nixos-install 8 NixOS nixos-install install bootloader and NixOS nixos-install -I path --root root --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, and generates a GRUB configuration file that boots into the NixOS configuration just installed. It prompts you for a password for the root account. 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. -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. --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