Installing Abora OS DENALI 3.1.4 on Hardware or a VM

This guide covers the full Abora OS installation process — from booting the ISO to completing the first-boot setup on an installed system. It applies equally to real hardware and virtual machines. If you want a faster path that uses QEMU and builds the ISO from source, see the Quickstart instead.

Before you begin

Download the latest Abora OS ISO from the releases page. The DENALI 3.1.4 release asset is named abora-2026.05.30-x86_64-3.1.4.iso. Verify the download against the provided SHA256SUMS-3.1.4.txt before writing it to a USB drive or attaching it to a VM. For real hardware, write the ISO to a USB drive with a tool like dd, Balena Etcher, or Ventoy. For a VM, attach the ISO as a virtual optical drive before powering on.

Live boot

When the ISO starts, Abora takes over tty1 and launches the live boot flow automatically. The live image starts NetworkManager with radio unblock, loads redistributable firmware and microcode for Intel and AMD, and opens the Denali installer without requiring any manual intervention. If the installer exits for any reason, a fallback live shell is available. Run abora-install from that shell to restart the installer. The Denali installer is fully keyboard-driven. No mouse is needed at any point.

1-9    Jump directly to a numbered menu item
↑ ↓    Move selection up or down
Enter  Confirm current selection
Esc    Go back or cancel where supported

Step-by-step installer walkthrough

The installer is divided into eight named steps. It does not touch the disk until you confirm in Step 8.

Step 1 — Network

The installer starts NetworkManager and checks for an internet connection automatically. If you are on a wired connection that is already up, you will see a “Connected” status and can continue immediately.For Wi-Fi, choose Open nmtui from the menu to use the NetworkManager text UI. You can scan for networks, enter a password, and connect to hidden SSIDs from there. The Quick Wi-Fi connect option lets you scan and connect inline without leaving the installer.

A working internet connection is required. The installer fetches packages from the Nix binary cache (cache.nixos.org) during nixos-install. You can proceed without internet, but the install will almost certainly fail unless all packages are already available locally.

After connecting, choose Re-check connection to confirm connectivity, then Continue.

Step 2 — Identity and locale

Set the five identity values for the installed system:

Hostname — letters, numbers, and hyphens only; must start with a letter or digit (e.g. my-abora-pc).
Username — lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens; must start with a letter (e.g. alice).
Timezone — a valid zoneinfo name such as America/New_York, Europe/London, or UTC. The installer auto-detects the current timezone as the default.
Console keymap — the console keyboard layout (e.g. us, de, fr). Auto-detected from the live system.
XKB layout — the X11/Wayland keyboard layout; usually matches the console keymap (e.g. us, gb, de).

After the locale fields, set a user password. You must enter it twice to confirm. Then choose the root account mode:

Same password as user — root inherits your user password.
Lock root account — disables root login; use sudo only.
Set separate root password — choose a distinct password for root.

Step 3 — Desktop selection

Choose one of the 22 desktop environments or window managers from the numbered menu. Use number keys to jump directly to any entry.

Full desktop environment and window manager list

Desktop	Type	Display Manager
GNOME	Full DE	GDM
KDE Plasma	Full DE	SDDM
COSMIC	Full DE	COSMIC Greeter
XFCE	Full DE	LightDM
Cinnamon	Full DE	LightDM
MATE	Full DE	LightDM
Budgie	Full DE	LightDM
LXQt	Lightweight DE	SDDM
Pantheon	Full DE	LightDM
Hyprland	Wayland compositor	SDDM (Wayland)
Sway	Wayland compositor	SDDM (Wayland)
Niri	Wayland compositor	SDDM (Wayland)
River	Wayland compositor	SDDM (Wayland)
i3	Tiling WM	LightDM
AwesomeWM	Tiling WM	LightDM
Qtile	Tiling WM	LightDM
BSPWM	Tiling WM	LightDM
Herbstluftwm	Tiling WM	LightDM
Openbox	Floating WM	LightDM
Fluxbox	Floating WM	LightDM
IceWM	Floating WM	LightDM
MangoWM	Wayland compositor	SDDM (Wayland)
No desktop	Console-only	TTY

Your selection is written into abora-local.nix and anix.nix after install. You can change it later with abora desktop set <name> or anix set desktop <name>.

Step 4 — Starter app bundle

Choose a starter app bundle to install after first boot. All bundles are opt-in.

Bundle	What it includes
Fan Favorites	A curated mix — recommended for most users
Essentials	Browsers, office, media, everyday utilities
Social	Chat, video calls, messaging apps
Creator	Design, audio, video, creative tools
Developer	IDEs, containers, terminal tools, Git
Gaming	Steam, Lutris, Wine, gaming helpers
System Tools	Monitoring, backup, system management
None	Start clean — add apps later with `grab`

If you pick a bundle, the installer asks when to install the apps:

After first boot (recommended) — the app list is saved; apps install on first boot with abora-apps rebuild. This keeps the initial nixos-install fast.
During setup — apps are baked into the NixOS install closure. This is slower and can fail on cache misses.

Step 5 — Options

Two optional settings are offered here:ANIX helper layer

Enable ANIX (recommended) — installs the ANIX command layer for friendlier NixOS management. Adds anix commands to the installed system.
Disable ANIX — bare Abora and NixOS only, for users who prefer the raw Nix workflow.

