Intermittent boot issues on AlmaLinux 9 with cPanel (Fuse?)

Hi,

We're experiencing intermittent boot issues on several cPanel servers running AlmaLinux 9, installed from the official cloud image, and virtualized on Proxmox VE (KVM).

The main symptom is that sometimes the system hangs during boot, never reaching the login prompt or starting services. The last visible message on the console is usually:

fuse: init (API version 7.36)

After that, nothing else appears, and the system becomes unresponsive — no access via console or network. The only option is to force shutdown and manually restart the VM. Sometimes it boots fine on the first try, but other times it requires 3–5 reboots before it successfully completes the boot process.

On successful boots, the fuse line is quickly followed by the usual kernel messages (nft_compat, ip_tables, etc.), suggesting the system hangs very early in the boot sequence — but not necessarily due to fuse itself.

System details:

• OS: AlmaLinux 9 (official cloud image)

• cPanel version: LTS

• Virtualization: Proxmox VE (KVM) - Qemu Guest Agent Disabled

• Kernel: 5.14.0-503.34.1.el9_5.x86_64

• Hardware: Ryzen 9 7900 with local SSD storage

There's nothing suspicious in the journal after a successful boot. The only pattern we’ve observed is that the hang occurs right before user-level services start.

Has anyone else experienced similar behavior in this setup (AlmaLinux cloud + cPanel on Proxmox)?
Could it be related to the cloud image, systemd, or something specific to this virtualized environment?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!