How to Disable the Proxmox Enterprise Repository and Enable the No-Subscription Repository

To disable the Proxmox enterprise repository, switch it off and add the free pve-no-subscription repository in its place. On Proxmox VE 9 add Enabled: no to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.sources and create a proxmox.sources file for no-subscription. On Proxmox VE 8 comment out the line in pve-enterprise.list and add a pve-no-subscription line. Do the same for Ceph, run apt update, and the 401 Unauthorized errors are gone.

I do this on every node in my homelab cluster straight after installing, because a fresh Proxmox install points at the paid enterprise repository and apt update fails until you change it. Below are both methods (web GUI and shell) for both current releases.

Quick answer: Proxmox VE 9 (Debian Trixie)

Run these as root on each node:

# 1. Disable the enterprise repository
sed -i '/^Enabled:/d; /^Types:/a Enabled: no' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.sources

# 2. Add the no-subscription repository
cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/proxmox.sources <<'EOF'
Types: deb
URIs: http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve
Suites: trixie
Components: pve-no-subscription
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/proxmox-archive-keyring.gpg
EOF

# 3. Point Ceph at its no-subscription repository (keeps your Ceph release name)
sed -i 's|https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-|http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-|; s|^Components: enterprise|Components: no-subscription|' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.sources

# 4. Refresh and upgrade
apt update && apt full-upgrade

Prefer clicking? Use Method 1 (the web GUI) below instead. It does the same thing and works on both versions.

Why the enterprise repository fails without a subscription

Proxmox VE ships with the enterprise repository enabled. It is the most tested update channel, but enterprise.proxmox.com only serves nodes with a valid subscription key. Without one, apt update stops with errors like these:

Err:4 https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/pve trixie InRelease
  401  Unauthorized [IP: <address> 443]
E: Failed to fetch https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/pve/dists/trixie/InRelease  401  Unauthorized [IP: <address> 443]
E: The repository 'https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/pve trixie InRelease' is not signed.

On Proxmox VE 8 the same error says bookworm instead of trixie. The same happens for the Ceph enterprise repository, even if you never installed Ceph, because the installer adds it too.

Proxmox gives you three repositories for the main packages:

For a homelab, pve-no-subscription is the right choice. The packages are the same ones that reach enterprise later, after more testing.

What changed in Proxmox VE 9: deb822 .sources files

Proxmox VE 9 is based on Debian 13 Trixie, and the repository files moved from one-line .list files to the deb822 format. If you follow an older guide on PVE 9 you will find that pve-enterprise.list no longer exists, which is why many readers got stuck.

Check which version you are on first:

pveversion
ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

Method 1: the web GUI (PVE 8 and PVE 9)

The GUI is the quickest and it writes the right file format for your version.

1. Log in to the web interface and select your node (not Datacenter) in the left tree.
2. Open Updates > Repositories.
3. Click the pve-enterprise row and press Disable.
4. If there is a Ceph enterprise row (ceph-squid, ceph-tentacle, ceph-reef or ceph-quincy with component enterprise), select it and press Disable too.
5. Click Add, choose No-Subscription in the Repository drop-down and press Add. Accept the "no valid subscription" notice.
6. If you use Ceph, click Add again and choose Ceph No-Subscription (it may be listed with the Ceph release name).
7. Go to Updates, click Refresh, then Upgrade.

The status box at the top of the Repositories page should now say that updates come from a non-production repository. That warning is normal for no-subscription. In a cluster, repeat this on every node: repositories are set per node.

Method 2: the command line on Proxmox VE 9

Step 1: disable the enterprise repository

The default file looks like this:

cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.sources

Types: deb
URIs: https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/pve
Suites: trixie
Components: pve-enterprise
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/proxmox-archive-keyring.gpg

Add Enabled: no. You can open it with nano and type the line under Types: deb, or run:

sed -i '/^Enabled:/d; /^Types:/a Enabled: no' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.sources

The sed command removes any existing Enabled: line first, so it is safe to run twice. Do not delete the file: it belongs to a package and can come back on upgrade.

Step 2: add the no-subscription repository

Create /etc/apt/sources.list.d/proxmox.sources, the same file name the Proxmox wiki uses:

cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/proxmox.sources <<'EOF'
Types: deb
URIs: http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve
Suites: trixie
Components: pve-no-subscription
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/proxmox-archive-keyring.gpg
EOF

The download uses plain HTTP on purpose: every package is checked against the Proxmox signing key in Signed-By, so it cannot be tampered with in transit.

