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Got my NixOS flake to run under WSL!
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<h1 align=center>
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NixOS on WSL<br />
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<a href="https://matrix.to/#/#wsl:nixos.org"><img src="https://img.shields.io/matrix/wsl:nixos.org?server_fqdn=nixos.ems.host&logo=matrix" alt="Matrix Chat" /></a>
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<a href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/nixos-22.05"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/nixpkgs-22.05-brightgreen" alt="nixpkgs 22.05" /></a>
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<a href="https://github.com/nix-community/NixOS-WSL/releases"><img alt="Downloads" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/nix-community/NixOS-WSL/total"></a>
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</h1>
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A minimal root filesystem for running NixOS on WSL. It can be used with
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[DistroLauncher](https://github.com/microsoft/WSL-DistroLauncher) as
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`install.tar.gz` or as input to `wsl --import --version 2`.
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## Quick start
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First, [download the latest release\'s installer](https://github.com/nix-community/NixOS-WSL/releases/latest).
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Then open up a Terminal, PowerShell or Command Prompt and run:
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```sh
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wsl --import NixOS .\NixOS\ nixos-wsl-installer.tar.gz --version 2
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```
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This sets up a new WSL distribution `NixOS` that is installed under
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`.\NixOS`. `nixos-wsl-installer.tar.gz` is the path to the file you
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downloaded earlier. You might need to change this path or change to the download directory first.
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You can now run NixOS:
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```sh
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wsl -d NixOS
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```
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The installer will unpack the file system and subsequently start NixOS.
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A few warnings about file systems and locales will pop up. You can
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safely ignore them. After systemd has started, you should be greeted
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with a bash prompt inside your fresh NixOS installation.
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If you want to make NixOS your default distribution, you can do so with
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```sh
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wsl -s NixOS
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```
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## Building your own system tarball
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This requires access to a system that already has Nix installed. Please refer to the [Nix installation guide](https://nixos.org/guides/install-nix.html) if that\'s not the case.
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If you have a flakes-enabled Nix, you can use the following command to
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build your own tarball instead of relying on a prebuilt one:
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```cmd
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nix build github:nix-community/NixOS-WSL#nixosConfigurations.mysystem.config.system.build.installer
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```
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Or, if you want to build with local changes, run inside your checkout:
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```cmd
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nix build .#nixosConfigurations.mysystem.config.system.build.installer
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```
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Without a flakes-enabled Nix, you can build a tarball using:
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```cmd
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nix-build -A nixosConfigurations.mysystem.config.system.build.installer
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```
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The resulting installer tarball can then be found under
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`./result/tarball/nixos-wsl-installer.tar.gz`.
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You can also build a rootfs tarball without wrapping it in the installer
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by replacing `installer` with `tarball` in the above commands. The
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rootfs tarball can then be found under
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`./result/tarball/nixos-wsl-x86_64-linux.tar.gz`.
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## Design
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Getting NixOS to run under WSL requires some workarounds:
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### systemd support
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WSL comes with its own (non-substitutable) init system while NixOS uses
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systemd. Simply starting systemd later on does not work out of the box,
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because systemd as system instance refuses to start if it is not PID 1.
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This unfortunate combination is resolved in two ways:
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- the user\'s default shell is replaced by a wrapper script that acts
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is init system and then drops to the actual shell
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- systemd is started in its own PID namespace; therefore, it is PID 1.
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The shell wrapper (see above) enters the systemd namespace before
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dropping to the shell.
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### Installer
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Usually WSL distributions ship as a tarball of their root file system.
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These tarballs however, can not contain any hard-links due to the way
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they are unpacked by WSL, resulting in an \"Unspecified Error\". By
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default some Nix-derivations will contain hard-links when they are
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built. This results in system tarballs that can not be imported into
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WSL. To circumvent this problem, the rootfs tarball is wrapped in that
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of a minimal distribution (the installer), that is packaged without any
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hard-links. When the installer system is started for the first time, it
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overwrites itself with the contents of the rootfs tarball.
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## License
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Apache License, Version 2.0. See `LICENSE` or <http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html> for details.
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## Further links
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- [DistroLauncher](https://github.com/microsoft/WSL-DistroLauncher)
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- [A quick way into a systemd \"bottle\" for WSL](https://github.com/arkane-systems/genie)
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- [NixOS in Windows Store for Windows Subsystem for Linux](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/30391)
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- [wsl2-hacks](https://github.com/shayne/wsl2-hacks)
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