NixOS as a desktop

NixOS is a versatile operating system suitable for a wide range of use cases. This page is intended for users who wish to run NixOS as their primary desktop environment, either on physical hardware or within a virtual machine. Additionally, users planning to deploy NixOS in cloud environments or on specialized server infrastructure may find it helpful to begin with the concepts and practices introduced here, as they provide a useful foundation for working within the broader Nix ecosystem.

Installation

Refer to NixOS Installation Guide to get started. Keep in mind that, for a desktop installation, you will probably want to make sure you start with at least 30 GiB of available disk space to allow for the desktop environments, web browsers, and other graphical applications, that would be typical of daily use. 15 GiB might be enough for a fairly bare-bones setup.

Managing your configuration

As described in the Overview of the NixOS Linux distribution#Declarative Configuration, NixOS is designed to be configured declaratively. This means the entire system configuration, including installed packages, system services, kernel parameters, and user accounts is defined in configuration files, typically in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix. These settings can then be applied consistently and reproducibly across machines.

The process for managing your configuration is documented in the NixOS official manual.

System Configuration

Main article: NixOS system configuration

The primary configuration file, /etc/nixos/configuration.nix, defines system-wide settings. This includes options like enabling services, managing system users, setting hardware options, and specifying installed packages. Changes are applied with:

# nixos-rebuild switch

User configuration with Home Manager

For managing per-user configurations such as application preferences, command-line tools, and dotfiles, Home Manager provides a convenient, declarative approach. It allows users to define which programs should be installed and how they should be configured, without needing to include those settings in the system-wide configuration.nix.

Home Manager can be used independently of the system configuration and works with both traditional setups and newer Flakes-based configurations.

With Flakes

For users looking for a more streamlined and reproducible way to manage NixOS configurations, the Flakes feature has been gaining popularity within the community. While Flakes introduce some new concepts compared to traditional workflows, many users find them a convenient and organized approach to managing system and development configurations.

Refer to NixOS system configuration#Defining NixOS as a flake for details on getting started.

Beyond initial setup

Once your basic NixOS installation is complete and functional, you can further customize your system with a variety of optional configurations tailored for desktop use. For a list of recommended initial system configurations, see NixOS Installation Guide#NixOS configuration.

Common configuration areas include:

Desktop Environments

Install and configure full-featured environments such as GNOME, KDE Plasma, or Xfce.

See Category:Desktop environment for a full list.

Window Managers

Set up lightweight or tiling window managers like i3, Sway, Hyprland, or xmonad.

See Category:Window managers for a full list.

Display Managers (Login Managers)

Configure graphical session managers such as GDM, SDDM, or LightDM.

Audio Setup

Enable and configure audio systems like PipeWire, PulseAudio, or ALSA.

Network Management

Use tools such as NetworkManager or systemd-networkd for managing network connections.

Bluetooth Support

Set up Bluetooth with blueman or other management tools.

Power Management

Configure laptop battery management, suspend, and hibernation with tools like tlp or systemd services.

Printing and Scanning

Enable Cups for printer support and tools like Sane for scanning devices.

Tips and tricks

Modularizing your configuration with modules

Main article: NixOS system configuration#Modularizing your configuration with modules