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GUIs and Installers

Overview

NixOS ships one official graphical first-install path: a Calamares-based installer on the graphical live ISOs from nixos.org/download (stable channel nixos-26.05 as of 2026-07). That UI walks desktop users through language, users, desktop choice, partitioning, and install. After the system is installed, day-to-day configuration still goes through the NixOS module system and CLI rebuild frontends—primarily nixos-rebuild, or wrappers such as nh—not through that installer.

This page situates those surfaces. Step-by-step installer screens live under Graphical installer. Do not assume a stock desktop “NixOS settings GUI” for ongoing system changes; treat third-party GUIs as optional community tooling and verify them independently.

Details

Official graphical installer (Calamares)

Graphical installation images include a live desktop and the graphical installer. Upstream NixOS packages that installer as Calamares with NixOS-specific extensions (calamares-nixos, calamares-nixos-extensions in nixpkgs); the NixOS manual documents the flow as “Graphical Installation” without requiring you to know Calamares by name.

  • Recommended for desktop users who want a guided install.
  • Not on minimal ISOs—those boot to a console; use a manual install path instead.
  • Does not replace later rebuilds: Calamares generates and builds a NixOS configuration into the target disk; afterward you edit config and rebuild with CLI tools.

Boot media, Secure Boot / UEFI notes, and screen-by-screen detail: Graphical installer. Canonical procedure: NixOS manual — Graphical Installation.

CLI rebuild frontends (post-install)

Surface Role
nixos-rebuild Classic, documented way to build and activate a NixOS configuration (switch, boot, test, …)
nh Community-oriented rebuild UX (nicer output / helpers); still a CLI around the same activation model

Both operate on declarative config (e.g. /etc/nixos or a flake). Neither is a graphical installer substitute.

Optional community GUIs

The broader Nix ecosystem has occasional community frontends (package browsers, rebuild helpers with a GUI, etc.). Names, maturity, and packaging change often. This wiki does not endorse specific products here: if you use one, confirm it matches your Nix/NixOS version and that it ultimately drives the same store/rebuild model as the CLI tools above.

Examples

First install (graphical path):

  1. Download a Graphical ISO from nixos.org/download (not Minimal).
  2. Write it to USB, boot (prefer UEFI; Secure Boot often needs to be off).
  3. Complete the Calamares / graphical installer wizard (see Graphical installer).
  4. Reboot into the installed system.

Ongoing changes (CLI, not the installer):

# Classic
sudo nixos-rebuild switch

# Or, if you use nh (once installed / configured for your setup)
nh os switch

Exact flags and flake vs channels differ by setup—see nixos-rebuild and nh.

References

See also