Change:
version="5.0" xml:id="sec-installation"> <title>Installing NixOS</title> <del> <para> NixOS can be installed on BIOS or UEFI systems. The procedure for a UEFI installation is by and large the same as a BIOS installation. The differences are mentioned in the steps that follow. </para> <orderedlist> <listitem> <para> Boot from the CD. </para> <variablelist> <varlistentry> <term> UEFI systems </term> <listitem> <para> You should boot the live CD in UEFI mode (consult your specific hardware's documentation for instructions). You may find the <link xlink:href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind">rEFInd boot manager</link> useful. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </listitem> <listitem> <para> The CD contains a basic NixOS installation. (It also contains Memtest86+, useful if you want to test new hardware). When it’s finished booting, it should have detected most of your hardware. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> The NixOS manual is available on virtual console 8 (press Alt+F8 to access) or by running <command>nixos-help</command>. </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> You get logged in as <literal>root</literal> (with empty password). </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> If you downloaded the graphical ISO image, you can run <command>systemctl start display-manager</command> to start KDE. If you want to continue on the terminal, you can use <command>loadkeys</command> to switch to your preferred keyboard layout. (We even provide neo2 via <command>loadkeys de neo</command>!) </para> </listitem> <listitem> </del> <ins> <section xml:id="sec-installation-booting"> <title>Booting the system</title> <para> NixOS can be installed on BIOS or UEFI systems. The procedure for a UEFI installation is by and large the same as a BIOS installation. The differences are mentioned in the steps that follow. </para> <para> The installation media can be burned to a CD, or now more commonly, "burned" to a USB drive (see <xref linkend="sec-booting-from-usb"/>). </para> <para> The installation media contains a basic NixOS installation. When it’s finished booting, it should have detected most of your hardware. </para> <para> The NixOS manual is available on virtual console 8 (press Alt+F8 to access) or by running <command>nixos-help</command>. </para> <para> You are logged-in automatically as <literal>root</literal>. (The <literal>root</literal> user account has an empty password.) </para> <para> If you downloaded the graphical ISO image, you can run <command>systemctl start display-manager</command> to start KDE. If you want to continue on the terminal, you can use <command>loadkeys</command> to switch to your preferred keyboard layout. (We even provide neo2 via <command>loadkeys de neo</command>!) </para> <section xml:id="sec-installation-booting-networking"> <title>Networking in the installer</title> </ins> <para> The boot process should have brought up networking (check <command>ip a</command>). Networking is necessary for the installer, since it will

Discussion:
This is a tracking issue created only to track the different issues and pull requests related to the partitioning instructions in the manual. They may show more than one issue, the ordering of the partition may not match the expected ones for the following installation instructions, and the bootable flag might not be set properly. ; ; This issue is meant to track the problem and ask for help in finding a proper resolution. Not asking for others to write up, but asking to see if there would be issues in recommending things other than . I, myself, am extremely reluctant into fixing this using other incantations. They pretty much look like a self-selecting filter by obscurity. I would lean much more towards using commands, . (Though, not using ). Interfaces like are probably easier to reason about than single-letter commands which's meaning may change again in the future. They would also reduce the verbosity of the steps; it would be a set number of instructions, one per actual action, instead of a list of commands. (One for the disk format, one for setting the boot flag, and one per partition.)
# is twice in the list &ndash; that means you meant to link another fourth issue?
BTW, a couple weeks ago I successfully installed 18.09 (beta) on a machine for Hydra, and I followed our manual for partitioning via . It was a simple setup, though, so I most likely missed any corner cases. EDIT: to be clear, I do not at all oppose migrating the instructions to ...
is already in the closure so we should probably just switch to that anyway, then we don't need to have janky comments describing what the terse commands do.
I think people who have a preference among these tools need only a line «if you prefer fdisk, it is also available» and maybe an internal link to instructions for installing extra tools in case someone wants sfdisk. Parted probably has the lowest risk of instructions doing something but not the expected thing. (and partitioning — or tools with single-letter commands — is not something needed for NixOS use after installation, so the obscurity filter does not even select for people who would be happier NixOS users)

The bullet points under Chapter 2, section 8 (the fdisk process) don't match up with what the real partitions are after write. The last four lines of fdisk setup are relevant: Earlier in the fdisk process, we create the partitions with the following numbering: I believe the re-numbers the partitions based on their location within the partition label. Since the boot partition is at the front of the disk and our partition is at the end, fdisk reorders the partitions as follows: The problem is when making the file systems. The manual still uses the initial partition numbers instead of the new, ordered numbers. Thus: Creates an ext4 partition that is 512M big and is supposed to be boot. And: Creates a FAT32 partiton that's supposed to be our root labeled . Swap isn't affected being in the middle.
Hi! Closing this issue since the partitioning instructions are now re-written for 18.09. (See ) As far as the ordering of partitions is concerned, the newly re-written partitioning instructions were written to ensure it wouldn't be an issue.