dotfiles/docs/server-installer-usb.md

Server installer USB (NixOS + LUKS + WiFi)

Bootable USB that installs NixOS on a new server with disk encryption (LUKS) and optional WiFi from first boot. Only required input is the hostname (and LUKS passphrase when disko creates the volume). Existing hosts are not modified.

Option A: Official NixOS ISO (works from macOS)

You cannot build the custom installer ISO on macOS (it is x86_64-linux only and --system is restricted). Use the official NixOS minimal ISO instead:

1. Download the minimal ISO (e.g. nixos-minimal-*-x86_64-linux.iso).
2. Write it to your USB (on macOS: diskutil unmountDisk diskN, then sudo dd if=path/to/nixos-minimal-*.iso of=/dev/rdiskN bs=4m).
3. Boot the server from the USB. Attach Ethernet or use the graphical ISO if you need Wi‑Fi on the live system.
4. On the live system, clone this repo and run the install script (see Install on the server below). The script runs disko-install and does LUKS + hostname; no custom ISO needed.

Option B: Custom ISO (build on Linux only)

The custom ISO adds Wi‑Fi kernel modules and optional live Wi‑Fi; it must be built on x86_64-linux (or with a Nix remote builder configured for that system). Building on macOS will fail.

Build from sunken-ship (one command from your Mac)

When the server is on the same network, run from the dotfiles repo:

./scripts/build-installer-iso-on-server.sh

This pushes the branch, SSHs to sunken-ship, clones the repo there, runs nix build .#installer-iso, and copies the ISO back to the current directory. Optional: ./scripts/build-installer-iso-on-server.sh sunken-ship /path/to/output.

Build directly on a Linux machine

From a Linux box (or on sunken-ship after SSH in):

cd ~/dotfiles/nixos
nix build .#installer-iso

The image is at result/iso/nixos-minimal-*.iso. Write it to a USB stick (replace sdX with your device, e.g. sda):

# Linux
sudo dd if=result/iso/nixos-minimal-*.iso of=/dev/sdX status=progress
sync

On macOS, use the disk number (e.g. 4 for disk4):

sudo dd if=result/iso/nixos-minimal-*.iso of=/dev/rdisk4 bs=4m
diskutil eject disk4

Or adapt scripts/make-ubuntu-usb.sh for the NixOS ISO path.

Live-system WiFi (optional)

So the live system can reach the network (and fetch the flake) without Ethernet, add WiFi to the ISO at build time. Do not put SSID/PSK in the repo.

1. Create nixos/installer-wifi.nix (gitignored) with your network:

{
  networking.wireless.enable = true;
  networking.wireless.networks."YourSSID".psk = "your-password";
}

2. Add it to the flake for the installer ISO only. In nixos/flake.nix, change the installer-iso modules to:

installer-iso = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
  system = "x86_64-linux";
  modules = [ ./installer-iso.nix ./installer-wifi.nix ];  # add installer-wifi.nix
};

3. Ensure nixos/installer-wifi.nix is in .gitignore, then rebuild the ISO.

If you skip this, use Ethernet on the live system or the graphical NixOS installer to join Wi‑Fi, then run the install script.

Install on the server

1. Boot the server from the USB.
2. If you did not bake WiFi into the ISO, attach Ethernet or (on graphical installer) join Wi‑Fi so the machine has network.
3. Clone this repo (or copy the install script onto the machine). For example:

nix run --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" nixpkgs#git -- clone https://github.com/USER/dotfiles.git /tmp/dotfiles
cd /tmp/dotfiles

4. Run the install script (it will prompt for hostname and target disk):

sudo ./scripts/nixos-server-install.sh

The script uses the flake from the current repo by default (path:$(pwd)/nixos). To use the flake from GitHub instead:

sudo FLAKE_REF=github:USER/dotfiles ./scripts/nixos-server-install.sh

5. When disko creates the LUKS volume, enter the encryption passphrase when prompted.
6. When the script finishes, remove the USB and reboot. The new NixOS system will have LUKS root and the hostname you chose.

WiFi on the installed system (optional)

To have WiFi configured from first boot (no manual step after reboot):

1. Create a JSON file outside the repo with the config to merge (hostname is set by the script from the prompt):

{
  "networking": {
    "wireless": {
      "networks": {
        "YourSSID": { "psk": "your-password" }
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Copy that file onto the live system (e.g. put it on the USB or scp it). If the script is run with jq available and INSTALLER_SYSTEM_CONFIG_FILE set to that file, the script will merge it and set the hostname:

sudo INSTALLER_SYSTEM_CONFIG_FILE=/path/to/wifi-config.json ./scripts/nixos-server-install.sh

If you omit this, the installed system still has networking.wireless.enable = true. Add credentials after first boot (e.g. imperative wpa_supplicant config).

Manual install (without the script)

You can run disko-install yourself:

sudo nix run github:nix-community/disko/latest#disko-install -- \
  --flake 'path:/tmp/dotfiles/nixos#server-install' \
  --disk main /dev/sda \
  --system-config '{"networking":{"hostName":"my-server"}}'

Adjust the flake path and --system-config (e.g. add WiFi) as needed.

After install

• Add your SSH key: from your machine scp ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_servers.pub danny@NEW-SERVER:/tmp/, then on the server mkdir -p ~/.ssh; cat /tmp/*.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.
• To switch this machine to another host config in the same flake (e.g. a full server profile), clone the repo on the new system and run sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake /path/to/nixos#other-host.

Summary

Step	Action
From macOS	Use Option A: download official NixOS minimal ISO, write to USB, boot server, clone repo, run install script.
From Linux	Option B: nix build .#installer-iso in nixos/, then write result/iso/*.iso to USB.
Optional live WiFi	(Custom ISO only) Add installer-wifi.nix (gitignored), include in flake, rebuild on Linux.
Boot	Boot server from USB
Install	Clone repo, run sudo ./scripts/nixos-server-install.sh (set FLAKE_REF if not from repo)
Optional installed WiFi	Set INSTALLER_SYSTEM_CONFIG_FILE to a JSON file with wireless config
Reboot	Remove USB, reboot; set root password if needed, add SSH keys