Reference Manual: nixos-anywhere
Install NixOS everywhere via ssh
TODO: Populate this guide properly
Contents
Explanation of known error messages
Command Line Usage
Usage: nixos-anywhere [options] <ssh-host>
Options:
* -f, --flake <flake_uri>
set the flake to install the system from.
* -i <identity_file>
selects which SSH private key file to use.
* -p, --ssh-port <ssh_port>
set the ssh port to connect with
* --ssh-option <ssh_option>
set an ssh option
* -L, --print-build-logs
print full build logs
* --env-password
set a password used by ssh-copy-id, the password should be set by
the environment variable SSHPASS
* -s, --store-paths <disko-script> <nixos-system>
set the store paths to the disko-script and nixos-system directly
if this is given, flake is not needed
* --kexec <path>
use another kexec tarball to bootstrap NixOS
* --kexec-extra-flags
extra flags to add into the call to kexec, e.g. "--no-sync"
* --post-kexec-ssh-port <ssh_port>
after kexec is executed, use a custom ssh port to connect. Defaults to 22
* --copy-host-keys
copy over existing /etc/ssh/ssh_host_* host keys to the installation
* --extra-files <path>
contents of local <path> are recursively copied to the root (/) of the new NixOS installation. Existing files are overwritten
Copied files will be owned by root. See documentation for details.
* --disk-encryption-keys <remote_path> <local_path>
copy the contents of the file or pipe in local_path to remote_path in the installer environment,
after kexec but before installation. Can be repeated.
* --no-substitute-on-destination
disable passing --substitute-on-destination to nix-copy
* --debug
enable debug output
* --option <key> <value>
nix option to pass to every nix related command
* --from <store-uri>
URL of the source Nix store to copy the nixos and disko closure from
* --build-on-remote
build the closure on the remote machine instead of locally and copy-closuring it
* --vm-test
build the system and test the disk configuration inside a VM without installing it to the target.
* --generate-hardware-config nixos-facter|nixos-generate-config <path>
generate a hardware-configuration.nix file using the specified backend and write it to the specified path.
The backend can be either 'nixos-facter' or 'nixos-generate-config'.
* --phases
comma separated list of phases to run. Default is: kexec,disko,install,reboot
kexec: kexec into the nixos installer
disko: first unmount and destroy all filesystems on the disks we want to format, then run the create and mount mode
install: install the system
reboot: unmount the filesystems, export any ZFS pools and reboot the machine
* --disko-mode disko|mount|format
set the disko mode to format, mount or destroy. Default is disko.
disko: first unmount and destroy all filesystems on the disks we want to format, then run the create and mount mode
mount: mount the partition at the specified root-mountpoint
format: create partition tables, zpools, lvms, raids and filesystems (Experimental: Can be run increntally, but use with caution and good backups)
Explanation of known error messages
TODO: Add additional error messages and meanings. Fill in missing explanations
This section lists known error messages and their explanations. Some explanations may refer to the following CLI syntax:
nix run github:nix-community/nixos-anywhere -- --flake <path to configuration>#<configuration name> root@<ip address>
This list is not comprehensive. It's possible you may encounter errors that originate from the underlying operating system. These should be documented in the relevant operating system manual.
| Id | Message | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Failure unpacking initrd | You don't have enough RAM to hold kexec |
| 2 | Flake <flake_url> does not provide attribute | The configuration name you specified in your flake URI is not defined as a NixOS configuration in your flake eg if your URI was mydir#myconfig, then myconfig should be included in the flake as nixosConfigurations.myconfig |
| 3 | Please specify the name of the NixOS configuration to be installed, as a URI fragment in the flake-uri. | As for error #2 |
| For example, to use the output nixosConfigurations.foo from the flake.nix, append "#foo" to the flake-uri | ||
| 4 | Retrieving host facts via ssh failed. Check with --debug for the root cause, unless you have done so already | TODO: Explain |
| 5 | ssh-host must be set | <ip_address> has not been supplied |
| 6 | <disko_script> and <nixos_system> must be existing store-paths | This occurs if the -s switch has been used to specify the disko script and store path correctly, and the scripts cannot be found at the given URI |
| 7 | flake must be set | This occurs if both the -flake option (use a flake) and the -s option (specify paths directly) have been omitted. Either one or the other must be specified. |
| 8 | no tar command found, but required to unpack kexec tarball | The destination machine does not have a tar command available. This is needed to unpack the kexec. |
| 9 | no setsid command found, but required to run the kexec script under a new session | The destination machine does not have the setsid command available |
| 10 | This script requires Linux as the operating system, but got | The destination machine is not running Linux |
| 11 | The default kexec image only support x86_64 cpus. Checkout https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-anywhere/#using-your-own-kexec-image for more information. | By default, nixos-anywhere uses its own kexec image, which will only run on x86_64 CPUs. For other CPU types, you can use your own kexec image instead. Refer to the How To Guide for instructions. |
| 12 | Please specify the name of the NixOS configuration to be installed, as a URI fragment in the flake-uri. | This is a disko error. As for Error #2 |
| For example, to use the output diskoConfigurations.foo from the flake.nix, append "#foo" to the flake-uri. | ||
| 13 | mode must be either create, mount or zap_create_mount | This is a disko error. The disko switches have not been used correctly. This could happen if you supplied your own disko script using the -s option |
| 14 | disko config must be an existing file or flake must be set | This is a disko error. This will happen if the disko.devices entry in your flake doesn't match the name of a file in the same location as your flake. |