Proxmox Desktop

A polished native Windows client for Proxmox VE

Overview

Proxmox Desktop is a native WPF application for managing Proxmox VE infrastructure from a clean, focused Windows interface. It brings the most common administration tasks together in one dashboard for virtual machines, LXC containers, nodes, storage, tasks and consoles.

The project is built with .NET 10, WPF, WPF-UI, MVVM, WebView2 and the Proxmox VE REST API. The interface is designed for fast daily administration while keeping authentication and local secret storage aligned with Windows capabilities.

Highlights

• Modern dark Windows interface inspired by professional desktop utilities.
• Native Proxmox VE authentication with password, TOTP and API tokens.
• Server endpoint validation before credentials are submitted.
• VM and LXC overview with status, node, VMID and resource information.
• Quick power actions: start, stop, restart, suspend, resume and reset.
• Integrated NoVNC and xterm.js web consoles through WebView2.
• SPICE console support through Virt-Viewer.
• Activity logging and visible connection diagnostics.
• Dedicated application User-Agent and standard API request headers.
• Windows DPAPI protection for locally stored secrets.
• Self-contained Windows installer; no separate .NET installation is required.

Screens and navigation

The application is organized around the main Proxmox administration areas:

Area	Purpose
Overview	Infrastructure summary and recent activity
Virtual Machines	VM status, details and power actions
Containers	LXC status, details and power actions
Nodes	Cluster node information
Storage	Storage overview and availability
Network	Network-related infrastructure views
Backups	Backup-related administration
Tasks	Recent and active Proxmox tasks
Users	User and access administration

Download and installation

Download the latest installer from the Releases page:

ProxmoxDesktop-<version>-setup-win-x64.exe

The installer is self-contained and installs the Windows application for the current user. Current releases distribute the installer only; no portable package is included.

Requirements

• Windows 10 version 1809 (build 17763) or Windows 11.
• 64-bit Windows.
• Network access to the Proxmox VE API.
• WebView2 Runtime for integrated web consoles.
• Virt-Viewer and UsbDk for SPICE consoles.

Authentication

Username and password

Enter the Proxmox server address, port, realm, username and password. The default Proxmox API port is 8006. If TOTP is enabled, the application requests the one-time code during login.

API token

Use the Proxmox token identifier format:

user@realm!tokenid

The token secret is never stored as plain text. Locally persisted secrets are protected with Windows DPAPI.

Reverse proxies

The application connects directly to the Proxmox API using native HTTP requests. A reverse proxy must forward the Proxmox API routes, including:

/api2/json/version
/api2/json/access/domains
/api2/json/access/ticket
/api2/json/*

If a proxy requires an external browser session or an interactive access gateway, native Proxmox credentials alone cannot bypass that policy. For the most reliable setup, expose the Proxmox API through a route that allows native API authentication.

Minimal permissions

A dedicated Proxmox account commonly needs the following permissions:

Permission	Purpose
VM.Audit	List and inspect virtual machines and containers
VM.Console	Open VM and container consoles
VM.PowerMgmt	Perform power operations

Add node, storage, task or user permissions according to the administration features required by your deployment.

Build from source

From the repository root in PowerShell:

dotnet restore "Proxmox Desktop\ProxmoxDesktop.csproj"
dotnet build "Proxmox Desktop\ProxmoxDesktop.csproj" `
  --configuration Release `
  -p:Platform=x64

To publish a self-contained Windows build:

dotnet publish "Proxmox Desktop\ProxmoxDesktop.csproj" `
  --configuration Release `
  --runtime win-x64 `
  --self-contained true `
  -p:PublishReadyToRun=true `
  -o output\publish

Project structure

Proxmox Desktop/
├── Api/                  HTTP client, API models and responses
├── Config/               JSON configuration and DPAPI protection
├── Converters/           WPF value converters
├── Services/             Notifications and activity logging
├── ViewModels/           MVVM presentation logic
├── Views/                WPF windows and application screens
└── ProxmoxDesktop.csproj

Main technologies

• .NET 10
• WPF
• WPF-UI 2.1.0
• CommunityToolkit.Mvvm 8.4.2
• Microsoft.Web.WebView2 1.0.4258.31
• System.Text.Json
• Windows DPAPI

CI/CD

• Every push to master and every pull request can run the validation build.
• Versioned tags in the form vX.Y.Z trigger the release workflow.
• The release workflow publishes a self-contained x64 Windows installer.
• Release notes are generated in English with installation, requirements, security and changelog sections.
• The release workflow uses .NET 10 and Node.js 24-compatible GitHub Actions.

Roadmap

• Modern WPF dashboard
• Password, TOTP and API token authentication
• Server endpoint validation
• VM and LXC overview
• Search, filtering and sorting foundations
• Power management actions
• NoVNC, xterm.js and SPICE console support
• Windows installer
• Bulk actions across multiple machines
• Historical resource charts
• Expanded storage, network and user administration

Contributing

Bug reports, feature requests and pull requests are welcome. Please open an issue before proposing a large change, then create a focused branch and submit a pull request to master.

Use clear English commit messages in the following style:

Add native API request headers
Fix login endpoint validation
Improve release documentation

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.