, without the driver, the memory always showed as 90%+, which was an incorrect value.)

Personal Recommendations

Dynamic Memory Management  

Proxmox supports dynamic memory management. It is recommended to enable it to achieve maximum memory efficiency.  

Disk Caching Modes – Significantly Improve Disk Read/Write Speed and System Responsiveness  

These terms relate to data writing strategies between memory and disk, which affect system performance. Below is an explanation of these terms and their performance differences:  

1. Direct sync:  

   This write strategy ensures that every time data is written to memory, it is immediately synchronized to the disk. This means each write operation introduces disk latency because the system must wait for the disk to confirm the write is complete before continuing with other operations. Although this method provides the highest data security, frequent disk operations lead to lower performance.  

2. Write through:  

   This strategy writes data to memory and immediately writes it to disk without waiting for disk confirmation. It offers good data consistency and high performance by reducing the time spent waiting for disk confirmation. However, disk write operations still occur, leading to some performance overhead.  

3. Write back:  

   This strategy first writes data to the memory cache and writes it back to the disk at an appropriate time. This reduces the number of disk accesses and improves system performance. However, because data is cached in memory, there is a risk of data loss if the system crashes or experiences a power outage before writing back to the disk.  

4. Write back (unsafe):  

   Similar to the regular write back method, but it makes no guarantees about data consistency. This means that in the event of a system failure or power outage, data not yet written back to the disk could be permanently lost. While this method provides higher performance, it sacrifices data security and consistency.  

Summary  

– Direct sync offers the highest data security but has poor performance.  

– Write through strikes a balance between data consistency and performance.  

– Write back improves performance but comes with certain data risks.  

– Write back (unsafe) delivers the highest performance (fastest among all modes) but compromises data security and consistency.