mirror of
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs.git
synced 2024-12-02 02:24:27 +00:00
448 lines
17 KiB
XML
448 lines
17 KiB
XML
<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
|
||
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
|
||
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
|
||
version="5.0"
|
||
xml:id="sec-installation">
|
||
<title>Installing NixOS</title>
|
||
<para>
|
||
NixOS can be installed on BIOS or UEFI systems. The procedure for a UEFI
|
||
installation is by and large the same as a BIOS installation. The differences
|
||
are mentioned in the steps that follow.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<orderedlist>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
Boot from the CD.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<variablelist>
|
||
<varlistentry>
|
||
<term>
|
||
UEFI systems
|
||
</term>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You should boot the live CD in UEFI mode (consult your specific
|
||
hardware's documentation for instructions). You may find the
|
||
<link xlink:href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind">rEFInd boot
|
||
manager</link> useful.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
</variablelist>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
The CD contains a basic NixOS installation. (It also contains Memtest86+,
|
||
useful if you want to test new hardware). When it’s finished booting, it
|
||
should have detected most of your hardware.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
The NixOS manual is available on virtual console 8 (press Alt+F8 to access)
|
||
or by running <command>nixos-help</command>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You get logged in as <literal>root</literal> (with empty password).
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
If you downloaded the graphical ISO image, you can run <command>systemctl
|
||
start display-manager</command> to start KDE. If you want to continue on
|
||
the terminal, you can use <command>loadkeys</command> to switch to your
|
||
preferred keyboard layout. (We even provide neo2 via <command>loadkeys de
|
||
neo</command>!)
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
The boot process should have brought up networking (check <command>ip
|
||
a</command>). Networking is necessary for the installer, since it will
|
||
download lots of stuff (such as source tarballs or Nixpkgs channel
|
||
binaries). It’s best if you have a DHCP server on your network. Otherwise
|
||
configure networking manually using <command>ifconfig</command>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<para>
|
||
To manually configure the network on the graphical installer, first disable
|
||
network-manager with <command>systemctl stop network-manager</command>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<para>
|
||
To manually configure the wifi on the minimal installer, run
|
||
<command>wpa_supplicant -B -i interface -c <(wpa_passphrase 'SSID'
|
||
'key')</command>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
If you would like to continue the installation from a different machine you
|
||
need to activate the SSH daemon via <literal>systemctl start
|
||
sshd</literal>. In order to be able to login you also need to set a
|
||
password for <literal>root</literal> using <literal>passwd</literal>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
The NixOS installer doesn’t do any partitioning or formatting yet, so you
|
||
need to do that yourself. Use the following commands:
|
||
<itemizedlist>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
For partitioning: <command>fdisk</command>.
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# fdisk /dev/sda # <lineannotation>(or whatever device you want to install on)</lineannotation>
|
||
-- for UEFI systems only
|
||
> n # <lineannotation>(create a new partition for /boot)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 3 # <lineannotation>(make it a partition number 3)</lineannotation>
|
||
> # <lineannotation>(press enter to accept the default)</lineannotation>
|
||
> +512M # <lineannotation>(the size of the UEFI boot partition)</lineannotation>
|
||
> t # <lineannotation>(change the partition type ...)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 3 # <lineannotation>(... of the boot partition ...)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 1 # <lineannotation>(... to 'UEFI System')</lineannotation>
|
||
-- for BIOS or UEFI systems
|
||
> n # <lineannotation>(create a new partition for /swap)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 2 # <lineannotation>(make it a partition number 2)</lineannotation>
|
||
> # <lineannotation>(press enter to accept the default)</lineannotation>
|
||
> +8G # <lineannotation>(the size of the swap partition, set to whatever you like)</lineannotation>
|
||
> n # <lineannotation>(create a new partition for /)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 1 # <lineannotation>(make it a partition number 1)</lineannotation>
|
||
> # <lineannotation>(press enter to accept the default)</lineannotation>
|
||
> # <lineannotation>(press enter to accept the default and use the rest of the remaining space)</lineannotation>
|
||
> a # <lineannotation>(make the partition bootable)</lineannotation>
|
||
> x # <lineannotation>(enter expert mode)</lineannotation>
|
||
> f # <lineannotation>(fix up the partition ordering)</lineannotation>
|
||
> r # <lineannotation>(exit expert mode)</lineannotation>
|
||
> w # <lineannotation>(write the partition table to disk and exit)</lineannotation></screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
For initialising Ext4 partitions: <command>mkfs.ext4</command>. It is
|
||
recommended that you assign a unique symbolic label to the file system
|
||
using the option <option>-L <replaceable>label</replaceable></option>,
|
||
since this makes the file system configuration independent from device
|
||
changes. For example:
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/sda1</screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
For creating swap partitions: <command>mkswap</command>. Again it’s
|
||
recommended to assign a label to the swap partition: <option>-L
|
||
<replaceable>label</replaceable></option>. For example:
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# mkswap -L swap /dev/sda2</screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<variablelist>
|
||
<varlistentry>
|
||
<term>
|
||
UEFI systems
|
||
</term>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
For creating boot partitions: <command>mkfs.fat</command>. Again
|
||
it’s recommended to assign a label to the boot partition:
|
||
<option>-n <replaceable>label</replaceable></option>. For example:
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# mkfs.fat -F 32 -n boot /dev/sda3</screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
</variablelist>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
For creating LVM volumes, the LVM commands, e.g.,
|
||
<command>pvcreate</command>, <command>vgcreate</command>, and
|
||
<command>lvcreate</command>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
For creating software RAID devices, use <command>mdadm</command>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
</itemizedlist>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
Mount the target file system on which NixOS should be installed on
|
||
<filename>/mnt</filename>, e.g.
