install-linux-guest-proxmox-cloud-init.md

Linux Guest Installation Steps (Ubuntu 25.04 VM via ProxmoxVE Community Scripts / Cloud-Init)

Thanks to @NightMean for his contribution in #418.

If you have tried to run the DKMS module on an Ubuntu 25.04 VM created from ProxmoxVE Community scripts (or any minimal/cloud-init Ubuntu image), you might encounter an Unknown symbol in module error and silently fail to load i915.

This is because the cloud-init/minimal Ubuntu image does not come with the extra kernel modules installed by default. The i915-sriov-dkms module depends on DRM helper functions drm_display_helper and drm_kms_helper.

To fix this, you must install linux-modules-extra alongside the typical build tools.

1. Install required packages

Instead of installing only linux-headers, you need to install linux-modules-extra as well:

sudo apt install -y build-essential dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r) linux-modules-extra-$(uname -r)

2. Download and install the DKMS module

Download and install the .deb package from the release page. Use dpkg -i {package_name}.deb to install the package.

3. Update kernel parameters in cloud-init GRUB configs

Cloud-init configurations override /etc/default/grub with their own settings in /etc/default/grub.d/50-cloudimg-settings.cfg. You need to edit that file instead of the default grub configuration:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub.d/50-cloudimg-settings.cfg

Change GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=tty1 console=ttyS0 i915.enable_guc=3 module_blacklist=xe"

4. Update grub and initramfs, then reboot

sudo update-grub
sudo update-initramfs -u
sudo reboot

5. Verify VF recognition

After rebooting, verify if the Virtual Function (VF) is recognized:

sudo dmesg | grep i915

You should see output similar to this:

i915: You are using the i915-sriov-dkms module, a ported version of the i915/xe module with SR-IOV support.

(Tested with Intel Core i5-13500T Alder Lake)

Uninstallation

Remove the package with sudo dpkg -P i915-sriov-dkms.