diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/7791-proxmox_kvm-state-template-will-check-status-first.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/7791-proxmox_kvm-state-template-will-check-status-first.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1e061ce6af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/7791-proxmox_kvm-state-template-will-check-status-first.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - proxmox_kvm - running ``state=template`` will first check whether VM is already a template (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/7792).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/proxmox_kvm.py b/plugins/modules/proxmox_kvm.py
index 7460f9bbfe..c0133ed870 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/proxmox_kvm.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/proxmox_kvm.py
@@ -1556,6 +1556,9 @@ def main():
         try:
             vm = proxmox.get_vm(vmid)
 
+            if vm['template'] == 1:
+                module.exit_json(changed=False, vmid=vmid, msg="VM %s is already a template" % vmid, **status)
+
             if proxmox.convert_to_template(vm, force=module.params['force'], timeout=module.params['timeout']):
                 module.exit_json(changed=True, vmid=vmid, msg="VM %s is converting to template" % vmid, **status)
         except Exception as e: