571 lines
20 KiB
XML
571 lines
20 KiB
XML
<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
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xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
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version="5.0"
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xml:id="sec-installation">
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<title>Installing NixOS</title>
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<section xml:id="sec-installation-booting">
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<title>Booting the system</title>
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<para>
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NixOS can be installed on BIOS or UEFI systems. The procedure for a UEFI
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installation is by and large the same as a BIOS installation. The
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differences are mentioned in the steps that follow.
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</para>
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<para>
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The installation media can be burned to a CD, or now more commonly, "burned"
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to a USB drive (see <xref linkend="sec-booting-from-usb"/>).
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</para>
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<para>
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The installation media contains a basic NixOS installation. When it’s
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finished booting, it should have detected most of your hardware.
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</para>
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<para>
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The NixOS manual is available on virtual console 8 (press Alt+F8 to access)
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or by running <command>nixos-help</command>.
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</para>
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<para>
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You are logged-in automatically as <literal>nixos</literal>.
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The <literal>nixos</literal> user account has an empty password so you
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can use <command>sudo</command> without a password.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you downloaded the graphical ISO image, you can run <command>systemctl
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start display-manager</command> to start the desktop environment. If you want to continue on the
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terminal, you can use <command>loadkeys</command> to switch to your
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preferred keyboard layout. (We even provide neo2 via <command>loadkeys de
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neo</command>!)
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</para>
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<section xml:id="sec-installation-booting-networking">
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<title>Networking in the installer</title>
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<para>
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The boot process should have brought up networking (check <command>ip
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a</command>). Networking is necessary for the installer, since it will
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download lots of stuff (such as source tarballs or Nixpkgs channel
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binaries). It’s best if you have a DHCP server on your network. Otherwise
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configure networking manually using <command>ifconfig</command>.
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</para>
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<para>
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To manually configure the network on the graphical installer, first disable
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network-manager with <command>systemctl stop NetworkManager</command>.
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</para>
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<para>
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To manually configure the wifi on the minimal installer, run
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<command>wpa_supplicant -B -i interface -c <(wpa_passphrase 'SSID'
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'key')</command>.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you would like to continue the installation from a different machine you
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need to activate the SSH daemon via <command>systemctl start
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sshd</command>. You then must set a password for either <literal>root</literal> or
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<literal>nixos</literal> with <command>passwd></command> to be able to login.
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-installation-partitioning">
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<title>Partitioning and formatting</title>
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<para>
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The NixOS installer doesn’t do any partitioning or formatting, so you need
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to do that yourself.
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</para>
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<para>
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The NixOS installer ships with multiple partitioning tools. The examples
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below use <command>parted</command>, but also provides
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<command>fdisk</command>, <command>gdisk</command>,
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<command>cfdisk</command>, and <command>cgdisk</command>.
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</para>
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<para>
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The recommended partition scheme differs depending if the computer uses
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<emphasis>Legacy Boot</emphasis> or <emphasis>UEFI</emphasis>.
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</para>
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<section xml:id="sec-installation-partitioning-UEFI">
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<title>UEFI (GPT)</title>
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<para>
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Here's an example partition scheme for UEFI, using
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<filename>/dev/sda</filename> as the device.
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<note>
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<para>
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You can safely ignore <command>parted</command>'s informational message
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about needing to update /etc/fstab.
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</para>
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</note>
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</para>
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<para>
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<orderedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Create a <emphasis>GPT</emphasis> partition table.
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<screen language="commands"><prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mklabel gpt</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Add the <emphasis>root</emphasis> partition. This will fill the disk
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except for the end part, where the swap will live, and the space left in
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front (512MiB) which will be used by the boot partition.
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<screen language="commands"><prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary 512MiB -8GiB</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Next, add a <emphasis>swap</emphasis> partition. The size required will
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vary according to needs, here a 8GiB one is created.
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<screen language="commands"><prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary linux-swap -8GiB 100%</screen>
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<note>
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<para>
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The swap partition size rules are no different than for other Linux
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distributions.
