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---
title: "Guix Part 1 - Installation Guide"
date: 2025-07-24T00:00:00-04:00
draft: true
type: posts
---
So, you've decided you want to take the plunge and try out this distribution? Nice. It will be a challenging, but rewarding experience (as I have found over the last few years). First things first, you will need to install it to try it out, there's not really a concept of a "live" distro here. Plus, installing this distro in the usual way you'd expect will lead to some issues early on, especially if you use the default upstream ISO (it uses `linux-libre`, which lacks a lot of drivers, especially in the wireless networking department) that will hinder your progress. To solve this, this guide is written with the assumption (and guidance) to use an alternate ISO: the one provided by SystemCrafters (another great resource for Guix, they have a YouTube channel!
# Preparation
First, you will need the installation ISO. First, go to the [releases page for the SystemCrafters image]() and download the latest one available. Note: this build breaks from time to time, even if it is out of date for a while, your installation will still be completely up-to-date once installed since package versions are derived from an upstream repository; the official one. It will just take a little longer to actually install. Plus, even though you are using an alternate ISO, everything is still completely safe. The difference between it and the default ISO are listed on each release, and if you really wanted to you could install the default image on a VM and make the alternate ISO yourself. Its main difference is that it:
- Uses the mainline linux kernel
- Has the non-guix channel activated by default, a repository for "non-free" software (like Firefox due to licensing, Steam, mainline linux, etc.)
Once you have this ISO downloaded and burned onto a USB using your method of choice, you are ready to install! Reboot your computer and boot into the installation environment. You will know you are ready to proceed when you see this screen
<!-- Note: Image of default splash during installation here -->
# Performing the installation
Now, what you do here depends on a few things:
- Do you have to use Wi-Fi?
- Use the graphical installer until you have your wifi set up at the very least to avoid manually configuring `wpa_supplicant`, at which case you can either continue using this installer or bail out to the terminal.
- Do you want an encrypted drive?
- If so, follow the manual steps below since some defaults are not great
- Do you want a standard installation (single partition, ext4, no encryption)
- Great, you can use the automated installer for most of this, but I would still use the manual steps for the actual installation, see [here]().
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