I was using Win11 WSL-Ubuntu 22.04 inside powershell, I installed stand alone home-manager v24.05 using curl and used Nixpkgs v24.05 channel. I am NOT using flakes but simple home-manager with nixpkgs channels. Afterwards, I had to upgrade my channels to 25.05 so I used the following steps:
$ nix-channel --add https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/archive/release-25.05.tar.gz home-manager
$ nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-25.05 nixpkgs
$ nix-channel --update
$ home-manager switch
$ nix-env --install --attr nixpkgs.nix
$ home-manager switch
Now if I check the versions, I get:
$ nix-channel --list
home-manager https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/archive/release-25.05.tar.gz
nixpkgs https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-25.05
But if I check the version like:
$ nix-shell --packages nix-info --run "nix-info --host-os --markdown --sandbox"
- system: `"x86_64-linux"`
- host os: `Linux 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2, Ubuntu, 22.04.4 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish), nobuild`
- multi-user?: `yes`
- sandbox: `yes`
- version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.28.4`
- nixpkgs: `/nix/store/lss63wpqkrj36ivsmskivdnk2m5df5a0-source`
I get the following warning:
trace: warning: You are using
Home Manager version 25.05 and
Nixpkgs version 25.11.
Using mismatched versions is likely to cause errors and unexpected
behavior. It is therefore highly recommended to use a release of Home
Manager that corresponds with your chosen release of Nixpkgs.
If you insist then you can disable this warning by adding
home.enableNixpkgsReleaseCheck = false;
to your configuration.
I don’t understand why my nixpkgs is NOT 25.05. How can I ensure that my nixpkgs is at stable v25.05 in order to avoid the version mismatch warnings?
Firstly I’m kind of suspicious of this command. Is this really the recommended way to upgrade your Nix installation?
Can you run sudo nix-channel --list instead? IIRC the Nix daemon will only see the root-defined channels, and your commands seem to have been run as a user (I’m assuming due to the usage of $ in your snippet).
NobbZ
August 25, 2025, 7:35pm
3
Can you please share the output of printenv NIX_PATH?
NIX_PATH, not $NIX_PATH. printenv does not take the leading $.
$ nix-channel --list
home-manager https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/archive/release-25.05.tar.gz
nixpkgs https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-25.05
$ printenv $NIX_PATH
SHELL=/bin/bash
__HM_SESS_VARS_SOURCED=1
WSL2_GUI_APPS_ENABLED=1
WSL_DISTRO_NAME=Ubuntu
WT_SESSION=b6db03c3-72eb-4d72-953f-904cf3a906a7
XDG_DATA_HOME=/home/username/.local/share
XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/home/username/.config
LOCALE_ARCHIVE_2_27=/nix/store/kinw6v4gh5pxa9dvld5ksxgv5887300d-glibc-locales-2.40-66/lib/locale/locale-archive
CROC_SECRET=Win11wsl_12i5
GNUPGHOME=/home/username/.gnupg
GPG_TTY=/dev/pts/4
NAME=win11username
PWD=/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11
NIX_PROFILES=/nix/var/nix/profiles/default /home/username/.nix-profile
LOGNAME=username
HOME=/home/username
LANG=C.UTF-8
WSL_INTEROP=/run/WSL/89337_interop
LS_COLORS=rs=0:di=01;34:ln=01;36:mh=00:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=40;31;01:mi=00:su=37;41:sg=30;43:ca=30;41:tw=30;42:ow=34;42:st=37;44:ex=01;32:*.tar=01;31:*.tgz=01;31:*.arc=01;31:*.arj=01;31:*.taz=01;31:*.lha=01;31:*.lz4=01;31:*.lzh=01;31:*.lzma=01;31:*.tlz=01;31:*.txz=01;31:*.tzo=01;31:*.t7z=01;31:*.zip=01;31:*.z=01;31:*.dz=01;31:*.gz=01;31:*.lrz=01;31:*.lz=01;31:*.lzo=01;31:*.xz=01;31:*.zst=01;31:*.tzst=01;31:*.bz2=01;31:*.bz=01;31:*.tbz=01;31:*.tbz2=01;31:*.tz=01;31:*.deb=01;31:*.rpm=01;31:*.jar=01;31:*.war=01;31:*.ear=01;31:*.sar=01;31:*.rar=01;31:*.alz=01;31:*.ace=01;31:*.zoo=01;31:*.cpio=01;31:*.7z=01;31:*.rz=01;31:*.cab=01;31:*.wim