Talk:NixOS Containers

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• https://www.thedroneely.com/posts/running-nixos-linux-containers/

when using nftables

The correct value when using nftables should be "ve-*": Cookie_Cocoa (talk) 06:44, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

Hi, I added this as a comment in the nat sections. May I ask, do you have a source for this (any link we could put under the comment)? The only mention of it seems to be in the old nixos.wiki page for nixos-containers. Blastboom Strice (talk) 08:40, 19 May 2026 (UTC)

Host Configuration

> For all of the examples below to work, you'll have to enable virtualization and the use of containers in your host systems nix configuration.

> boot.enableContainers = true;

> virtualisation.containers.enable = true;

Is that necessary? I have a machine with system.stateVersion = "25.05"; that uses neither of the above options and containers work just right. Is it possible that the system enables these by using containers, thus no need to set the 2 options above?

Tagging users that seem to be related: @Friedow Blastboom Strice (talk) 22:48, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

@Blastboom Strice It seems the default of enableContainers is true if there are any existing containers. So defining it manually is not necessary.

The virtualisation.containers one defauls to false. I never defined it and my containers work just right. Arcstur (talk) 23:15, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

About virtualisation.containers, I notice that nixos-containers do not use /etc/containers, that seems to be about oci containers. Nixos-containers instead use /etc/nixos-containers for the configuration files and /var/lib/nixos-containers for the actual files.

I guess case closed, we can remove that snippet, unless new info comes in. Blastboom Strice (talk) 08:38, 19 May 2026 (UTC)

Awesome! Arcstur (talk) 12:18, 19 May 2026 (UTC)