Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Desktop was released just days ago and in this guide I’ll walk through installing it as a Proxmox VM, covering the installer options that catch people out, and then take a quick first look at LibreOffice Writer and Calc — the free office suite that ships with it. By the end you’ll have a full working Ubuntu desktop up and running.
🎥Watch the Video Tutorial
💡Why Ubuntu 26.04 LTS?
This is a Long Term Support release, which means 5 years of security patches and updates. The LTS releases come out every couple of years and they’re the ones worth actually building on — you’re not chasing an update every six months. 26.04 also ships with the latest Linux kernel, which gives you broader hardware support, and the latest GNOME desktop, which is noticeably smoother and has much better power efficiency than previous versions.
For a home lab it’s a great fit: stable, well-supported, and a clean base for anything from a general desktop VM to a development environment. If you want to run it on bare metal rather than as a VM, I’d recommend using Ventoy to create your bootable USB — there’s a guide linked below.
🛠What You’ll Need
- Proxmox VE installed — see: Proxmox VE Home Lab Setup
- Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Desktop ISO — about 6 GB, so allow time for the download
- A bootable USB if installing on bare metal — see: How to Create a Multi-OS Bootable USB with Ventoy
📋Step-by-Step Setup
1. Download the Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Desktop ISO
Go to ubuntu.com/download/desktop and download Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. The file is around 6 GB — you don’t need to sign up for the newsletter that appears on the download page. Download speed will vary; I already had a copy downloaded so I copied it to my Ventoy USB to save time in the video.
2. Upload the ISO to Proxmox
In the Proxmox web UI, go to local → ISO Images → Upload and upload the Ubuntu 26.04 ISO. This takes a few minutes depending on your network. Once it shows as uploaded, you’re ready to create the VM.
3. Create the Ubuntu Desktop VM
Click Create VM and work through the wizard. The key settings for a desktop install are a bit different to a server:
- Name: something recognisable — e.g.
ubuntu2604. I like to match the VM name to the hostname I’ll set inside the OS - OS: Select the Ubuntu 26.04 ISO. Type: Linux
- System: Machine:
q35, BIOS: SeaBIOS — no TPM needed for Ubuntu Desktop - Disk: 64 GB — more than a server install needs, but the desktop environment plus LibreOffice plus updates adds up. I’d go 64 GB rather than 32 GB for comfortable headroom
- CPU: 2 cores is fine for general use
- Memory: 4 GB minimum for a desktop environment. I used 6 GB — 8 GB is probably a bit excessive if there’s no specific heavy workload planned yet
- Network: leave as default VirtIO bridge
Click Finish, start the VM, and open the Console.
4. Boot into the Ubuntu live desktop
Ubuntu Desktop’s installer works differently to the server installer — it boots you into a live desktop session first before you commit to installing. This is useful if you’re installing on bare metal because you can test that your hardware works, check Wi-Fi drivers, add third-party drivers, and make sure everything functions before you wipe any existing data.
In Proxmox you don’t need to test hardware this way, but it’s worth knowing the option is there. When you’re ready, click Install Ubuntu.
5. Work through the installer options
A few choices in the Ubuntu installer that are worth understanding:
- Interactive installation — choose this. The automated option uses answer files, which is useful for mass deployments but overkill here
- Default vs Extended installation: the Extended option is what you want — it includes LibreOffice and other productivity apps. The Default option gives you just browser basics and essentials
- Third-party drivers: not needed in a Proxmox VM — everything is already supported. If you’re installing on bare metal with specific hardware (NVIDIA GPU, certain Wi-Fi adapters), tick this
- Disk setup: Erase disk and install Ubuntu. It’s a fresh VM disk so there’s nothing to preserve
- Encryption: not necessary for a home lab VM. If you were installing on a laptop you carry around, disk encryption is worth enabling — just make sure you store the recovery key somewhere safe, because without it you won’t be able to recover the data if something goes wrong
6. Set your credentials and timezone
Set your name, username, and computer name. I like to set the computer name (hostname) to match the name I used in Proxmox — keeps things consistent when you’re managing multiple VMs. Set your password, choose whether you want automatic login or password required, then set your timezone and click Install.
7. First login and updates
After the install completes and the VM reboots, log in with the credentials you set. Ubuntu will prompt you through a few first-run screens — location services, data sharing preferences, theme choice. For a home lab VM, I turn off location services and skip data sharing — it’s not a standard daily-driver environment.
Before clicking through all those setup screens, open a Terminal and run your updates manually — Ubuntu’s own update mechanism will try to run in the background and I prefer to control that myself:
sudo apt update
If there are updates available, run:
sudo apt dist-upgrade -y
On a fresh 26.04 install released just days ago there may be very few updates — that’s expected. Reboot after if any kernel updates were installed.
sudo apt install -y qemu-guest-agent. Then enable it in Proxmox: VM → Options → QEMU Guest Agent → Enable.📄First Look: LibreOffice on Ubuntu 26.04
If you chose the Extended installation, LibreOffice is already installed and pinned to the taskbar. Here’s how the main apps compare to Microsoft Office:
LibreOffice Writer — Word equivalent
A full word processor with styles, tables, headers and footers, mail merge, and the ability to save directly to .docx format. For home use with documents that aren’t heavily formatted or macro-dependent, it handles everything Word does. The interface feels familiar within a few minutes if you’re coming from Word.
LibreOffice Calc — Excel equivalent
Calc reads and writes .xlsx files natively and supports the formulas and charting you’d use for everyday spreadsheet work. Where it falls short is advanced Excel features — complex macro-heavy workbooks, Power Query, and certain pivot table behaviours don’t carry over cleanly. For straightforward home use: budgets, lists, simple data tracking — it’s a solid choice.
The headline for LibreOffice is simple: clean install, no licence fees, 5-year support window. For home use that doesn’t require advanced Excel functionality or real-time Microsoft 365 collaboration, it covers everything you need.
✅Conclusion
You now have Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Desktop running as a Proxmox VM — a full Linux desktop with LibreOffice ready to go, zero licence cost, and support through to 2031. It’s a stable, capable environment for everyday home use and a clean base for whatever home lab experiments come next. Running it as a VM means you can snapshot before making changes, clone it, or rebuild it from scratch in minutes if needed.
📺Watch the full video guide here: https://youtu.be/PN2Yfc4YmmI
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