# NonGuix Installation Writeup

**URL:** <https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/nonguix-installation-writeup/326>\
**Category:** Guix\
**Created:** [February 21, 2024, 9:42am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/nonguix-installation-writeup/326 "2024-02-21T09:42:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![port19](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@port19](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/port19)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 9:42am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/nonguix-installation-writeup/326/1 "2024-02-21T09:42:52Z")

</div>

So last night I hopped to (Non)Guix on my PC, which took me 4 hours total and had plenty of pitfalls.  
I made a lengthy writeup with lots of links to other posts that helped me through the process on my blog.  
Link: [💻 (Non)Guix - The Uninstallable](https://port19.xyz/tech/nonguix/)

Hope this helps someone

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sls](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/sls/32/837_2.png) [@sls](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/sls)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 10:50am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/nonguix-installation-writeup/326/2 "2024-02-21T10:50:57Z")

</div>

More Guix content, nice 👍 Looks like we had basically the same experience installing NonGuix 😉  
The manual modification to add the non free parts is really something… and we all had to do it. Not sure if maybe someone has tried to work on an easier way to install it though.

Btw, on your website the button to go to the homepage was not always there or very small 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@mrok](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/mrok)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 11:15am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/nonguix-installation-writeup/326/3 "2024-02-21T11:15:15Z")

</div>

Pretty much all of it already covered in nonguix readme and guix manual. But many people refuce to simply follow instruction, they want to recklesy dive into things. I know it by myself 😉

Two more things:  
• you can check substitutes aviability through [guix weather](https://guix.gnu.org/development/manual/en/html_node/Invoking-guix-weather.html) command  
• consider [adding nonguix substitutes](https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix/-/blob/master/README.org?ref_type=heads&plain=1#L223) to your config.scm, so no need to add it manualy with --substitute-urls= everytime

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![port19](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@port19](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/port19)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/nonguix-installation-writeup/326/4 "2024-02-21T18:14:21Z")

</div>

Update regarding the “no space left on device”, it appears I overlooked to run `herd start cow-store /mnt`.

As for the docs, I’m sure they are great once you’re settled in and need to check something for reference, but due to policy they do not include nongnu instructions in mainline guix docs.  
The nonguix readme is good, certainly sufficient for someone who knows how to install standard guix already, but incomplete for a new user.

The friendly community is very helpful 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d07c76/32.png) [@iser](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/iser)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/nonguix-installation-writeup/326/5 "2024-06-11T13:39:04Z")

</div>

Thank you very much for the writeup.  
I had quite a frustrating experience and worked it out using a combination of what you did, together with the info from [Nonguix Installation Guide - System Crafters](https://wiki.systemcrafters.net/guix/nonguix-installation-guide/)

The nonguix installation guide made me run into issues right from the start as my wifi had to be unblocked from the bios, which i had not figured out at that time and went with the visual installer, until it showed the final config.scm for review. Then i switched over to a different tty and followed the steps from the installation section at [Nonguix Installation Guide - System Crafters](https://wiki.systemcrafters.net/guix/nonguix-installation-guide/#installation) up until “Update system configuration”.  
So:

```auto
herd start cow-store /mnt
git clone https://github.com/daviwil/dotfiles
mkdir -p ~/.config/guix
# the path inside the dotfiles gitrepo has changed
cp dotfiles/.files/.config/guix/channels.scm ~/.config/guix 
guix pull
hash guix

```

Now i had my sources all set up, went on to edit the config.scm the way you described, extending the `use-module` and `operating-system` calls.

Then i used your command to install the system, rebooted, logged in as root without password, set the passwords for root and my user again, now everything seems stable.