Why I Chose the ThinkPad T480 So, why the T480 out of all laptops?

🛡️ Built like a tank – It’s a business-grade machine that can handle long runtimes and daily abuse.

🧠 Decent power – The i7-8650U isn’t a beast, but it’s efficient and powerful enough for multiple VMs and containers.

💸 Affordable & available – You can grab one for cheap these days on OLX or refurb sites.

🔧 Upgradeable – Dual RAM slots (mine’s upgraded to 32 GB), replaceable battery, easy SSD swap.

🧊 Runs cool with proper cooling – Especially with an external fan underneath.

Basically, it hits the sweet spot between power, price, and portability — which made it perfect for a budget-friendly homelab project. Also… I already had it lying around 😅

This is a full step-by-step breakdown of how I turned my ThinkPad T480 into a powerful, self-hosted Proxmox lab — built for running virtual machines, experimenting with containers, testing tools, and learning hands-on. I didn’t use any flashy hardware or expensive server parts — just a solid old laptop, some patience, and a lot of curiosity. Along the way, I dealt with storage quirks, backup setups, and performance tuning to make sure everything ran smoothly. I hit a few bumps, broke a few things, fixed them, and ended up with a clean, stable homelab that I use daily. Here’s how it all went down 👇

💻 PC Specs — Lenovo ThinkPad T480

My ThinkPad T480 lab setup — running Proxmox, connected to Ethernet, with an external SSD

The entire setup runs on my trusty Lenovo ThinkPad T480, a no-nonsense business laptop that has become a favorite in the homelab community. It’s compact, reliable, and surprisingly powerful for its age.

Under the hood, it packs an Core i7-8650U processor, which provides solid multi-core performance — more than enough for running multiple VMs and containers without major slowdowns. I’ve upgraded the RAM to a generous 32 GB, giving Proxmox the breathing room it needs to handle several virtual environments simultaneously.

For storage, I’m running a dual-drive setup:

• A 256 GB internal SSD for Proxmox and core system files (will upgrade it for later)
• A 256 GB external SSD connected via USB 3.0, which I use for VM storage, ISO templates, and backups

Despite being a laptop, this combo gives me excellent flexibility and speed. No fancy RAID or NVMe setup here — just well-optimized basics that get the job done.

I kept my ThinkPad plugged in at all times and made sure it was slightly propped up to help airflow. But I didn’t stop there — I also connected an external laptop cooling fan underneath. Trust me, once you start spinning up multiple VMs or running Docker containers, things heat up fast. A little cooling goes a long way in avoiding thermal throttling right in the middle of your hacking experiments or system updates.

🛠️ Step 1: Download Proxmox ISO

Official Proxmox website — downloading version 8.4.1 via torrent for faster installation

I started by downloading the latest Proxmox VE ISO from the official site. But the direct download speed was honestly painful. Instead, I grabbed the torrent version and used qBittorrent — much faster, much smoother. Make sure to grab the latest stable release. This ISO is what you’ll flash to your USB to install Proxmox.

🛠️ Step 2: Check Disk Partition Style (Windows & Linux)

Before installing Proxmox, it’s important to know whether your disk is using MBR or GPT partitioning. This determines whether you should boot your installer in UEFI or Legacy BIOS mode.

💻 On Windows:

• Press Win + X → Open Disk Management
• Right-click your main disk → Properties → Volumes
• Check the Partition Style — it will say GPT or MBR

🐧 On Linux:

Open a terminal and run:

sudo parted -l

Look for a line like:

Partition Table: gpt

or:

Partition Table: msdos

🔹 gpt → use UEFI boot
🔹 msdos → use Legacy boot

Knowing this helps avoid boot issues during install. I personally double-checked mine before flashing Proxmox so I could set the right boot mode in BIOS.

🛠️ Step 3: BIOS Configuration

Before flashing Proxmox, I rebooted into the BIOS setup by pressing F1 (or DEL, varies by laptop).

Here’s what I enabled or changed:

• ✅ Enabled Virtualization (VT-x / AMD-V)
• ✅ Disabled Secure Boot
• ✅ Set Boot Mode to UEFI or Legacy based on disk style

Without these changes, Proxmox might not boot properly or your VMs won’t run.

🛠️ Step 4: Create Bootable USB

Rufus settings used to flash proxmox-ve_8.4-1.iso to USB using GPT and UEFI (non CSM)

⚠️ Starting this will erase all data on the selected USB drive.

I used Rufus to create a bootable USB stick using the Proxmox ISO.

Steps:

• Plug in an 8GB+ USB drive
• Open Rufus → Select ISO file
• Use the correct partition scheme (MBR or GPT depending on your BIOS mode)
• Flash!

