Hey y’all. I remember being able to download the nixos-unstable ISO from the downloads page but it seems to no longer be listed.
Thanks in advance!
I see by the title that is the pre-release of 25.11. Is that formally the same thing as “unstable”. My understanding is that the unstable release behaves like a bleeding edge rolling release like Arch where you’d continuously stay on the unstable channel. Is this assumption about Nixos unstable ISO incorrect?
You can use the same ISO to install either stable or unstable.
Okay, that’s good to know. I’m just going through a virtual machine install right at the moment. How do I have it install unstable? Is it on boot where I select the Kernal? Sorry if it’s obvious I went through the process all the way and didn’t see where it gave the option. What am I missing?
nixos-install has a --channel parameter, I think a value like nixos-25.05 or nixos-unstable would work (depending on whether you want stable or unstable).
Okay, I was using the graphical installer but I’m I’ll try the command line and the minimal ISO at some point. Thanks for the information.
The graphical installer will copy the channels from the installation image, so if you are using the unstable ISO you will get the unstable channel (you will have to nix-channel --update after installing, as the channel may be outdated by the time the system finishes installing).
That was my understanding but the main reason I started this thread was that I couldn’t find the unstable ISO for download on the normal download page. Do you know where to find it? Is it hidden in plain sight and I somehow missed it? Or, as mentioned above, did installing unstable get rolled into the latest release?
It was available on the main download page briefly, but some logistical complications caused us to take it down. Planning on having it added back to the main download page soon.
Excellent. Thank you. That really clarifies things.
