Change:
This comes from but is separated into this issue. I installed NixOS unstable (16.03) on my Mac Mini 7,1 and have the following probem with it. The Live CD wasn't able to provide me with WiFi. I guess the Live CD doesn't come with the needed drivers for my WiFI card (BCM4360 14e4:43a0) which are commercial :-( -broadcom_sta I resolved my problem by using an Ethernet connection, after the installation WiFi worked. Would be nice if those could be packaged with the Live CD.
The pkg "pkgs.broadcom_sta" in NixOS configuration should do it, but I'm not sure if we're allowed to distribute it. Does wifi work with other live cds?
IIRC it is redistributable (and there are very few drivers that aren't). We have a policy that Hydra doesn't build anything depending on unfree stuff, including the ISOs. Maybe we might make an exception for redistributable drivers?
/cc about allow-ability of unfree drivers on Hydra.
My friend suffered from the same issue. He has the same Wi-Fi card (BCM4360 14e4:43a0), and the network doesn't work on the Live CD. Unfortunately, he has no Ethernet... b43 driver failed with: So I ended up packing a custom Live CD with the broadcomsta. Can confirm it works fine. I've checked up broadcomsta is unfreeRedistributable (), so it would be nice to include it in the default image.
broadcom_sta should be able to just go into hardware.firmware in nixos/modules/hardware/all- The biggest issue though is that we want to use open source drivers when they are available. according to BCM4313, BCM43224 and BCM43225 are supported by brcmsmac (already included) BCM4311, BCM4312, BCM4321, BCM4322 and BCM4331 are supported by b43 (already included) That leaves BCM43227 BCM43228 BCM43142 BCM43142 and BCM4360 that will need the broadcom provided "sta" driver. I don't know if there is a way to let only enable it for certain hardware? While we're at it, can we see if there is any other nonfree wifi drivers that should be included?
Any update on this?
The issue seems to be waiting on input
(triage) could you look into this?
Hello! I want to try nixos on my laptop. Unfortunately, I have BCM43142 WiFi module, which is not working without proprietary drivers. I suppose, will make it working. But I don't have opportunity to use wired connection during installation. Perhaps, someone can make custom installation ISO for me?
here you go! (330M) (806M) Built from , directory.
Thank you so much! I successfully installed it :)
I have the same problem - a wireless card made by broadcom. However, I am able to connect via ethernet. Can you please provide the steps to install the broadcom wireless card when connected via ethernet?
Or alternatively, can you provide a more detailed steps to build the iso? That is, should I clone your folder? If so, which folder? I plan to build a usb bootable using UnetBootin.
and your card isn't covered by our module? EDIT: you probably have to enable the module explicitly.
- After having installed using your image, is it possible to update the system to use upstream NixOS repos? Otherwise, what is the recommended way to do "offline installation" of Broadcom drivers on a fresh install of NixOS on Mac?
yes. Actually, it is only live image that is built using custom repo; the system you'll install from it will use upstream repo.
Ah, I see. I'll give it a try, thanks.
any tips how do I install 18.03 from windows without this?
Nvm, used the provided custom image, thanks :)
Would be good though to include these essential modules in the std image
would this commit fix the issue: ? I think that those drivers are already in the live cd.
To add to the last comment, I've tried 18.03 graphical install ISO and no luck (no module wl found, checked files manually in kernel modules too), the image linked in this pr helped. Or do you mean it was on the nix store in the image? (I'm new to nixos so didn't check that.. Learning curve :) ) On a side note - had some fun with wpa supplicant and DHCP :) I'd suggest to document running wpa supplicant in foreground as then it reports errors on screen.. Also how to install DHCP (nix-env -i) and to run dhclient.. Anyways, its installed now, lessons learned. So far I like what I see, very much so!
I don't think that commit would work. It's &ndash; a kernel module, not a firmware per se. EDIT: the link above looks right and was tested
NixOS noob here. I tried iso files and they worked (thank you!) but I'm not sure where to go from there. For context, I am trying to dual boot between NixOS and macOS. Should I the iso to a partition on my disk? Should I use it on a USB drive and from then build another version of NixOS while running the live USB somehow? -- not sure if this is the right place to ask but it seems relevant and it might be helpful to others
There is nothing special about my iso. Just install your system as normal. Don't forget to add "wl" and "broadcom_sta" so your fresh system has WiFi, too. (I have something like this in my )
FWIW, "normal" means
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The links to iso's no longer work, but this is how I build one from an existing NixOs installation:
This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:
Yeah... I had ran out of space on gdrive and dropped isos. Wasn't sure how much interest there is given they are real old. Will update to 20.09 and host on s3 tomorrow.