GitHub CLI

Skip for now — you can sign in later with gh auth login.
Sign in now — runs gh auth login and copies credentials to the installed system’s home directory.

Step 6 — Preflight checks

Before any disk changes, the installer validates the full environment:

All required system commands are present (parted, mkfs.vfat, mkfs.ext4, nixos-install, etc.)
All installer asset files are present in /etc/abora/
The nixpkgs source path is resolvable
The Nix binary cache at cache.nixos.org is reachable
The selected timezone and keyboard values are valid

If any check fails, the installer shows the specific item and gives you the option to fix it and re-run the checks. It will not proceed to disk selection until all required checks pass.

Step 7 — Disk selection

The installer lists all installable block devices with their size and model. Select the target disk by number.

Selecting a disk and confirming in the next step permanently erases all data on that disk. The installer creates a fresh GPT partition table and formats all partitions. There is no undo.

After selecting a disk you are asked to confirm a second time before any changes are made.

Step 8 — Review and install

A summary of all your choices is displayed:

Target disk (labelled as “will be erased”)
Hostname, username, timezone, keyboard
Desktop environment
App bundle and install timing
ANIX enabled/disabled
Root account mode
GitHub CLI status

You can change your password at this point without going back through the earlier steps. Once you choose Install now, the installer:

Runs a final safety check
Partitions and formats the disk
Mounts the target at /mnt
Generates NixOS configuration
Validates the generated config with nix-instantiate before calling nixos-install
Runs nixos-install with a live log panel showing progress, elapsed time, and recent log lines
Validates the installed system structure
Repairs the Limine boot menu
Registers an EFI boot entry (on UEFI systems)
Copies GitHub credentials if you signed in earlier

A progress bar tracks each stage. If nixos-install fails, the installer drops to a live shell with /tmp/abora-install.log and the full error context available.

Disk layout

Every Abora install creates a GPT partition layout:

Partition	Size	Purpose
BIOS boot	1 MiB	Legacy BIOS boot support
EFI system	512 MiB	UEFI boot partition (FAT32, labelled `ABORA_EFI`)
Root	Remaining space	ext4 system root (labelled `ABORA_ROOT`)

The Limine bootloader is installed with both BIOS and UEFI support. On UEFI systems, an EFI NVRAM boot entry labelled “Abora OS” is created and placed first in the boot order.

Installed configuration

After install, all local system settings live in a single file:

/etc/nixos/abora-local.nix

abora-local.nix is the file that makes your install yours. It holds hostname, timezone, keyboard layout, desktop, user account, bootloader config, and the NixOS state version. It is imported by both configuration.nix and flake.nix, so changes here apply under both the classic and flake rebuild paths.

Example of what it looks like after a typical install:

abora.hostname = "my-pc";
abora.timezone = "America/New_York";
abora.desktop  = "gnome";

Use abora config for common changes without opening the Nix file directly:

abora config set hostname my-pc
abora config set timezone America/New_York
abora config set desktop hyprland
abora config apply

Post-install first-boot checklist

After the installer finishes and the system boots for the first time, run through these steps in order:

Confirm networking

Log in and verify that your network connection is active. If Wi-Fi did not reconnect automatically, use nmtui to connect.

Run `abora doctor`

abora doctor

This checks Flatpak, themes, boot assets, available updates, and ANIX health. Fix anything flagged before proceeding.

Run `anix quickstart`

anix quickstart

Completes the ANIX first-run setup: initialises the local Git repo in /etc/nixos, sets up snapshot defaults, and confirms profile availability.

Check package sources

tinypm sources

Shows the availability of Nix, Flatpak, and Snap sources on the installed system.

Apply the first system update

sudo nixos update

This resolves the selected Abora channel, syncs the latest project files into /etc/nixos/abora/, updates the local flake, and rebuilds the system. Run it when you are ready to move to the latest stable packages.

VM-specific notes

QEMU
VMware
Hyper-V
VirtualBox

The Abora repo includes QEMU helpers. Use them instead of constructing the QEMU command manually:

make qemu-fresh   # delete old disk image, boot the ISO — clean install test
make qemu-disk    # boot the installed virtual hard drive without the ISO
make qemu         # boot the latest ISO (does not delete the existing disk)
make qemu-serial  # headless — all output in the current terminal

After a successful install, the VM auto-powers off. Run make qemu-disk (not make qemu) to boot the installed system.

If something goes wrong after install — a failed rebuild, a broken boot, or a configuration you cannot recover from — the Recovery guide covers rollback with anix rollback nix, repair with abora recovery, and how to use the live ISO as a rescue environment.

Get Started

Using Abora

Tools

Recovery & Support

Contributing

Installing Abora OS DENALI 3.1.4 on Hardware or a VM

Before you begin

Live boot

Installer navigation

Step-by-step installer walkthrough

Disk layout

Installed configuration

Post-install first-boot checklist

VM-specific notes

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Using Abora

Tools

Recovery & Support

Contributing

Documentation Index

​Before you begin

​Live boot

​Installer navigation

​Step-by-step installer walkthrough

​Disk layout

​Installed configuration

​Post-install first-boot checklist

​VM-specific notes

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Before you begin

Live boot

Installer navigation

Step-by-step installer walkthrough

Disk layout

Installed configuration

Post-install first-boot checklist

VM-specific notes