Installing MikroTik CHR on Proxmox

MikroTik Cloud Hosted Router (CHR) is a version of RouterOS designed to run as a virtual machine on hypervisors like Proxmox, VMware, or KVM. With CHR, you can run a full MikroTik router inside a VM without any physical hardware.

Prerequisites

• Proxmox VE installed and accessible via web UI
• Internet connection on the Proxmox host
• Access to the Proxmox shell (via web console or SSH)

Steps

1. 1

   Download the CHR Image

   Download the CHR image in RAW format from the official MikroTik website. Open the Proxmox shell and run:

   # Download CHR image (replace version with the latest)
   cd /tmp
   wget https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/7.15.3/chr-7.15.3.img.zip
   
   # Extract
   unzip chr-7.15.3.img.zip

   Check the latest version at mikrotik.com/download under the Cloud Hosted Router section.

2. 2

   Create a New VM in Proxmox

   In the Proxmox web UI, click Create VM and fill in the following configuration:

   • General: Node, VM ID (e.g. 100), Name: CHR
   • OS: Do not use any media, Type: Linux, Version: 6.x - 2.6 Kernel
   • System: Leave as default (BIOS: SeaBIOS, SCSI Controller: VirtIO SCSI)
   • Disks: Delete the default disk (click the delete icon) — we'll import the disk from the CHR image
   • CPU: 1 socket, 1 core (can be increased as needed)
   • Memory: minimum 128 MB (recommended 256–512 MB)
   • Network: Bridge: vmbr0, Model: VirtIO (paravirtualized)

   Click Finish. Do not start the VM yet.

3. 3

   Import the CHR Disk to the VM

   Back in the Proxmox shell, import the CHR image into Proxmox storage. Replace 100 with your VM ID and local-lvm with your storage name:

   qm importdisk 100 /tmp/chr-7.15.3.img local-lvm

   Wait for the import to complete. The disk will appear as an Unused Disk in the VM.

4. 4

   Attach the Disk to the VM

   In the web UI, open the VM → Hardware. Double-click Unused Disk 0 and select:

   • Bus/Device: VirtIO Block → virtio0
   • Click Add
5. 5

   Set Boot Order

   Go to VM → Options → Boot Order. Enable virtio0 and make sure it's first in the boot order. Click OK.

6. 6

   Start VM & Access Console

   Click Start on the VM, then open the Console. Wait for CHR to boot (usually 10–20 seconds).

   Login with:

   • Username: admin
   • Password: (empty, press Enter)

   Note: On first login, CHR will ask you to accept the End User License Agreement. Type y and press Enter.
7. 7

   Basic IP Configuration

   Once logged into the RouterOS CLI, configure the IP address on the interface:

   # Check available interfaces
   /interface print
   
   # Set IP address (adjust to your network)
   /ip address add address=192.168.1.2/24 interface=ether1
   
   # Set default gateway
   /ip route add gateway=192.168.1.1
   
   # Set DNS
   /ip dns set servers=8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4
   
   # Test connectivity
   /ping 8.8.8.8 count=3

8. 8

   Set Admin Password

   Change the default password immediately for security:

   /user set admin password=YourNewPassword123!

9. 9

   Access via Winbox or Web UI

   Once the IP is configured, CHR can be accessed from the local network using:

   • Winbox: Download from mikrotik.com, connect to the CHR IP
   • Web UI: Open a browser to http://192.168.1.2
   • SSH: ssh admin@192.168.1.2

Additional Tips

Add a Network Interface (NIC) to the VM

To add a network interface, shut down the VM first, then go to Hardware → Add → Network Device. Each NIC added will appear as ether2, ether3, etc. in RouterOS.

Resize the CHR Disk

The default CHR disk is very small (~128 MB). To resize it (e.g. to 1 GB) from the Proxmox shell:

qm resize 100 virtio0 1G