Step 3: switch Ceph to no-subscription

Look at the Ceph file first:

cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.sources

It will point at https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-squid or ceph-tentacle with Components: enterprise. Keep the same Ceph release and change only the host and component:

sed -i 's|https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-|http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-|; s|^Components: enterprise|Components: no-subscription|' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.sources

The result should read, for Ceph Squid:

Types: deb
URIs: http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-squid
Suites: trixie
Components: no-subscription
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/proxmox-archive-keyring.gpg

If you never use Ceph, you can instead add Enabled: no to this file, exactly as in Step 1.

Step 4: update

apt update
apt full-upgrade

Use full-upgrade (or dist-upgrade), never plain apt upgrade, on Proxmox. Plain upgrade holds back packages that need new dependencies, such as a new kernel or pve-manager.

Method 3: the command line on Proxmox VE 8

On PVE 8 (Debian Bookworm) the files are one-line .list files.

# 1. Comment out the enterprise repository
sed -i 's/^deb/# deb/' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list

# 2. Add the no-subscription repository
echo "deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-no-subscription.list

# 3. Switch Ceph (quincy or reef) to no-subscription, keeping the release name
sed -i 's|https://enterprise.proxmox.com|http://download.proxmox.com|; s/ enterprise$/ no-subscription/' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.list

# 4. Update
apt update && apt full-upgrade

Check the result:

cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list
cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ceph.list

# deb https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-enterprise
deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/ceph-quincy bookworm no-subscription

An ISO install already has the signing key. If you installed Proxmox VE 8 on top of plain Debian and apt update reports NO_PUBKEY, fetch it:

wget https://enterprise.proxmox.com/debian/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/proxmox-release-bookworm.gpg

Verify that updates come from no-subscription

apt update
apt policy pve-manager

apt update should finish without any 401 lines, and the policy output should list the no-subscription source:

pve-manager:
  Installed: 9.x.x
  Candidate: 9.x.x
  Version table:
 *** 9.x.x 500
        500 http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve trixie/pve-no-subscription amd64 Packages

In the GUI, Updates > Repositories should show the enterprise rows as disabled and no errors.

Troubleshooting

Still getting 401 Unauthorized. Another file still enables an enterprise URL. Find it:

grep -r "enterprise.proxmox.com" /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

Every match should be commented out (.list) or sit in a stanza with Enabled: no (.sources). The Ceph file is the one people miss most often.

Malformed stanza or Malformed entry after editing a .sources file. deb822 is strict: one field per line, Field: value, and a blank line separates stanzas. A stray blank line in the middle of a stanza, or Enabled: no added after a trailing blank line, breaks it. Open the file in nano and make each stanza one solid block.

Target Packages ... is configured multiple times. The same repository is in both an old .list file and a new .sources file, common after an 8 to 9 upgrade. Delete the duplicate .list file, or convert everything with apt modernize-sources as explained in the Proxmox VE 8 to 9 upgrade guide.

Conflicting values set for option Signed-By. Two entries for the same URL point at different keyrings. Keep one entry, with Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/proxmox-archive-keyring.gpg on PVE 9.

Reinstallation of proxmox-widget-toolkit is not possible, it cannot be downloaded. That happens when a nag-removal script runs before the repositories are fixed. Fix the repositories, run apt update, then apt install --reinstall proxmox-widget-toolkit and clear your browser cache.

Packages from trixie and bookworm mixed. Never point a PVE 9 node at a bookworm repository or the other way round. The suite in every file must match your Debian release.

What about the "No valid subscription" popup?

Changing repositories does not remove the login popup. That dialog is the web interface checking for a subscription key, and it stays on the free repository. You can click OK and carry on, buy a Community subscription to support the project, or follow my guide to disable the Proxmox subscription nag warning. Do the repository change first, because the nag fix reinstalls a package and needs working repositories.

Next steps

With updates working, you can upgrade Proxmox VE to the latest point release, set up automatic backups of the host configuration, or plan the major upgrade from Proxmox VE 8 to 9. If you want to learn Proxmox properly from the start, my Proxmox VE complete training course covers installation, storage, clustering and backups.

The official reference for every repository line on this page is the Proxmox wiki page on Package Repositories.