Once done, I used the F12 boot menu on my ThinkPad to boot from the USB.

🛠️ Step 5: Install Proxmox to SSD

Booted from USB — Proxmox VE 8.4 installer showing options for graphical or terminal-based setup

I selected my internal SSD as the install target — and yes, ⚠️ this erased everything on it.

Then I set:

• Timezone
• Root password (don’t forget this!)
• Static IP address

Once complete, it rebooted and showed me a message to access Proxmox via:

https://<your-ip>:8006

Ignore the SSL warning and continue — you’ll land on the Proxmox dashboard.

First login into Proxmox Web UI — accessed the root shell to update packages and configure networking

🛠️ Step 6: Post-Install Cleanup

Right after logging into the dashboard:

• I removed the default enterprise repo to avoid subscription nags
• Added the no-subscription repo
• Ran a full system update from the shell using:

apt update && apt full-upgrade -y
reboot

After reboot, my system was clean, updated, and ready to spin up VMs 🔥

🛠️ Fix Proxmox Repo Error After Fresh Installation

After running apt update right after installing Proxmox VE, you might see this error:

E: Failed to fetch https://enterprise.proxmox.com/... 401 Unauthorized

🤔 Why This Happens

Proxmox by default enables the Enterprise Repository, which is meant for users with a paid subscription. If you’re using Proxmox for personal or homelab use (without a subscription), you’ll need to switch to the No-Subscription Repository.

✅ Fix: Use No-Subscription Repository

sed -i 's/^deb/#deb/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list
echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-no-subscription.list
apt update && apt full-upgrade -y

🧹 Optional: Disable Ceph Enterprise Repo

Why disable the Ceph Enterprise repo? Because you’re not using it, and it needs a paid plan. If you leave it on, you’ll get errors when updating. So turning it off just avoids useless problems. ✅

nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.list
# Comment out:
#deb https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-quincy bookworm enterprise

💾 Reclaim Full Internal SSD for VM Storage

By default, Proxmox splits your SSD into two parts — one for the system and one for VMs. But if you’re using an external SSD for VMs, the internal one’s VM space is just sitting there, wasted. 😬 So we delete that extra part and give all the space to the system — simple and clean. ✅

lvremove /dev/pve/data
lvresize -l +100%FREE /dev/pve/root
resize2fs /dev/mapper/pve-root

🔌 Connect & Configure External SSD for VM Storage

Why I did this:

To save space on my internal SSD and keep things organized. Instead of putting VMs, backups, and ISOs on the main drive, i moved them to an external SSD.

✅ Keeps the system clean
✅ Gives more storage for VMs
✅ Easier to manage everything

In short: I used the external SSD to handle the big stuff, so my main drive doesn’t get full or messy.

Format & Mount:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb
mkdir /mnt/externalssd
mount /dev/sdb /mnt/externalssd
blkid /dev/sdb  # Get UUID
nano /etc/fstab
# Add:
UUID=xxxx /mnt/externalssd ext4 defaults 0 0

Add to Proxmox GUI:

• Datacenter → Storage → Add → Directory

Optional: LVM-Thin on External SSD

It helps you save space and create copies of VMs faster.

Normally, if you make 3 copies of a 20GB VM, it uses 60GB. With LVM-Thin, the copies share space — like magic ✨ — so it uses much less.

✅ Good if you make/test lots of VMs
✅ Makes cloning and snapshots faster and lighter

In short: You’d set this up if you want to do more with less space. If not doing that, you can skip it 🙂

wipefs -a /dev/sdb
pvcreate /dev/sdb
vgcreate external-vg /dev/sdb
lvcreate -l 100%FREE -T external-vg/external-thin

Add it via GUI as LVM-Thin.

😴 Prevent Sleep on Lid Close

I guess u get y this one is for 🙃

nano /etc/systemd/logind.conf
# Change:
HandleLidSwitch=ignore
systemctl restart systemd-logind

🧯 Fix for Console Error

TASK ERROR: command '/usr/bin/termproxy ...' failed: exit code 1

systemctl restart pveproxy

🎯 Final Recap

✅ Installed and updated Proxmox VE
✅ Fixed repository issues
✅ Merged internal SSD partitions
✅ Mounted external SSD
✅ Enabled LVM-Thin if needed
✅ Prevented sleep on lid close
✅ Fixed console terminal issue

🙏 Thank You!

Appreciate you making it this far 😄
I’ll be adding more homelab projects and things I built on top of this soon — from cybersecurity labs to automation setups.
This is just the start 💻✨