Yesterday, I shared a short article regarding NixOS.

Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to share my experience using the operating system, specifically with my Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen).

Unlike Fedora and Pop_OS!, the NixOS GUI installer does not include a default option for full disk encryption. Therefore, similar to the process I outlined for Manjaro, the encrypted partitions must be manually created.

Thankfully, this is a relatively easy process, as outlined below.

  1. Download the NixOS Graphical ISO image, specifically the GNOME 64-bit Intel/AMD. NOTE: This does not force the use of GNOME. Any supported desktop environment can be selected as part of the installation.

  2. Create a bootable USB.

  3. Ensure Secure Boot is disabled on the target system and boot from the USB.

  4. Connect NixOS to the Internet (Wired or Wireless). Restart the NixOS installer application if the Internet connection is not automatically detected.

  5. Proceed through the installation wizard, until partitioning.

  6. Select “Manual Partitioning” and click “Next”.

  7. Delete any existing partitions from the target drive. NOTE: All previous data will be lost.

  8. Click “Create Partition Table” and select “GUID Partition Table (GPT)”.

  9. Click “Create” to create a new partition using the following configuration. Repeat this step until all three partitions have been created.

Partition One: Boot

  • Size: 512 MiB
  • Partition Type: GPT
  • File System: fat32
  • Encrypt: Not Checked
  • Mount Point: /boot
  • Flags: boot

Partition Two: Swap

  • Size: 8192 MiB (Minimum)
  • Partition Type: GPT
  • File System: linuxswap
  • Encrypt: Checked (Enter Username/Password)
  • Mount Point:
  • Flags: swap

Partition Three: Root

  • Size: Remaining Drive Space
  • Partition Type: GPT
  • File System: btrfs
  • Encrypt: Checked (Enter Username/Password)
  • Mount Point: /
  • Flags:

That’s it! Click “Next” and complete the installation process. You may receive a warning regarding the non-encrypted boot partition, this can be ignored.

At boot, the system will prompt for the encryption password, before launching NixOS (where you will be prompted for your operating system password).

software operating_system open_source linux nix nix_package_manager nixos btrfs luks encryption security