nixos-install 8 NixOS nixos-install install bootloader and NixOS nixos-install -I path --root root --system path --no-channel-copy --no-root-passwd --no-bootloader --max-jobs -j number --cores number --option name value --show-trace --chroot --help This command installs NixOS in the file system mounted on /mnt, based on the NixOS configuration specified in /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix. It performs the following steps: It copies Nix and its dependencies to /mnt/nix/store. It runs Nix in /mnt to build the NixOS configuration specified in /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix. It installs the GRUB boot loader on the device specified in the option boot.loader.grub.device (unless --no-bootloader is specified), and generates a GRUB configuration file that boots into the NixOS configuration just installed. It prompts you for a password for the root account (unless --no-root-passwd is specified). 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. This command accepts the following options: --root Defaults to /mnt. If this option is given, treat the directory root as the root of the NixOS installation. --system If this option is provided, nixos-install will install the specified closure rather than attempt to build one from /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix. The closure must be an appropriately configured NixOS system, with boot loader and partition configuration that fits the target host. Such a closure is typically obtained with a command such as nix-build -I nixos-config=./configuration.nix '<nixos>' -A system --no-out-link -I Add a path to the Nix expression search path. This option may be given multiple times. See the NIX_PATH environment variable for information on the semantics of the Nix search path. Paths added through -I take precedence over NIX_PATH. --max-jobs -j Sets the maximum number of build jobs that Nix will perform in parallel to the specified number. The default is 1. A higher value is useful on SMP systems or to exploit I/O latency. --cores Sets the value of the NIX_BUILD_CORES environment variable in the invocation of builders. Builders can use this variable at their discretion to control the maximum amount of parallelism. For instance, in Nixpkgs, if the derivation attribute enableParallelBuilding is set to true, the builder passes the -jN flag to GNU Make. The value 0 means that the builder should use all available CPU cores in the system. --option name value Set the Nix configuration option name to value. --show-trace Causes Nix to print out a stack trace in case of Nix expression evaluation errors. --chroot Chroot into given installation. Any additional arguments passed are going to be executed inside the chroot. --help Synonym for man nixos-install. A typical NixOS installation is done by creating and mounting a file system on /mnt, generating a NixOS configuration in /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix, and running nixos-install. For instance, if we want to install NixOS on an ext4 file system created in /dev/sda1: $ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1 $ mount /dev/sda1 /mnt $ nixos-generate-config --root /mnt $ # edit /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix $ nixos-install $ reboot