How to Install NixOS 26.05 (Step by Step for Beginners)

This tutorial takes about 7 minutes to complete.

This guide shows how to install NixOS 26.05 on your PC, from downloading the ISO to your first login, and which installer options to pick as a beginner and why. It follows the video, with the exact keys, button names and options from the recording.

New to Ventoy? The Ventoy page explains what it is, and the Windows 11 Ventoy walkthrough shows the Windows steps in more detail.

Warning: this is a fresh install. It formats everything on the drive you select, and there is no disk partitioning or dual boot. Back up anything important first.

Before you start

You need a PC, a USB stick or an external drive larger than 8 GB, and at least 25 GB of free disk space. You will also need a second computer, or the same PC while it still runs its current system, to download the ISO and prepare the USB drive. The video does this part on Windows 11, because many people switching to Linux are coming from Windows.

A wired internet connection is the easiest and most reliable way to connect.

Jump to a chapter in the video: Intro · Get the ISO · Ventoy USB · Copy ISO · Boot menu · Secure Boot fix · Install NixOS · First boot

Step 1: Download the NixOS 26.05 ISO

Open your browser and go to the official NixOS download page, nixos.org/download. Find the graphical ISO image and choose Download (Graphical, 64-bit Intel/AMD). Your download should begin, and the video skips through the wait. When it is done, go to your Downloads folder and you should see your NixOS ISO.

The video also puts the ISO in its own folder, which is optional but keeps it easy to find. Right-click the ISO and click Cut. Go to This PC and the C drive, right-click, choose New, then Folder, and name it ISO. Open the folder and paste the ISO there.

Step 2: Download Ventoy

To make a bootable ISO drive, the video uses Ventoy. It turns your USB stick or external drive into a multi-boot ISO drive, so you can store multiple ISOs on it and boot from them.

Open the browser and go to ventoy.net. Click Downloads, scroll down, find the Ventoy Windows zip file and click it. Scroll down and find the Windows zip file again, then click it. Your download should start shortly.

Step 3: Extract Ventoy and open Ventoy2Disk

Once the download is finished, go to your Downloads folder and close the browser. Now you need to extract the zip file: right-click it, click Extract All, and then click Extract. The new folder should open.

Go inside the Ventoy folder and look for the Ventoy2Disk application. Double-click it, and click Yes to give administrator access. Now the Ventoy application is open.

Step 4: Select your USB drive

Connect your external USB drive. If you do not see your USB stick or external storage device, click the green refresh button. If you still do not see it, open the Options menu and click Show All Devices. This shows all the drives on your PC.

Warning: make sure not to install Ventoy on your main drive. Make sure you install it on your external drive. Also back up any important files you have, because this will format and erase everything on the disk.

Step 5: Turn on Secure Boot Support

Open the Options menu again and make sure Secure Boot Support is checked. In case you have any problems with Secure Boot errors, this should help fix it. Step 9 shows how to fix the Secure Boot errors if you still get one.

Step 6: Install Ventoy on the USB drive

Make sure you have everything backed up from your drive, and then click Install. A warning says the device will be formatted and all the data will be lost. Click Yes to continue.

A second window double-checks that you want to format the device and lose all the data. You can click Yes.

When it is finished you will see Congratulations: Ventoy has been successfully installed to the device. Click OK, and then close the Ventoy application.

Step 7: Copy the NixOS 26.05 ISO to your Ventoy drive

Open the file manager. If you look on the side, you can see your Ventoy drive. Go to This PC and the C drive, find the ISO folder, right-click the ISO file and copy it. Go back to This PC, double-click the Ventoy drive, then right-click and paste the ISO file. When the ISO file has finished copying to the Ventoy drive, close the window.

Tip: for blazing fast speeds and more storage space, use an external NVMe drive. The NVMe enclosure tutorial shows how to build your own NVMe drive with an NVMe enclosure, and the Orico M.2 NVMe enclosure page has the product details.

Step 8: Boot from the USB with the boot menu key

Shut down your computer and reboot into the BIOS or boot menu. Plug the USB into the PC you are installing on, then restart and tap the boot menu key right as it powers on. The key depends on the brand. Here are some common ones.

You could also check your motherboard's documentation. Keys vary by model. If yours does not work, check the manual of your computer or motherboard.

