The installer will use an online service to guess your location based on
     your public IP address.
     :::

3.   Then you can select the keyboard layout. The default keyboard model should
     work well with most desktop keyboards. If you have a special keyboard or
     notebook, your model might be in the list. Select the language you are most
     comfortable typing in.

4.   On the "Users" screen, you have to type in your display name, login name
     and password. You can also enable an option to automatically login to the
     desktop.

5.   Then you have the option to choose a desktop environment. If you want to
     create a custom setup with a window manager, you can select "No desktop".

     ::: {.tip}
     If you don't have a favorite desktop and don't know which one to choose,
     you can stick to either GNOME or Plasma. They have a quite different
     design, so you should choose whichever you like better.
     They are both popular choices and well tested on NixOS.
     :::

6.   You have the option to allow unfree software in the next screen.

7.   The easiest option in the "Partitioning" screen is "Erase disk", which will
     delete all data from the selected disk and install the system on it.
     Also select "Swap (with Hibernation)" in the dropdown below it.
     You have the option to encrypt the whole disk with LUKS.

     ::: {.note}
     At the top left you see if the Installer was booted with BIOS or UEFI. If
     you know your system supports UEFI and it shows "BIOS", reboot with the
     correct option.
     :::

     ::: {.warning}
     Make sure you have selected the correct disk at the top and that no
     valuable data is still on the disk! It will be deleted when
     formatting the disk.
     :::

8.   Check the choices you made in the "Summary" and click "Install".

     ::: {.note}
     The installation takes about 15 minutes. The time varies based on the
     selected desktop environment, internet connection speed and disk write speed.
     :::

9.  When the install is complete, remove the USB flash drive and
    reboot into your new system!

## Manual Installation {#sec-installation-manual}

NixOS can be installed on BIOS or UEFI systems. The procedure for a UEFI
installation is broadly the same as for a BIOS installation. The differences
are mentioned in the following steps.

The NixOS manual is available by running `nixos-help` in the command line
or from the application menu in the desktop environment.

To have access to the command line on the graphical images, open
Terminal (GNOME) or Konsole (Plasma) from the application menu.

You are logged-in automatically as `nixos`. The `nixos` user account has
an empty password so you can use `sudo` without a password:

```ShellSession
$ sudo -i
```

You can use `loadkeys` to switch to your preferred keyboard layout.
(We even provide neo2 via `loadkeys de neo`!)

If the text is too small to be legible, try `setfont ter-v32n` to
increase the font size.

To install over a serial port connect with `115200n8` (e.g.
`picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0`). When the bootloader lists boot
entries, select the serial console boot entry.

### Networking in the installer {#sec-installation-manual-networking}
[]{#sec-installation-booting-networking} <!-- legacy anchor -->

The boot process should have brought up networking (check `ip
a`). Networking is necessary for the installer, since it will
download lots of stuff (such as source tarballs or Nixpkgs channel
binaries). It's best if you have a DHCP server on your network.
Otherwise configure networking manually using `ifconfig`.

On the graphical installer, you can configure the network, wifi
included, through NetworkManager. Using the `nmtui` program, you can do
so even in a non-graphical session. If you prefer to configure the
network manually, disable NetworkManager with
`systemctl stop NetworkManager`.

On the minimal installer, NetworkManager is not available, so
configuration must be performed manually. To configure the wifi, first