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Clan Installer Image for Physical Machines

To install Clan on physical machines, you need to use our custom installer image. This is necessary for proper installation and operation.

Using a Cloud VM?

If you're using a cloud provider's virtual machine (VM), you can skip this section and go directly to the Configure Machines step. In this scenario, we automatically use nixos-anywhere to replace the kernel during runtime.

Why nixos-anywhere Doesn't Work on Physical Hardware?

nixos-anywhere relies on kexec to replace the running kernel with our custom one. This method often has compatibility issues with real hardware, especially systems with dedicated graphics cards like laptops and servers, leading to crashes and black screens.

Reasons for a Custom Install Image

Our custom install images are built to include essential tools like nixos-facter and support for ZFS. They're also optimized to run on systems with as little as 1 GB of RAM, ensuring efficient performance even on lower-end hardware.

Step 0. Prerequisites

  • A free USB Drive with at least 1.5GB (All data on it will be lost)
  • Linux/NixOS Machine with Internet

Step 1. Identify the USB Flash Drive

  1. Insert your USB flash drive into your computer.

  2. Identify your flash drive with lsblk:

    lsblk

    NAME                                          MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
sdb                                             8:0    1 117,2G  0 disk
└─sdb1                                          8:1    1 117,2G  0 part  /run/media/qubasa/INTENSO
nvme0n1                                       259:0    0   1,8T  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1                                   259:1    0   512M  0 part  /boot
└─nvme0n1p2                                   259:2    0   1,8T  0 part
  └─luks-f7600028-9d83-4967-84bc-dd2f498bc486 254:0    0   1,8T  0 crypt /nix/store

    In this case the USB device is sdb

  3. Ensure all partitions on the drive are unmounted. Replace sdb1 in the command below with your device identifier (like sdc1, etc.):

sudo umount /dev/sdb1

Step 2. Create a Custom Installer

Using clan flash enables the inclusion of ssh public keys into the image. It also allows to set language and keymap in the installer image.

clan flash write --flake git+https://git.clan.lol/clan/clan-core \
  --ssh-pubkey $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub \
  --keymap us \
  --language en_US.UTF-8 \
  --disk main /dev/sd<X> \
  flash-installer

Note

Replace $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub with a path to your SSH public key. Replace /dev/sd<X> with the drive path you want to flash

Specifying the wrong device can lead to unrecoverable data loss.

The clan flash utility will erase the disk. Make sure to specify the correct device

  • SSH-Pubkey Option

    To add an ssh public key into the installer image append the option: 

    --ssh-pubkey <pubkey_path>
    If you do not have an ssh key yet, you can generate one with ssh-keygen -t ed25519 command. This ssh key will be installed into the root user.

  • Connect to the installer

    On boot, the installer will display on-screen the IP address it received from the network. If you need to configure Wi-Fi first, refer to the next section. If Multicast-DNS (Avahi) is enabled on your own machine, you can also access the installer using the flash-installer.local address.

  • List Keymaps

    You can get a list of all keymaps with the following command: 

    clan flash list keymaps

  • List Languages

    You can get a list of all languages with the following command: 

    clan flash list languages

Step 2. Download Generic Installer

For x86_64:

wget https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-images/releases/download/nixos-unstable/nixos-installer-x86_64-linux.iso

For generic arm64 / aarch64 (probably does not work on raspberry pi...)

wget https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-images/releases/download/nixos-unstable/nixos-installer-aarch64-linux.iso

Note

If you don't have wget installed, you can use curl --progress-bar -OL <url> instead.

Step 2.5 Flash the Installer to the USB Drive

Specifying the wrong device can lead to unrecoverable data loss.

The dd utility will erase the disk. Make sure to specify the correct device (of=...)

For example if the USB device is sdb use of=/dev/sdb (on macOS it will look more like /dev/disk1)

On Linux, you can use the lsblk utility to identify the correct disko

lsblk --output NAME,ID-LINK,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT

On macos use diskutil:

diskutil list

Use the dd utility to write the NixOS installer image to your USB drive. Replace /dev/sd<X> with your external drive from above.

sudo dd bs=4M conv=fsync status=progress if=./nixos-installer-x86_64-linux.iso of=/dev/sd<X>
  • **Connect to the installer

On boot, the installer will display on-screen the IP address it received from the network. If you need to configure Wi-Fi first, refer to the next section. If Multicast-DNS (Avahi) is enabled on your own machine, you can also access the installer using the nixos-installer.local address.

Step 3: Boot From USB Stick

  • To use, boot from the Clan USB drive with secure boot turned off. For step by step instructions go to Disabling Secure Boot

(Optional) Connect to Wifi Manually

If you don't have access via LAN the Installer offers support for connecting via Wifi.

iwctl

This will enter iwd

[iwd]#

Now run the following command to connect to your Wifi:

# Identify your network device.
device list

# Replace 'wlan0' with your wireless device name
# Find your Wifi SSID.
station wlan0 scan
station wlan0 get-networks

# Replace your_ssid with the Wifi SSID
# Connect to your network.
station wlan0 connect your_ssid

# Verify you are connected
station wlan0 show

If the connection was successful you should see something like this:

State                 connected
Connected network     FRITZ!Box (Your router device)
IPv4 address          192.168.188.50 (Your new local ip)

Press Ctrl+D to exit IWD.

Important

Press Ctrl+D again to update the displayed QR code and connection information.

You're all set up