Installing NixOS on a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 Gen 9

Installation media

Downloaded nixos-21.11/latest-nixos-gnome-x86_64-linux.iso from channels.nixos.org.
NixOS manual instructs to create the USB stick using dd (see Booting from a USB Drive)
I created it using Fedora Media Writer instead

Boot from installation media

Restarted the laptop from Windows 10
Hit F1 at the Lenovo boot logo to enter the BIOS setup utility
Clicked on Startup, then → Boot
Dragged the USB HDD: item from the Excluded from Boot Priority Order list on the right to the bottom of the Boot Priority Order list on the left
Clicked on Security, then → Secure Boot
Clicked on the slider to toggle Secure Boot from On to Off
Hit F10 to save and exit
Hit F12 at the Lenovo boot logo to choose a temporary startup device
Clicked on the USB HDD: item

Boot into the NixOS live environment

Hit Enter to choose NixOS 21.11.333823.96b4157790f Installer
Click on No Thanks to skip the GNOME 41 tour
Hit the Windows key and typed keyb Enter to open the keyboard settings
Click on the + sign and selected my keyboard layout and options
Switch to the keyboard layout by clicking on en at the top panel and selecting your preferred layout
Click on Mouse & Touchpad and Tap to Click
Click on Wi-Fi, select by WiFi network from Visible Networks and type the WiFi password

Prepare the internal hard disk

Hit the Windows key and typed term Enter to open a terminal
Find the internal hard disk device name (in my case /dev/nvme0n1):
```
ls /dev/disk/by-id/
```

Partition the disk (this destroys Windows!):

sudo -i
parted /dev/nvme0n1 -- mklabel gpt                           # and answer "Yes"
parted /dev/nvme0n1 -- mkpart primary 512MiB 100%
parted /dev/nvme0n1 -- mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 512MiB
parted /dev/nvme0n1 -- set 2 esp on

Encrypt the primary disk:

sudo cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/nvme0n1p1  # answer YES and enter passphrase
sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/nvme0n1p1 crypted
sudo pvcreate /dev/mapper/crypted
sudo vgcreate vg /dev/mapper/crypted
sudo lvcreate -L 8G -n swap vg
sudo lvcreate -l '100%FREE' -n nixos vg

Create and mount filesystems:

mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/vg/nixos
mkswap -L swap /dev/vg/swap
swapon /dev/vg/swap
mkfs.fat -F 32 -n boot /dev/nvme0n1p2
mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/boot

Create a configuration for NixOS:

nixos-generate-config --root /mnt
nano /mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix

Add or uncomment and modify the following lines, save with Ctrl-X Y Enter:

boot.loader.efi.efiSysMountPoint = "/boot/efi";

boot.loader.grub = {
  enable = true;
  version = 2;
  efiSupport = true;
  enableCryptodisk = true;
  device = "nodev";
};

boot.initrd.luks.devices = {
  crypted = {
    device = "/dev/disk/by-uuid/6d2a134f-b4cb-4b9c-b002-f3e88d2b8ca6";
    preLVM = true;
  };
};

networking.hostName = "mylaptop"; # Define your hostname.

time.timeZone = "Europe/Helsinki";

i18n.defaultLocale = "fi_FI.UTF-8";

console = {
  font = "Lat2-Terminus16";
  keyMap = "fi";
}

services.xserver.layout = "fi";

services.printing.enable = true;

sound.enable = true;
hardware.pulseaudio.enable = true;

services.xserver.libinput.enable = true;

users.users.myname = {
  isNormalUser = true;
  extraGroups = [ "wheel" ]; # Enable 'sudo' for the user.
};

nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
  vim # Do not forget to add an editor to edit configuration.nix! The Nano editor is also installed by default.
  wget
  emacs
  firefox
  git
  telnet
  terminator
];

programs.gnupg.agent = {
  enable = true;
  enableSSHSupport = true;
};

services.openssh.enable = true;

networking.firefwall.enable = false;

Run the installer and reboot:

nixos-install
# enter the new root password when requested
reboot

Boot into NixOS

The laptop first boots into BIOS setup. Just save and exit (F10), remove the USB drive, and let the laptop boot into NixOS.

Hit the Windows key and type wifi Enter
Click on the gear icon next to your WiFi hotspot
Click on the Security tab
Add your password and click on Apply
Click on Mouse & Touchpad and Tap to Click
Hit the Windows key and type user Enter
Click on Password, select Set the password now, type the new password for the user twice, and click on Change.
Click on the top right status bar and select Shut down / Log out and Log out, and confirm Log out
Click on the username and enter the new password to log in
Click on No Thanks to skip the GNOME 41 tour
Click on Mouse & Touchpad and Tap to Click

Put NixOS configuration in Git

Open a terminal by hitting the Windows key and typing term Enter

Set the Git username and e-mail:

sudo -i
git config --global user.name "Your name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

Create an SSH key:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C root@mylaptop
# accept the file path
# type a passphrase twice

Initialize and push the Git repository:

cd /etc/nixos
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git push -u origin master

izelnakri/nixos-x1.rst