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</para>
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</note>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Finally, the <emphasis>boot</emphasis> partition. NixOS by default uses
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the ESP (EFI system partition) as its <emphasis>/boot</emphasis>
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partition. It uses the initially reserved 512MiB at the start of the
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disk.
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<screen language="commands"><prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 512MiB
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<prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- set 3 boot on</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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</para>
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<para>
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Once complete, you can follow with
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<xref linkend="sec-installation-partitioning-formatting"/>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-installation-partitioning-MBR">
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<title>Legacy Boot (MBR)</title>
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<para>
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Here's an example partition scheme for Legacy Boot, using
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<filename>/dev/sda</filename> as the device.
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<note>
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<para>
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You can safely ignore <command>parted</command>'s informational message
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about needing to update /etc/fstab.
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</para>
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</note>
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</para>
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<para>
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<orderedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Create a <emphasis>MBR</emphasis> partition table.
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<screen language="commands"><prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mklabel msdos</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Add the <emphasis>root</emphasis> partition. This will fill the the disk
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except for the end part, where the swap will live.
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<screen language="commands"><prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary 1MiB -8GiB</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Finally, add a <emphasis>swap</emphasis> partition. The size required
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will vary according to needs, here a 8GiB one is created.
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<screen language="commands"><prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary linux-swap -8GiB 100%</screen>
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<note>
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<para>
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The swap partition size rules are no different than for other Linux
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distributions.
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</para>
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</note>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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</para>
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<para>
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Once complete, you can follow with
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<xref linkend="sec-installation-partitioning-formatting"/>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-installation-partitioning-formatting">
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<title>Formatting</title>
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<para>
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Use the following commands:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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For initialising Ext4 partitions: <command>mkfs.ext4</command>. It is
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recommended that you assign a unique symbolic label to the file system
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using the option <option>-L <replaceable>label</replaceable></option>,
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since this makes the file system configuration independent from device
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changes. For example:
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/sda1</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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For creating swap partitions: <command>mkswap</command>. Again it’s
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recommended to assign a label to the swap partition: <option>-L
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<replaceable>label</replaceable></option>. For example:
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>mkswap -L swap /dev/sda2</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>
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UEFI systems
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</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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For creating boot partitions: <command>mkfs.fat</command>. Again
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it’s recommended to assign a label to the boot partition:
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<option>-n <replaceable>label</replaceable></option>. For example:
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>mkfs.fat -F 32 -n boot /dev/sda3</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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For creating LVM volumes, the LVM commands, e.g.,
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<command>pvcreate</command>, <command>vgcreate</command>, and
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<command>lvcreate</command>.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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For creating software RAID devices, use <command>mdadm</command>.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-installation-installing">
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<title>Installing</title>
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<orderedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Mount the target file system on which NixOS should be installed on
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<filename>/mnt</filename>, e.g.
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt
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</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>
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UEFI systems
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</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Mount the boot file system on <filename>/mnt/boot</filename>, e.g.
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>mkdir -p /mnt/boot
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<prompt># </prompt>mount /dev/disk/by-label/boot /mnt/boot
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</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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If your machine has a limited amount of memory, you may want to activate
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swap devices now (<command>swapon
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<replaceable>device</replaceable></command>). The installer (or rather,
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the build actions that it may spawn) may need quite a bit of RAM,
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depending on your configuration.
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>swapon /dev/sda2</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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You now need to create a file
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<filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename> that specifies the
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intended configuration of the system. This is because NixOS has a
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<emphasis>declarative</emphasis> configuration model: you create or edit a
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description of the desired configuration of your system, and then NixOS
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takes care of making it happen. The syntax of the NixOS configuration file
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is described in <xref linkend="sec-configuration-syntax"/>, while a list
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of available configuration options appears in
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<xref
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linkend="ch-options"/>. A minimal example is shown in
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<xref
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linkend="ex-config"/>.
