---
myst:
  html_meta:
    "description lang=en": "Installing NixOS on a Raspberry Pi"
    "keywords": "Raspberry Pi, rpi, NixOS, installation, image, tutorial"
---


# Installing NixOS on a Raspberry Pi

This tutorial assumes [Raspberry P 4 Model B with 4GB RAM](https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/).

Before starting this tutorial, make sure you have
[all necessary hardware](https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up/1):

- HDMI cable/adapter.
- 8GB+ SD card.
- SD card reader in case your machine doesn't have an SD slot.
- Power cable for your Raspberry Pi.
- USB keyboard.

:::{note}
This tutorial was written for the Raspberry Pi 4B. Using a previous supported revision, like the 3B or 3B+, is possible with tweaks.
:::

## Booting NixOS live image

:::{note}
Booting from USB may require an EEPROM firmware upgrade. This tutorial boots from an SD card to avoid such hiccups.
:::

Prepare the AArch64 image on your laptop:

```shell-session
$ nix-shell -p wget zstd
$ wget https://hydra.nixos.org/build/160738647/download/1/nixos-sd-image-22.05pre335501.c71f061c68b-aarch64-linux.img.zst
$ unzstd -d nixos-sd-image-22.05pre335501.c71f061c68b-aarch64-linux.img.zst
$ dmesg --follow
```

:::{note}
You can pick a newer image by going to [Hydra job](https://hydra.nixos.org/job/nixos/trunk-combined/nixos.sd_image.aarch64-linux),
clicking on a build and copying the link to the build product image.
:::

Your terminal should be printing kernel messages as they come in.

Plug in your SD card and your terminal should print what device it got assigned, for example `/dev/sdX`.

Press `ctrl-c` to stop `dmesg --follow`.

Copy NixOS to your SD card by replacing `sdX` with the name of your device:

```shell-session
sudo dd if=nixos-sd-image-22.05pre335501.c71f061c68b-aarch64-linux.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4096 conv=fsync status=progress
```

Once that command exits, **move the SD card into your Raspberry Pi and power it on**.

You should be greeted with a fresh shell!

In case the image doesn't boot, it's worth [updating the firmware](https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html#updating-the-bootloader) and booting the image again.

## Getting internet connection

Run `sudo -i` to get a root shell for the rest of the tutorial.

At this point you'll need an internet connection. If you can use an ethernet cable, plug it in.

If you're connecting to wifi, run `iwconfig` to find the name of your wireless network interface. If it's `wlan0`, replace `SSID` and `passphrase` with your data and run:

```shell-session
# wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c <(wpa_passphrase 'SSID' 'passphrase') &
```

Once you see in your terminal that connection is established, run `host nixos.org` to check that the DNS resolves correctly.

In case you've made a typo, run `pkill wpa_supplicant` and start over.

## Updating firmware

To benefit from updates and bug fixes from the vendor, we'll start by updating Raspberry Pi firmware:

```shell-session
# nix-shell -p raspberrypi-eeprom
# mount /dev/disk/by-label/FIRMWARE /mnt
# BOOTFS=/mnt FIRMWARE_RELEASE_STATUS=stable rpi-eeprom-update -d -a
```

## Installing NixOS

For the initial installation, we'll install [XFCE](https://www.xfce.org/) desktop environment with user `guest` and SSH daemon.

```nix
{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }:

let
  user = "guest";
  password = "guest";
  SSID = "mywifi";
  SSIDpassword = "mypassword";
  interface = "wlan0";
  hostname = "myhostname";
in {
  imports = ["${fetchTarball "https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware/archive/936e4649098d6a5e0762058cb7687be1b2d90550.tar.gz" }/raspberry-pi/4"];

  fileSystems = {
    "/" = {
      device = "/dev/disk/by-label/NIXOS_SD";
      fsType = "ext4";
      options = [ "noatime" ];
    };
  };

  networking = {
    hostName = hostname;
    wireless = {
      enable = true;
      networks."${SSID}".psk = SSIDpassword;
      interfaces = [ interface ];
    };
  };

  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ vim ];

  services.openssh.enable = true;

  users = {
    mutableUsers = false;
    users."${user}" = {
      isNormalUser = true;
      password = password;
      extraGroups = [ "wheel" ];
    };
  };

  # Enable GPU acceleration
  hardware.raspberry-pi."4".fkms-3d.enable = true;

  services.xserver = {
    enable = true;
    displayManager.lightdm.enable = true;
    desktopManager.xfce.enable = true;
  };

  hardware.pulseaudio.enable = true;
}
```

To save time on typing the whole configuration, download it:

```shell-session
# curl -L https://tinyurl.com/nixos-rpi4-tutorial > /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
```

At the top of `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix` there are a few variables that you want to configure, the most important being your wifi connection details, this time specified in declarative way.

Once you're ready to install NixOS:

```shell-session
# nixos-install --root /
# reboot
```

If your system doesn't boot, select the oldest configuration in the bootloader menu to get back to live image and start over.

## Making changes

It booted, congratulations!

To make further changes to the configuration, [search through NixOS options](https://search.nixos.org/options),
edit `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix`, and update your system:

```shell-session
$ sudo -i
# nixos-rebuild switch
```

## Next steps

- Once you have a successfully running OS, try upgrading it with `nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade` and reboot to the old configuration if something broke.
- To tweak bootloader options affecting hardware, [see config.txt options](https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/) and change the options by running `mount /dev/disk/by-label/FIRMWARE /mnt` and opening `/mnt/config.txt`.
- To see the power of declarative configuration, try replacing `xfce` with `kodi` in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix` and `reboot`.