With the recent announcement that my Home Assistant installation in Docker is no longer supported, I needed to make a plan to move to a supported installation method. While I could technically keep maintaining my setup as-is, it would mean no future support and more manual work to stay up to date– evident since I didn’t even get the automatic option to upgrade to Home Assistant 2025.7.0.
The obvious choice is to switch to Home Assistant OS (HAOS), but I also run a few other docker containers on this machine for various other software. Even though I don’t have a extremely powerful machine, it feels like a waste of resources to dedicate it solely to HAOS. Running multiple machines full time to separate workloads isn’t appealing either, given the extra power consumption over time.
Why I chose Proxmox
I decided to look at Proxmox as the base installation. Many Home Assistant users recommend Proxmox, and reviews are generally positive. While I have used various virtualization Software before, I hadn’t used Proxmox until now.
Advantages of using Proxmox:
- Free to use.
- No large underlying OS to maintain (unlike Debian with Docker).
- HAOS can run inside a dedicated VM.
- Supports powerful backup and snapshot features.
- Ability to run other Docker containers in a lightweight LXC (Linux Containers).
- Improved resource monitoring with the Proxmox web interface.
- Headless setup and management through a browser, making it convenient.
Disadvantage of using Proxmox:
- New learning curve— I expect mistakes along the way.
- Concern about restoring components and potential data loss.
- If something goes wrong, I’ll need to reformat the drive. Even with backups, there’s a chance I could lose configurations or encounter downtime.
Preparing for the Migration
Before touching my system, I made a list of all services and components running on my current Docker host. Over time, I installed a variety of tools—some used weekly, others rarely.
I checked which add-ons are included with Home Assistant OS and which I’d need to set up separately (e.g. custom integrations)
To safeguard my data:
- I performed a full Home Assistant backup through Supervisor.
- I manually backed up other important files from my Docker host, include Docker Compose files, configuration files, and databases.
- I copied these backups to my local machine and an external drive for redundancy.
My Home Assistant backup alone was just under 4Gb zipped.
Tip: If you have custom cards, themes, or MQTT devices, note down their configurations—this saves troubleshooting time later.
Setting up Proxmox
There are excellent tutorials and YouTube videos on setting up Proxmox. Since these resources cover Proxmox installation thoroughly, I won’t detail them here. If you have questions or encounter issues during your Proxmox setup, leave a comment below, and I’d be happy to help.
Some quick notes from my experience:
- Proxmox ISO installation was straightforward, but I recommend enabling a static IP during setup so you can always find your Proxmox web interface.
- After installation, update Proxmox host (either via the web GUI or CLI).
- If you don’t plan to buy a Proxmox subscription, you can disable the no-subscription repository warnings by editing /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterpricelist .
Installing Home Assistant OS on Proxmox
Installing Home Assistant OS on Proxmox required a few adjustments compared to my original plan. Initially, I thought I could just install HAOS like any other ISO, but realized there’s a dedicated KVM/Proxmox .qcow2 image available.
Here’s the step-by-step process that worked for me:
- Download the KVM/Proxmox (.qcow2) file from the Installation | Other systems on the Home Assistant site.
- Extract the downloaded archive.
- xz -d haos_ova-15.2.qcow2.xz
- Copy the image to the Proxmox host under /root (This can be done with SCP)
- Create the VM for Home Assistant on Proxmox.
- Log in to the Proxmox web UI.
- Create a new VM (set OS type to “Other”), choose defaults for now, but remember the VM ID (e.g., 100).
- Set the Hard Disk to a small dummy disk initially—you’ll replace this soon.
- Import the HAOS disk image into your VM:
- Run this on the Proxmox host through a terminal:
- qm importdisk 100 /root/haos_ova-15.2.qcow2 local-lvm –format qcow2
- (Replace 100 with your actual VM ID.
- Run this on the Proxmox host through a terminal:
- Attach the imported disk
- In the Proxmox UI, go to your VM –> Hardware.
- Remove the dummy disc you created earlier.
- Add –> Hard Disk –> select imported disk –> click Add.
- Under “Options”, adjust Boot Order so the new disk is first.
- BIOS Settings (IMPORTANT)
- You can now start the machine and boot into the installation of HAOS.
- If it fails to boot, enter the VM BIOS (press ESC or DEL during boot).
- Disable “Secure Boot” (this was crucial in my case, as the BIOS couldn’t find a bootable disk initially)
- First boot & initial setup
- Booting HAOS can take 5-10 minutes before the Home Assistant CLI appears.
- You’ll see a URL like http://homeassistant.local:8123 or an IP address you can access in your browser.
- Be patient—the initial setup can take up to 20 minutes before the frontend becomes fully available.
Restoring your Backup
Once Home Assistant is fully running, you’ll have two options:
- Start from scratch and reconfigure everything manually.
- Restore your existing Home Assistant backup:
- Go to Home Assistant UI –> Settings –> System –> Backups.
- Upload your .tar backup file and click Restore.
Note: Some add-ons or custom integrations may require reinstallation or configuration tweaks, especially if they relied on paths or network settings specific to your old Docker environment.
Running Other Services
One of the reasons I picked Proxmox was to continue running other software alongside HAOS. Here’s what I did:
- Created separate LXC Containers for my other Docker workloads.
- Migrated Docker Compose files and volumes into LXC containers to keep them organized and isolated.
- Proxmox resource monitoring makes it easy to track performance impact.
Final Thoughts
While migrating to Proxmox took some effort, it’s already paying off:
- I have automated snapshots of my HAOS VM.
- System updates are easier to manage.
- Resource usage is consolidated, saving power and reducing hardware sprawl.
- I gained a flexible, powerful hypervisor for future projects.
I highly recommend this approach to anyone who needs Home Assistant on a supported installation while wanting to run other workloads on the same machine.
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