<refentry xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"> <refmeta> <refentrytitle><command>nixos-install</command></refentrytitle> <manvolnum>8</manvolnum> <refmiscinfo class="source">NixOS</refmiscinfo> <!-- <refmiscinfo class="version"><xi:include href="version.txt" parse="text"/></refmiscinfo> --> </refmeta> <refnamediv> <refname><command>nixos-install</command></refname> <refpurpose>install NixOS</refpurpose> </refnamediv> <refsynopsisdiv> <cmdsynopsis> <command>nixos-install</command> </cmdsynopsis> </refsynopsisdiv> <refsection><title>Description</title> <para>This command installs NixOS in the file system mounted on <filename>/mnt</filename>, based on the NixOS configuration specified in <filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename>. It performs the following steps: <itemizedlist> <listitem><para>It copies Nix and its dependencies to <filename>/mnt/nix/store</filename>.</para></listitem> <listitem><para>It runs Nix in <filename>/mnt</filename> to build the NixOS configuration specified in <filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename>.</para></listitem> <listitem><para>It installs the GRUB boot loader on the device specified in the option <option>boot.loader.grub.device</option>, and generates a GRUB configuration file that boots into the NixOS configuration just installed.</para></listitem> <listitem><para>It prompts you for a password for the root account.</para></listitem> </itemizedlist> </para> <para>This command is idempotent: if it is interrupted or fails due to a temporary problem (e.g. a network issue), you can safely re-run it.</para> </refsection> <refsection><title>Examples</title> <para>A typical NixOS installation is done by creating and mounting a file system on <filename>/mnt</filename>, generating a NixOS configuration in <filename>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</filename>, and running <command>nixos-install</command>. For instance, if we want to install NixOS on an <literal>ext4</literal> file system created in <filename>/dev/sda1</filename>: <screen> $ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1 $ mount /dev/sda1 /mnt $ nixos-generate-config --root /mnt $ # edit /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix $ nixos-install </screen> </para> </refsection> </refentry>