Install NixOS: PC, Mac, WSL

NixOS can be installed on bare metal, in a VM, on macOS (via nix-darwin), and even inside Windows (via WSL). This guide covers all major scenarios with examples and configuration tips.

1. Install NixOS on a PC (Bare Metal or VM)

Download and Boot

  • Download the latest ISO: https://nixos.org/download.html

  • Write to USB: sudo dd if=nixos-*.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress

  • Boot from USB and select "Install NixOS."

Partition, Format, and Mount

Example (UEFI, single disk):

parted /dev/sda -- mklabel gpt
parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary 512MiB 100%
parted /dev/sda -- mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 512MiB
parted /dev/sda -- set 2 esp on
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot

Generate and Edit Configuration

nixos-generate-config --root /mnt
nano /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix

Example minimal config:

{ config, pkgs, ... }:
{
  imports = [ ];
  boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable = true;
  boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = true;
  networking.hostName = "nixos";
  time.timeZone = "Europe/Berlin";
  users.users.youruser = {
    isNormalUser = true;
    extraGroups = [ "wheel" ];
    password = ""; # Set with passwd after install
  };
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ vim git wget ];
  services.openssh.enable = true;
}

Install and Reboot

nixos-install
reboot

2. Install NixOS in a VM

  • Use any hypervisor (VirtualBox, VMware, QEMU, Parallels, etc.).

  • Attach the ISO, follow the same steps as above.

  • For QEMU (Linux):

qemu-img create -f qcow2 nixos.img 20G
qemu-system-x86_64 -m 4096 -enable-kvm -cdrom nixos.iso -boot d -drive file=nixos.img,format=qcow2

3. Nix on macOS (nix-darwin)

Install Nix Package Manager

sh <(curl -L https://nixos.org/nix/install)

Install nix-darwin

nix run github:LnL7/nix-darwin --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flakes'

Example ~/.nixpkgs/darwin-configuration.nix

{ config, pkgs, ... }:
{
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ git vim htop ];
  programs.zsh.enable = true;
  services.nix-daemon.enable = true;
  system.defaults.NSGlobalDomain.AppleShowAllExtensions = true;
}

Apply config:

darwin-rebuild switch

4. NixOS on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Install NixOS-WSL

  • Prerequisite: WSL2 enabled, Ubuntu or other WSL Linux installed.

  • Install NixOS-WSL:

wsl --import NixOS C:\WSL\NixOS https://github.com/nix-community/NixOS-WSL/releases/latest/download/rootfs.tar.gz
wsl -d NixOS

Configure NixOS-WSL

Edit /etc/nixos/configuration.nix as usual. Example:

{ config, pkgs, ... }:
{
  networking.hostName = "nixos-wsl";
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ git vim curl ];
  services.openssh.enable = true;
  wsl.enable = true;
}

Apply changes:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

References

NixOS can be run and managed on nearly any platform, with full reproducibility and declarative configuration.

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