Tap the key, do not hold it. Tap it repeatedly right after you press the power button, with the USB already plugged in. The boot menu lets you pick the USB drive once, and the BIOS setup key opens the firmware settings, where you can change the boot order.

Acer: on some models the F12 boot menu must first be enabled in the BIOS. Press F2, go to Main, set F12 Boot Menu to Enabled, then save and restart. Lenovo: many models also have a small Novo button that opens a boot menu.

If the key does nothing: fast boot can use up your keystrokes. On a Windows PC, hold Shift and click Restart, then choose Use a device and pick your USB drive. To open the BIOS setup that way, go to Troubleshoot, Advanced options, then UEFI Firmware Settings.

The boot menu keys for Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Acer, MSI and Gigabyte are the ones said in the video. The BIOS setup keys, the Novo button and the Acer setting come from the manufacturers' support pages and other published lists: Dell, HP, MSI, Acer and the Gigabyte BIOS manual.

In your boot menu, locate your Ventoy drive. In the video, the first device shown is the Ventoy drive. Select it and press Enter.

Step 9: If you get the Secure Boot failure

If you see the error Verification failed: (0x1A) Security Violation, the video calls it the infamous secure boot failure. This is one of the Secure Boot errors, and the fix only takes a minute. Press Enter for OK. When it asks you to press any key to perform MOK management, press Enter.

Go down to Enroll key from disk and press Enter. The selected key will be enrolled into the MOK database. Make sure you select VTOYEFI and press Enter. Then scroll down until you see ENROLL_THIS_KEY_IN_MOKMANAGER.cer and press Enter.

Go down to Continue and press Enter. Choose to enroll the keys, scroll down to Yes and press Enter. Then press Enter again to reboot the PC.

Step 10: Boot the Ventoy drive and start the installer

After the reboot, Ventoy has booted up successfully. To install NixOS 26.05, hit Enter on the ISO, boot to normal mode and select the first option.

Now you are in the NixOS installer.

Step 11: Choose your installer options

These are the choices from the video, one screen at a time.

Language, region and keyboard

Select your language: the video chooses American English and clicks Next. Select your region and click Next. Select your keyboard layout: the video chooses English and leaves the second one as default, then clicks Next.

User

Enter your name, then your username, and create a secure password. You can also choose a password for the administrator account. Then click Next.

Desktop

The video selects the GNOME desktop, because it likes using GNOME as it runs smoothly with AI setups. Click Next.

Unfree software

The video ticks the option to allow unfree software. This allows you to download non-open source software and drivers. Click Next.

Partitions

This part is very important. Make sure you select the correct hard drive. The video is formatting the hard drive completely, erasing everything, and selects its hard drive. It is not doing a dual boot setup: this is a clean, fresh install, so everything will be deleted, and it selects Erase disk.

If you want your hard disk encrypted for security purposes, you can click the checkbox. The video leaves its checkbox unchecked. Click Next.

Summary and install

The next page is a confirmation of the setup you just went through. Check everything to make sure it is correct, and then click Install.

Step 12: Finish the install and set up GNOME

When the setup is finished, click Restart now and then hit Done.

After the reboot, select NixOS, log in and enter your password. The video skips the tour, and NixOS 26.05 is successfully installed. There are a few things to change.

Fix the display

Right-click and click Display Settings. In the video the resolution is changed to 1920 by 1080, with the scale left at 133%. Click Apply and keep the changes.

Appearance

Go to Appearance. The video likes dark mode, so it selects dark mode, and then closes the settings panel.

You have now downloaded the NixOS ISO, made a Ventoy USB, booted it with your boot menu key, installed NixOS 26.05 with GNOME and finished the first-boot setup. In the next video you will see how to install local AI using Ollama.

Related tutorials

How to Install openSUSE Leap 16 (Step by Step for Beginners): the same install for openSUSE Leap 16.

How to Install Pop!_OS 24.04 (Step by Step for Beginners): the same install for Pop!_OS 24.04.

How to Install Zorin OS 18.1 (Step by Step for Beginners): the same install for Zorin OS 18.1.

How to Install Ventoy on a Drive from Windows 11: the Ventoy steps used here, in detail.

Orico M.2 NVMe Enclosure Unboxing, Setup & Speed Test: build a fast external drive for your Ventoy setup.