How To Customize Proxmox VE Web UI with dark theme

We can all agree Proxmox VE is such an amazing Virtualization solution for home users and corporate business application setups. There is no need for separate management tool in Proxmox since everything can be done through the web browser. A built-in HTML5 console is used to access the guest console. As an alternative, SPICE can be used.

Proxmox Virtual Environment offers excellent command-line tools and REST API for third-party application integrations. By design, Proxmox comes with a single theme upon its installation. In this guide we shall cover the steps you’ll follow to install a custom Discord-like dark theme for the Proxmox Web UI. But first let’s look at the features of Proxmox Web Interface.

Features of Proxmox VE Graphical User Interface

Some of the features available on Proxmox VE Graphical User Interface are:

• Seamless integration and management of Proxmox VE clusters
• AJAX technologies for dynamic updates of resources
• Fast search-driven interface, capable of handling hundreds and probably thousands of VMs
• Secure access to all Virtual Machines and Containers via SSL encryption (https)
• Secure HTML5 console or SPICE
• Role based permission management for all objects (VMs, storages, nodes, etc.)
• Support for multiple authentication sources (e.g. local, MS ADS, LDAP, …)
• Two-Factor Authentication (OATH, Yubikey)
• Based on ExtJS 6.x JavaScript framework

Install Discord-like dark theme on Proxmox VE

We’ll use a dark theme for the Proxmox Web UI, inspired by Discord’s color scheme. The project is available on Github if you’re interested in code sources. In this theme, everything is dark, including the graphs, context menus and all in between.

Before theme installation, the Proxmox VE graphical user interface (GUI) has a look shown in screenshot below.

We will perform theme installation via the CLI utility. Login to your PVE node running Web UI, see our example below:

$ ssh [email protected]
10:32:31 root@pve01 ~ →

Install wget tool if not available on the node.

apt update && sudo apt install wget curl -y

Use wget utility to download theme installation script.

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Weilbyte/PVEDiscordDark/master/PVEDiscordDark.sh

Make the script executable and run it.

chmod +x PVEDiscordDark.sh 
./PVEDiscordDark.sh install

Installation process should complete in seconds.

✔ Backing up template file
✔ Downloading stylesheet
✔ Downloading patcher
✔ Applying changes to template file
✔ Downloading images (29/29)
Theme installed.

To see all script options run the command:

# ./PVEDiscordDark.sh -h
Usage: ./PVEDiscordDark.sh [OPTIONS...] {COMMAND}

Manages the PVEDiscordDark theme.
  -h --help            Show this help
  -s --silent          Silent mode

Commands:
  status               Check current theme status (returns 0 if installed, and 1 if not installed)
  install              Install the theme
  uninstall            Uninstall the theme
  update               Update the theme (runs uninstall, then install)
Exit status:
  0                    OK
  1                    Failure
  2                    Already installed, OR not installed (when using install/uninstall commands)

This scripted installer relies on the /meta/supported and /meta/imagelist files being present in the repository. Below is new look on the login screen.

Web interface overview page view with the new theme.

The theme can be updated to new release with the command:

# ./PVEDiscordDark.sh update
✔ Removing stylesheet
✔ Removing patcher
✔ Reverting changes to template file
✔ Removing images
Theme uninstalled.
✔ Backing up template file
✔ Downloading stylesheet
✔ Downloading patcher
✔ Applying changes to template file
✔ Downloading images (29/29)
Theme installed.

Uninstall Discord-like dark theme on Proxmox VE

If you want to uninstall the theme use the commands below to remove it and all its associated files.

# ./PVEDiscordDark.sh uninstall
✔ Removing stylesheet
✔ Removing patcher
✔ Reverting changes to template file
✔ Removing images
Theme uninstalled.

Enjoy your new look on Proxmox VE GUI. We hope this guide was helpful. We have other guides on Proxmox Virtual Environment in the links shared here.

• How To Install Pritunl VPN on Debian / Proxmox VE
• Using Dnsmasq DHCP Server in Proxmox for VMs IP
• Create Private Network Bridge on Proxmox VE with NAT
• Protect VM from accidental deletion in Proxmox VE
• How To Mount and Use NFS ISO Share on Proxmox VE
• Remove “No valid subscription” warning on Proxmox VE 7