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</para>
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<para>
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The command <command>nixos-generate-config</command> can generate an
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initial configuration file for you:
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>nixos-generate-config --root /mnt</screen>
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You should then edit <filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename>
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to suit your needs:
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>nano /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix
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</screen>
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If you’re using the graphical ISO image, other editors may be available
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(such as <command>vim</command>). If you have network access, you can also
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install other editors — for instance, you can install Emacs by running
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<literal>nix-env -f '<nixpkgs>' -iA emacs</literal>.
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</para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>
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BIOS systems
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</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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You <emphasis>must</emphasis> set the option
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<xref linkend="opt-boot.loader.grub.device"/> to specify on which disk
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the GRUB boot loader is to be installed. Without it, NixOS cannot boot.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>
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UEFI systems
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</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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You <emphasis>must</emphasis> set the option
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<xref linkend="opt-boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable"/> to
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<literal>true</literal>. <command>nixos-generate-config</command>
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should do this automatically for new configurations when booted in UEFI
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mode.
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</para>
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<para>
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You may want to look at the options starting with
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<option><link linkend="opt-boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables">boot.loader.efi</link></option>
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and
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<option><link linkend="opt-boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable">boot.loader.systemd</link></option>
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as well.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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<para>
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If there are other operating systems running on the machine before
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installing NixOS, the <xref linkend="opt-boot.loader.grub.useOSProber"/>
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option can be set to <literal>true</literal> to automatically add them to
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the grub menu.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you need to configure networking for your machine the configuration
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options are described in <xref linkend="sec-networking"/>.
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</para>
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<para>
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Another critical option is <option>fileSystems</option>, specifying the
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file systems that need to be mounted by NixOS. However, you typically
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don’t need to set it yourself, because
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<command>nixos-generate-config</command> sets it automatically in
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<filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix</filename> from your
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currently mounted file systems. (The configuration file
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<filename>hardware-configuration.nix</filename> is included from
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<filename>configuration.nix</filename> and will be overwritten by future
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invocations of <command>nixos-generate-config</command>; thus, you
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generally should not modify it.) Additionally, you may want to look at
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<link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware">Hardware
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configuration for known-hardware</link> at this point or after
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installation.
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</para>
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<note>
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<para>
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Depending on your hardware configuration or type of file system, you may
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need to set the option <option>boot.initrd.kernelModules</option> to
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include the kernel modules that are necessary for mounting the root file
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system, otherwise the installed system will not be able to boot. (If this
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happens, boot from the installation media again, mount the target file
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system on <filename>/mnt</filename>, fix
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<filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename> and rerun
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<filename>nixos-install</filename>.) In most cases,
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<command>nixos-generate-config</command> will figure out the required
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modules.
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</para>
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</note>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Do the installation:
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>nixos-install</screen>
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Cross fingers. If this fails due to a temporary problem (such as a network
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issue while downloading binaries from the NixOS binary cache), you can
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just re-run <command>nixos-install</command>. Otherwise, fix your
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<filename>configuration.nix</filename> and then re-run
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<command>nixos-install</command>.
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</para>
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<para>
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As the last step, <command>nixos-install</command> will ask you to set the
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password for the <literal>root</literal> user, e.g.
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<screen>
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setting root password...
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Enter new UNIX password: ***
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Retype new UNIX password: ***</screen>
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<note>
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<para>
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For unattended installations, it is possible to use
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<command>nixos-install --no-root-passwd</command> in order to disable
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the password prompt entirely.
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</para>
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</note>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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If everything went well:
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>reboot</screen>
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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You should now be able to boot into the installed NixOS. The GRUB boot
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menu shows a list of <emphasis>available configurations</emphasis>
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(initially just one). Every time you change the NixOS configuration (see
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<link
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linkend="sec-changing-config">Changing Configuration</link>
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), a new item is added to the menu. This allows you to easily roll back to
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a previous configuration if something goes wrong.
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</para>
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<para>
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You should log in and change the <literal>root</literal> password with
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<command>passwd</command>.
