Realm Missing from Login Screen: Fix the Proxmox Dropdown

Realm missing from login screen? It’s almost always a broken domains.cfg or pvedaemon not reading it. Here’s the fix.

Check /etc/pve/domains.cfg

Your realms live in /etc/pve/domains.cfg. If that file is malformed or the realm you want isn’t in there, the dropdown won’t show it. Open it up:

cat /etc/pve/domains.cfg

You should see entries like pam and pve at minimum. If you added an LDAP or AD realm and it’s not listed, that’s your problem. The GUI only shows realms defined in this file.

Restart pvedaemon

Sometimes the config is fine but pvedaemon has stale data. Restart it:

systemctl restart pvedaemon

That forces Proxmox to re-read domains.cfg. After that, refresh the login page. The realm dropdown should be back.

Check the service status

If pvedaemon isn’t running, the login screen might still load but without realms. Check it:

systemctl status pvedaemon

If it’s failed, look at the logs:

journalctl -u pvedaemon -n 50

You might see an error about parsing domains.cfg. Fix the syntax and restart again.

What I’d do

First, make sure the realm is actually defined in domains.cfg. If it is, restart pvedaemon. If it’s still missing, check the file for typos — a missing semicolon or wrong property can silently drop a realm. I’ve had this happen after editing the file by hand. The GUI doesn’t warn you; it just omits the realm.

For more Proxmox troubleshooting, check out Proxmox GUI Not Opening but CLI Does? Check pveproxy, pvedaemon, Certs, Firewall.