Ventoy + NixOS

This repository contains the necessary files to create a bootable USB drive with Ventoy and NixOS.

It extends the minimal NixOS installer to auto connect to a Tailnet and allow SSH access with a public key.

Perfect for installing NixOS on a headless machine.

Requirements

• A USB drive with Ventoy freshly installed

Usage

1. Mount the Ventoy USB drive first partition on /tmp/ventoy.
2. git clone [email protected]:luishfonseca/ventoy-nixos.git /tmp/ventoy
3. Populate the /tmp/ventoy/iso-builder/content folder with:
   1. authorized_keys - Add your public key here.
   2. ssh_host_ed25519_key - Generate a new host key just for this.
   3. ts.key - A Tailscale auth key, should be ephemeral.
4. cd /tmp/ventoy/iso-builder
5. ./build_iso.sh
6. Add any other ISOs you want to boot from Ventoy to the ISO folder.

Now just boot from the USB drive and NixOS should be selected by default. After a couple minutes, you should be able to see it on your tailnet.

Warning

iso-builder/content files end up in the host system's nix store, keep that in mind.