NixOS 20.09 Live CD images with broadcom drivers: <details<summarySHA-256</summary</details<details<summaryHow to build images yourself</summaryNix (NixOS is not required) /cherry-pick the patch: into nixos directory the image you want: are in directory </detailsBesides adding broadcom driver to the live CD itself,_ there are no other differences. To install the system, follow as usual. Don't forget to install broadcom drivers into your final system, so it has Wi-Fi, too! Add the following lines your (or make sure they exist in hardware-): Enjoy!
For anyone else trying to install nixOS on their Macs, it seems like I'm not able to build my own images on x86_Darwin. Getting this:
In case anyone else has the same issue, after I still have some remaining issues trying to install on a Mac (an iMac in my case). WiFi in the live USB works fine, but in the installed system I still can't get it to work. First one is a silly one, which is if you find you have no WiFi adapter found by Gnome after the install, you have to make sure you remembered to add your user to the group via , c.f. EDIT: OK, indeed it was incorrect default routes, running lets me reach the internet now. Not sure why the LiveUSB got me working internet and the booted system didn't -- I'm no expert neither on NixOS nor networking, so this may be offtopic for this ticket, if so feel free to hide the comment, but leaving it here given as I say, this worked fine on the LiveUSB boot, and I have no other LAN devices with WiFi issues, so maybe it'll help someone else.
I wrote some docs in , which should probably document this sufficiently.
I encountered the same route problem too. For some reason, I have to let the system installed on my computer boot in legacy mode, instead of EFI. As I have tested, networkmanager with wpasupplicant as its backend doesn't work well, but it works if you only use wpasupplicant without networkmanager. However, simply using wpasupplicant without a gui front-end(wpagui doesn't work on my computer) isn't a good idea for me. I solved the problem by using iwd as the backend of networkmanager instead. Add the following code in your and everything will work perfectly! NOTE: The system installed on my computer boots in legecy mode, but I boot the LiveCD in EFI mode. If your computer boots in EFI mode, you'll probably NOT encounter those problems. My machine is a MacBook Pro 12-mid.
This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:
This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

Discussion:
# mount -o loop -t iso9660 ./result/iso/cd.iso /mnt/iso ``` <ins> ## Additional drivers or firmware {#sec-building-image-drivers} If you need additional (non-distributable) drivers or firmware in the installer, you might want to extend these configurations. For example, to build the GNOME graphical installer ISO, but with support for certain WiFi adapters present in some MacBooks, you can create the following file at `modules/installer/cd-dvd/installation-cd-graphical-gnome-macbook.nix`: ```nix { config, ... }: { imports = [ ./installation-cd-graphical-gnome.nix ]; boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ "wl" ]; boot.kernelModules = [ "kvm-intel" "wl" ]; boot.extraModulePackages = [ config.boot.kernelPackages.broadcom_sta ]; } ``` Then build it like in the example above: ```ShellSession $ git clone https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs.git $ cd nixpkgs/nixos $ export NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 $ nix-build -A config.system.build.isoImage -I nixos-config=modules/installer/cd-dvd/installation-cd-graphical-gnome-macbook.nix default.nix ``` </ins> ## Technical Notes {#sec-building-image-tech-notes} The config value enforcement is implemented via `mkImageMediaOverride = mkOverride 60;`

# mount -o loop -t iso9660 ./result/iso/cd.iso /mnt/iso </programlisting> </section> <ins> <section xml:id="sec-building-image-drivers"> <title>Additional drivers or firmware</title> <para> If you need additional (non-distributable) drivers or firmware in the installer, you might want to extend these configurations. </para> <para> For example, to build the GNOME graphical installer ISO, but with support for certain WiFi adapters present in some MacBooks, you can create the following file at <literal>modules/installer/cd-dvd/installation-cd-graphical-gnome-macbook.nix</literal>: </para> <programlisting language="bash"> { config, ... }: { imports = [ ./installation-cd-graphical-gnome.nix ]; boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ &quot;wl&quot; ]; boot.kernelModules = [ &quot;kvm-intel&quot; &quot;wl&quot; ]; boot.extraModulePackages = [ config.boot.kernelPackages.broadcom_sta ]; } </programlisting> <para> Then build it like in the example above: </para> <programlisting> $ git clone https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs.git $ cd nixpkgs/nixos $ export NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 $ nix-build -A config.system.build.isoImage -I nixos-config=modules/installer/cd-dvd/installation-cd-graphical-gnome-macbook.nix default.nix </programlisting> </section> </ins> <section xml:id="sec-building-image-tech-notes"> <title>Technical Notes</title> <para>