Proxmox installation stuck on 3% Creating LV’s is almost always a disk controller issue. The installer can’t talk to your drives properly, so LVM creation just hangs. Here’s how to get past it.
Check your disk controller mode
Most boards default to Intel RST or RAID mode. Proxmox doesn’t like that. You need AHCI. Reboot into BIOS, find the SATA operation setting, and switch it to AHCI. If you’re on NVMe, make sure the drive isn’t behind a fake RAID controller. That’s the number one cause of this hang.
Try the debug installer
At the Proxmox boot menu, pick Install Proxmox VE (Debug mode). It prints every step to the console. When it stalls at 3%, you’ll see the actual error. Usually it’s a timeout or a missing /dev entry. That tells you if the disk is even visible.
Use a different USB port
Sounds dumb, but the installer media itself can cause this. If you’re booting from USB 3.0, move it to a USB 2.0 port. Some controllers flake out mid-install. Also try a different USB stick. The cheap ones die during writes and the installer just sits there.
Wipe the disk first
If the target disk has old partitions or a weird GPT table, LVM creation can stall. Boot a live Linux USB, run wipefs -a /dev/sdX on the target disk, then start the installer again. That clears any leftover metadata that confuses the installer.
Check the disk itself
Run a SMART test from a live USB. A failing drive will hang exactly like this. If you see reallocated sectors or pending counts, replace the disk. No point fighting the installer on bad hardware.
This is the same kind of disk weirdness that causes SATA detection issues after install. Fix the controller mode now and you won’t deal with it later.
If nothing works
Try installing Debian 12 first, then add the Proxmox repos and install proxmox-ve. It’s more steps, but it bypasses the installer entirely. Sometimes that’s the only way on weird hardware.
