When you install Proxmox VE 9 with the default settings, the installer automatically partitions the disk and creates two primary storage areas:

• local – a directory at /var/lib/vz used for ISOs, templates, backups, and snippets.
• local-lvm – an LVM-thin pool called data inside the pve volume group, used for VM and container disks.

By default, Proxmox assigns most of the disk space to local-lvm. This makes sense if your primary use case is running virtual machines and containers. However, many administrators prefer to reduce the size of local-lvm in order to:

• Allocate more space to local for storing ISOs, backups, and templates.
• Repartition the system for ZFS pools, Ceph OSDs, or other custom storage.
• Keep VM disks on a different backend and use the freed-up space for OS and application data.

In this blog, we’ll go through safe methods to reduce local-lvm size on a Proxmox VE 9 default installation.

Step 1: Understand the Default Layout

After a fresh Proxmox VE 9 installation, your LVM setup typically looks like this:

lsblk

Output (example):

sda
 ├─sda1    EFI
 ├─sda2    boot
 └─sda3    LVM (pve)
    ├─pve-root   /
    ├─pve-swap   swap
    └─pve-data   thin pool (local-lvm)

The pve-data thin pool is the local-lvm storage. By default, it takes up most of the free space in the volume group.

Step 2: Backup Before Making Changes

Warning: Reducing LVM storage is destructive if not done properly. Always:

• Backup your Proxmox configuration and VMs.
• Move or delete any existing VMs/containers from local-lvm.
• Move templates/ISOs/backups to external storage.

You can back up all VMs to another storage target with:

vzdump <VMID> --storage <backup-target>

Step 3: Remove the local-lvm Storage Entry

1. From the Proxmox GUI:
   • Go to Datacenter → Storage.
   • Select local-lvm.
   • Click Remove.
2. Alternatively, edit the config file:

   nano /etc/pve/storage.cfg
   

   Remove the section:

   lvmthin: local-lvm
       thinpool data
       vgname pve
       content rootdir,images
   

Step 4: Delete the Thin Pool

Once the storage entry is removed, you can safely delete the thin pool:

lvremove pve/data

If it’s split into metadata and data LVs (rare case):

lvremove pve/data_tmeta
lvremove pve/data_tdata

Step 5: Reclaim the Free Space

Now, the space previously used by local-lvm is free inside the pve volume group. You can:

Option A: Grow the root Partition

If you want more space for / and /var/lib/vz:

lvextend -l +100%FREE pve/root
resize2fs /dev/pve/root

Option B: Create a New Volume for ISOs/Backups

You can create a dedicated LV for local storage:

lvcreate -L 200G -n vz pve
mkfs.ext4 /dev/pve/vz
mkdir /vz
mount /dev/pve/vz /vz

Then add it to Proxmox storage config:

nano /etc/pve/storage.cfg

Add:

dir: local-ext
    path /vz
    content iso,backup,vztmpl

Option C: Use the Freed Space for ZFS/Ceph

Instead of allocating to root, you can leave the space free for creating ZFS pools, Ceph OSDs, or another storage backend later.

Step 6: Verify Changes

Check the updated layout:

lvs
vgs

Confirm that pve/data no longer exists and that the freed space has been reassigned.

Best Practices

• Plan storage before installation: Use the advanced installer options to customize partition sizes and avoid post-install changes.
• Avoid mixing VM disks and backups on the same volume — separate storage ensures performance and reliability.
• Use ZFS or Ceph for production workloads instead of relying solely on local-lvm.
• Document changes so future administrators know why local-lvm was removed.

Conclusion

On a Proxmox VE 9 default install, local-lvm consumes most of the available disk space. While convenient for running VMs quickly, many administrators prefer to shrink or remove local-lvm in favor of more flexible storage layouts.

By carefully removing the thin pool and reallocating space, you can better align Proxmox with your long-term infrastructure goals — whether that means larger ISO/backup storage, dedicated ZFS pools, or preparing for a Ceph cluster.