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt
|
||
</screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<variablelist>
|
||
<varlistentry>
|
||
<term>
|
||
UEFI systems
|
||
</term>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
Mount the boot file system on <filename>/mnt/boot</filename>, e.g.
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# mkdir -p /mnt/boot
|
||
# mount /dev/disk/by-label/boot /mnt/boot
|
||
</screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
</variablelist>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
If your machine has a limited amount of memory, you may want to activate
|
||
swap devices now (<command>swapon
|
||
<replaceable>device</replaceable></command>). The installer (or rather, the
|
||
build actions that it may spawn) may need quite a bit of RAM, depending on
|
||
your configuration.
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# swapon /dev/sda2</screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You now need to create a file
|
||
<filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename> that specifies the
|
||
intended configuration of the system. This is because NixOS has a
|
||
<emphasis>declarative</emphasis> configuration model: you create or edit a
|
||
description of the desired configuration of your system, and then NixOS
|
||
takes care of making it happen. The syntax of the NixOS configuration file
|
||
is described in <xref linkend="sec-configuration-syntax"/>, while a list of
|
||
available configuration options appears in
|
||
<xref
|
||
linkend="ch-options"/>. A minimal example is shown in
|
||
<xref
|
||
linkend="ex-config"/>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<para>
|
||
The command <command>nixos-generate-config</command> can generate an
|
||
initial configuration file for you:
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# nixos-generate-config --root /mnt</screen>
|
||
You should then edit <filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename>
|
||
to suit your needs:
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# nano /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix
|
||
</screen>
|
||
If you’re using the graphical ISO image, other editors may be available
|
||
(such as <command>vim</command>). If you have network access, you can also
|
||
install other editors — for instance, you can install Emacs by running
|
||
<literal>nix-env -i emacs</literal>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<variablelist>
|
||
<varlistentry>
|
||
<term>
|
||
BIOS systems
|
||
</term>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You <emphasis>must</emphasis> set the option
|
||
<xref linkend="opt-boot.loader.grub.device"/> to specify on which disk
|
||
the GRUB boot loader is to be installed. Without it, NixOS cannot boot.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
<varlistentry>
|
||
<term>
|
||
UEFI systems
|
||
</term>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You <emphasis>must</emphasis> set the option
|
||
<xref linkend="opt-boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable"/> to
|
||
<literal>true</literal>. <command>nixos-generate-config</command> should
|
||
do this automatically for new configurations when booted in UEFI mode.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You may want to look at the options starting with
|
||
<option><link linkend="opt-boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables">boot.loader.efi</link></option>
|
||
and
|
||
<option><link linkend="opt-boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable">boot.loader.systemd</link></option>
|
||
as well.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
</varlistentry>
|
||
</variablelist>
|
||
<para>
|
||
If there are other operating systems running on the machine before
|
||
installing NixOS, the <xref linkend="opt-boot.loader.grub.useOSProber"/>
|
||
option can be set to <literal>true</literal> to automatically add them to
|
||
the grub menu.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<para>
|
||
Another critical option is <option>fileSystems</option>, specifying the
|
||
file systems that need to be mounted by NixOS. However, you typically
|
||
don’t need to set it yourself, because
|
||
<command>nixos-generate-config</command> sets it automatically in
|
||
<filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix</filename> from your
|
||
currently mounted file systems. (The configuration file
|
||
<filename>hardware-configuration.nix</filename> is included from
|
||
<filename>configuration.nix</filename> and will be overwritten by future
|
||
invocations of <command>nixos-generate-config</command>; thus, you
|
||
generally should not modify it.)
|
||
</para>
|
||
<note>
|
||
<para>
|
||
Depending on your hardware configuration or type of file system, you may
|
||
need to set the option <option>boot.initrd.kernelModules</option> to
|
||
include the kernel modules that are necessary for mounting the root file
|
||
system, otherwise the installed system will not be able to boot. (If this
|
||
happens, boot from the CD again, mount the target file system on
|
||
<filename>/mnt</filename>, fix
|
||
<filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename> and rerun
|
||
<filename>nixos-install</filename>.) In most cases,
|
||
<command>nixos-generate-config</command> will figure out the required
|
||
modules.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</note>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
Do the installation:
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# nixos-install</screen>
|
||
Cross fingers. If this fails due to a temporary problem (such as a network
|
||
issue while downloading binaries from the NixOS binary cache), you can just
|
||
re-run <command>nixos-install</command>. Otherwise, fix your
|
||
<filename>configuration.nix</filename> and then re-run
|
||
<command>nixos-install</command>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<para>
|
||
As the last step, <command>nixos-install</command> will ask you to set the
|
||
password for the <literal>root</literal> user, e.g.
