---
title: "My desktop became a Proxmox home server"
date: 2026-10-06
description: "How an unused desktop became a Proxmox server, what broke during the move, and why two MacBooks now cover my everyday computing."
tags:
  - "home-server"
  - "proxmox"
  - "self-hosting"
  - "virtualisation"
---

I turned my unused desktop into a [Proxmox](https://www.proxmox.com/en/products/proxmox-virtual-environment/features) home server, and I don't miss having it as a desktop. My MacBook had already become the computer I used every day. The more capable machine sitting there could do something useful instead.

The [previous server](/posts/you-need-a-home-server/) had started with an old i5 and [OpenMediaVault](https://docs.openmediavault.org/en/stable/). It had become something I used all the time. Moving to the spare desktop gave it more compute, but getting there meant breaking some of the things I depended on.

## A day or two of things being broken

The move took me a day or two. It was the whole “my services are down, my DNS is broken” thing again, slowly transferring things and getting them working. It was a bit painful.

There was also something I hadn't saved the configuration for properly before wiping a drive. I can't remember exactly what it was now, but I remember having to redo it manually. “Ah damn it, lost that.” A huge pain, though it wasn't the end of the world. It ended up being fine.

## What the desktop runs now

Proxmox lets me run separate virtual machines on the same physical computer. The primary host is an i7-9700K, with around 40 TB of storage available through OpenMediaVault. Its usable memory is consistent with the 64 GB specified in July. These are October checks, rather than a record of exactly what was connected on moving day.

OpenMediaVault is now a VM. [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-started/docker-overview/) runs in another guest, with services such as Plex and Home Assistant inside it. [Komodo](https://komo.do/docs/intro), which manages container deployments, has its own VM too. There is also a Windows VM. I spun that up at one point to do something, which was nice: I could have a Windows machine available without making the whole computer my Windows desktop.

![The Proxmox resource tree lists four running guests on gluesoup-0: OpenMediaVault, Komodo, Docker and Windows.](media/current-proxmox-tree-cb1c89aca174-600.png)

*The primary host’s actual Proxmox resource tree, captured on 6 October 2026. This shows the setup now, not during the migration.*

The current setup also has a second Proxmox machine with another Docker guest and the alternate [Pi-hole](https://docs.pi-hole.net/). Separating the guests doesn't remove every shared dependency. The primary VMs still depend on the same physical machine, and the media services depend on storage from OpenMediaVault.

![The primary Proxmox host contains separate OpenMediaVault, Docker, Komodo and Windows guests. A second host contains a Docker guest running the alternate Pi-hole.](media/current-guests-ed3688f2ac4b-768.png)

*Current layout, checked on 6 October 2026. The boxes are separate VMs; the four guests in the upper group still share one physical host.*

It has been nice to have more compute and to have things work quicker. That is how using the setup has felt.

## The laptop is the computer I sit down with

I have a work MacBook and a personal MacBook, a desk upstairs with two monitors, and a desk downstairs with one. At either desk I can plug in a couple of cables with whichever laptop I fancy using. It charges, the monitors work, and the peripherals I need work.

That arrangement suits me. I don't miss having the desktop.

There have been a couple of times when I've thought it would be nice to play a game and haven't had that desktop available anymore. But I don't miss it enough to go back, or think a dedicated gaming computer would be worth owning for how little I want to use it.

I don't miss having a dedicated Linux machine either. I've moved away from the terminal and I'm using AI heavily now. That includes [using Codex to operate the home server](/posts/codex-home-server-infrastructure/). A MacBook, AI, and an AI desktop app is my ideal workflow. The stationary machine still gives me the capacity to run things; it just doesn't need to be the computer I sit in front of.