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</para>
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<para>
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You’ll probably want to create some user accounts as well, which can be
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done with <command>useradd</command>:
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<screen>
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<prompt>$ </prompt>useradd -c 'Eelco Dolstra' -m eelco
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<prompt>$ </prompt>passwd eelco</screen>
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</para>
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<para>
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You may also want to install some software. For instance,
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<screen>
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<prompt>$ </prompt>nix-env -qaP \*</screen>
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shows what packages are available, and
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<screen>
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<prompt>$ </prompt>nix-env -f '<nixpkgs>' -iA w3m</screen>
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install the <literal>w3m</literal> browser.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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||
</orderedlist>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-installation-summary">
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<title>Installation summary</title>
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<para>
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To summarise, <xref linkend="ex-install-sequence" /> shows a typical
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sequence of commands for installing NixOS on an empty hard drive (here
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<filename>/dev/sda</filename>). <xref linkend="ex-config"
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/> shows a
|
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corresponding configuration Nix expression.
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</para>
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<example xml:id="ex-partition-scheme-MBR">
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<title>Example partition schemes for NixOS on <filename>/dev/sda</filename> (MBR)</title>
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<screen language="commands">
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mklabel msdos
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary 1MiB -8GiB
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary linux-swap -8GiB 100%</screen>
|
||
</example>
|
||
|
||
<example xml:id="ex-partition-scheme-UEFI">
|
||
<title>Example partition schemes for NixOS on <filename>/dev/sda</filename> (UEFI)</title>
|
||
<screen language="commands">
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mklabel gpt
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary 512MiB -8GiB
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary linux-swap -8GiB 100%
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 512MiB
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>parted /dev/sda -- set 3 boot on</screen>
|
||
</example>
|
||
|
||
<example xml:id="ex-install-sequence">
|
||
<title>Commands for Installing NixOS on <filename>/dev/sda</filename></title>
|
||
<para>
|
||
With a partitioned disk.
|
||
<screen language="commands">
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/sda1
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>mkswap -L swap /dev/sda2
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>swapon /dev/sda2
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>mkfs.fat -F 32 -n boot /dev/sda3 # <lineannotation>(for UEFI systems only)</lineannotation>
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>mkdir -p /mnt/boot # <lineannotation>(for UEFI systems only)</lineannotation>
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>mount /dev/disk/by-label/boot /mnt/boot # <lineannotation>(for UEFI systems only)</lineannotation>
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>nixos-generate-config --root /mnt
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>nano /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>nixos-install
|
||
<prompt># </prompt>reboot</screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</example>
|
||
|
||
<example xml:id='ex-config'>
|
||
<title>NixOS Configuration</title>
|
||
<programlisting>
|
||
{ config, pkgs, ... }: {
|
||
imports = [
|
||
# Include the results of the hardware scan.
|
||
./hardware-configuration.nix
|
||
];
|
||
|
||
<xref linkend="opt-boot.loader.grub.device"/> = "/dev/sda"; # <lineannotation>(for BIOS systems only)</lineannotation>
|
||
<xref linkend="opt-boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable"/> = true; # <lineannotation>(for UEFI systems only)</lineannotation>
|
||
|
||
# Note: setting fileSystems is generally not
|
||
# necessary, since nixos-generate-config figures them out
|
||
# automatically in hardware-configuration.nix.
|
||
#<link linkend="opt-fileSystems._name__.device">fileSystems."/".device</link> = "/dev/disk/by-label/nixos";
|
||
|
||
# Enable the OpenSSH server.
|
||
services.sshd.enable = true;
|
||
}
|
||
</programlisting>
|
||
</example>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section xml:id="sec-installation-additional-notes">
|
||
<title>Additional installation notes</title>
|
||
|
||
<xi:include href="installing-usb.xml" />
|
||
|
||
<xi:include href="installing-pxe.xml" />
|
||
|
||
<xi:include href="installing-virtualbox-guest.xml" />
|
||
|
||
<xi:include href="installing-from-other-distro.xml" />
|
||
|
||
<xi:include href="installing-behind-a-proxy.xml" />
|
||
|
||
<xi:include href="installing-nspawn-container.xml" />
|
||
|
||
</section>
|
||
</chapter>
|