|
||
<screen>
|
||
setting root password...
|
||
Enter new UNIX password: ***
|
||
Retype new UNIX password: ***
|
||
</screen>
|
||
<note>
|
||
<para>
|
||
To prevent the password prompt, set
|
||
<code><xref linkend="opt-users.mutableUsers"/> = false;</code> in
|
||
<filename>configuration.nix</filename>, which allows unattended
|
||
installation necessary in automation.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</note>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
If everything went well:
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# reboot</screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
<listitem>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You should now be able to boot into the installed NixOS. The GRUB boot menu
|
||
shows a list of <emphasis>available configurations</emphasis> (initially
|
||
just one). Every time you change the NixOS configuration (see
|
||
<link
|
||
linkend="sec-changing-config">Changing Configuration</link>
|
||
), a new item is added to the menu. This allows you to easily roll back to
|
||
a previous configuration if something goes wrong.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You should log in and change the <literal>root</literal> password with
|
||
<command>passwd</command>.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You’ll probably want to create some user accounts as well, which can be
|
||
done with <command>useradd</command>:
|
||
<screen>
|
||
$ useradd -c 'Eelco Dolstra' -m eelco
|
||
$ passwd eelco</screen>
|
||
</para>
|
||
<para>
|
||
You may also want to install some software. For instance,
|
||
<screen>
|
||
$ nix-env -qa \*</screen>
|
||
shows what packages are available, and
|
||
<screen>
|
||
$ nix-env -i w3m</screen>
|
||
install the <literal>w3m</literal> browser.
|
||
</para>
|
||
</listitem>
|
||
</orderedlist>
|
||
<para>
|
||
To summarise, <xref linkend="ex-install-sequence" /> shows a typical sequence
|
||
of commands for installing NixOS on an empty hard drive (here
|
||
<filename>/dev/sda</filename>). <xref linkend="ex-config"
|
||
/> shows a
|
||
corresponding configuration Nix expression.
|
||
</para>
|
||
<example xml:id='ex-install-sequence'>
|
||
<title>Commands for Installing NixOS on <filename>/dev/sda</filename></title>
|
||
<screen>
|
||
# fdisk /dev/sda # <lineannotation>(or whatever device you want to install on)</lineannotation>
|
||
-- for UEFI systems only
|
||
> n # <lineannotation>(create a new partition for /boot)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 3 # <lineannotation>(make it a partition number 3)</lineannotation>
|
||
> # <lineannotation>(press enter to accept the default)</lineannotation>
|
||
> +512M # <lineannotation>(the size of the UEFI boot partition)</lineannotation>
|
||
> t # <lineannotation>(change the partition type ...)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 3 # <lineannotation>(... of the boot partition ...)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 1 # <lineannotation>(... to 'UEFI System')</lineannotation>
|
||
-- for BIOS or UEFI systems
|
||
> n # <lineannotation>(create a new partition for /swap)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 2 # <lineannotation>(make it a partition number 2)</lineannotation>
|
||
> # <lineannotation>(press enter to accept the default)</lineannotation>
|
||
> +8G # <lineannotation>(the size of the swap partition)</lineannotation>
|
||
> n # <lineannotation>(create a new partition for /)</lineannotation>
|
||
> 1 # <lineannotation>(make it a partition number 1)</lineannotation>
|
||
> # <lineannotation>(press enter to accept the default)</lineannotation>
|
||
> # <lineannotation>(press enter to accept the default and use the rest of the remaining space)</lineannotation>
|
||
> a # <lineannotation>(make the partition bootable)</lineannotation>
|
||
> x # <lineannotation>(enter expert mode)</lineannotation>
|
||
> f # <lineannotation>(fix up the partition ordering)</lineannotation>
|
||
> r # <lineannotation>(exit expert mode)</lineannotation>
|
||
> w # <lineannotation>(write the partition table to disk and exit)</lineannotation>
|
||
# mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/sda1
|
||
# mkswap -L swap /dev/sda2
|
||
# swapon /dev/sda2
|
||
# mkfs.fat -F 32 -n boot /dev/sda3 # <lineannotation>(for UEFI systems only)</lineannotation>
|
||
# mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt
|
||
# mkdir -p /mnt/boot # <lineannotation>(for UEFI systems only)</lineannotation>
|
||
# mount /dev/disk/by-label/boot /mnt/boot # <lineannotation>(for UEFI systems only)</lineannotation>
|
||
# nixos-generate-config --root /mnt
|
||
# nano /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix
|
||
# nixos-install
|
||
# reboot</screen>
|
||
</example>
|
||
<example xml:id='ex-config'>
|
||
<title>NixOS Configuration</title>
|
||
<screen>
|
||
{ 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;
|
||
}
|
||
</screen>
|
||
</example>
|
||
<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" />
|
||
</chapter>
|