=01;31:*.swm=01;31:*.dwm=01;31:*.esd=01;31:*.jpg=01;35:*.jpeg=01;35:*.mjpg=01;35:*.mjpeg=01;35:*.gif=01;35:*.bmp=01;35:*.pbm=01;35:*.pgm=01;35:*.ppm=01;35:*.tga=01;35:*.xbm=01;35:*.xpm=01;35:*.tif=01;35:*.tiff=01;35:*.png=01;35:*.svg=01;35:*.svgz=01;35:*.mng=01;35:*.pcx=01;35:*.mov=01;35:*.mpg=01;35:*.mpeg=01;35:*.m2v=01;35:*.mkv=01;35:*.webm=01;35:*.webp=01;35:*.ogm=01;35:*.mp4=01;35:*.m4v=01;35:*.mp4v=01;35:*.vob=01;35:*.qt=01;35:*.nuv=01;35:*.wmv=01;35:*.asf=01;35:*.rm=01;35:*.rmvb=01;35:*.flc=01;35:*.avi=01;35:*.fli=01;35:*.flv=01;35:*.gl=01;35:*.dl=01;35:*.xcf=01;35:*.xwd=01;35:*.yuv=01;35:*.cgm=01;35:*.emf=01;35:*.ogv=01;35:*.ogx=01;35:*.aac=00;36:*.au=00;36:*.flac=00;36:*.m4a=00;36:*.mid=00;36:*.midi=00;36:*.mka=00;36:*.mp3=00;36:*.mpc=00;36:*.ogg=00;36:*.ra=00;36:*.wav=00;36:*.oga=00;36:*.opus=00;36:*.spx=00;36:*.xspf=00;36:
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0
NIX_SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
XDG_CACHE_HOME=/home/username/.cache
LESSCLOSE=/usr/bin/lesspipe %s %s
TERM=xterm-256color
LESSOPEN=| /usr/bin/lesspipe %s
USER=username
DISPLAY=:0
SHLVL=1
XDG_STATE_HOME=/home/username/.local/state
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000/
WSLENV=WT_SESSION:WT_PROFILE_ID:
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/local/share:/usr/share:/home/username/.nix-profile/share:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/share:/var/lib/snapd/desktop
PATH=/home/username/bin:/home/username/.nix-profile/bin:/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/usr/lib/wsl/lib:/mnt/c/Program Files/PowerShell/7:/mnt/c/ProgramData/scoop/shims:/mnt/c/Windows/system32:/mnt/c/Windows:/mnt/c/Windows/System32/Wbem:/mnt/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/:/mnt/c/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/:/mnt/c/Program Files/dotnet/:/mnt/c/Program Files/Microsoft SQL Server/150/Tools/Binn/:/mnt/c/Program Files/Microsoft SQL Server/Client SDK/ODBC/170/Tools/Binn/:/mnt/c/Program Files/Docker/Docker/resources/bin:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/scoop/apps/gpg4win/current/GnuPG/bin:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/system32:/mnt/c/WINDOWS:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/OpenSSH/:/mnt/c/Program Files/Kraken Desktop/:/mnt/c/Program Files/PowerShell/7/:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/scoop/apps/dotnet-sdk/current:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/go/bin:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/AppData/Roaming/npm:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/scoop/apps/libvips/current/bin:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/scoop/apps/gpg4win/current/GnuPG/bin:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/scoop/apps/gpg4win/current/Gpg4win/bin:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/scoop/apps/vscodium/current/bin:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/scoop/apps/rustup-msvc/current/.cargo/bin:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/AppData/Local/pnpm:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/scoop/shims:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/AppData/Roaming/Programs/Zero Install:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/.dotnet/tools:/mnt/c/Users/usernamew11/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/snap/bin
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus
HOSTTYPE=x86_64
PULSE_SERVER=unix:/mnt/wslg/PulseServer
WT_PROFILE_ID={574e775e-4f2a-5b96-ac1e-a2962a402336}
_=/usr/bin/printenv
printenv NIX_PATH
That implies it’s not set.
Thanks, you’re right.echo $NIX_PATH
So:
What must be the value of NIX_PATH?
Is a user supposed to set it up manually?
Is it supposed to be set up automatically at the time of Nix installation and did I miss any step?
Where in the Nix docs is it listed as to what value of NIX_PATH to ensure?