diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/816-only-invocate-feature-when-variable-is-set.yml b/changelogs/fragments/816-only-invocate-feature-when-variable-is-set.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7d48c77298
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/816-only-invocate-feature-when-variable-is-set.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - proxmox lxc - only add the features flag when module parameter ``features`` is set. Before an empty string was send to proxmox in case the parameter was not used, which required to use ``root@pam`` for module execution (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/1763).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/cloud/misc/proxmox.py b/plugins/modules/cloud/misc/proxmox.py
index d3cfda3d92..c4cfd9b5e7 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/cloud/misc/proxmox.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/cloud/misc/proxmox.py
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@ def main():
                             searchdomain=module.params['searchdomain'],
                             force=int(module.params['force']),
                             pubkey=module.params['pubkey'],
-                            features=",".join(module.params['features'] or []),
+                            features=",".join(module.params['features']) if module.params['features'] is not None else None,
                             unprivileged=int(module.params['unprivileged']),
                             description=module.params['description'],
                             hookscript=module.params['hookscript'])