Disabled Proxmox Ballooning Device Causes False 100% Memory Alerts on Windows 11 VMs
A Windows 11 virtual machine running on Proxmox VE was reporting nearly 100% memory usage in monitoring tools, while Windows Task Manager showed actual usage of only 30–50%. The root cause was traced to the PVE Ballooning Device being disabled in the VM configuration, which cut off the guest memory statistics pipeline between Windows and Proxmox. Although the VirtIO BalloonService was installed and running inside Windows, the disabled balloon setting on the Proxmox side meant accurate memory data was never passed to the hypervisor or monitoring systems. The VM itself continued to operate normally, making the misconfiguration easy to overlook during routine checks. This issue is particularly common with Windows VMs migrated from other platforms like VMware ESXi or Hyper-V, where memory ballooning settings may not receive the same attention as CPU, network, or storage drivers.
This is an AI-generated summary. ShortSingh links to the original source for the complete article.
Discussion (0)
Log in to join the discussion and vote.
Log in