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Try it in a VM
Boot the config in a throwaway QEMU window, without installing anything.
nix run path:.#vm boots a machine’s config in a throwaway QEMU window: root on tmpfs as usual, /persist on a scratch disk that’s gone when the VM closes. Log in with your username and the password ephemeral. It needs KVM and about 4 GB of free memory.
On an installed machine, run it in /persist/etc/nixos to check a change, such as switching profiles, before you rebuild. To try the config without installing anything:
shell
git clone https://github.com/the-wittch/ephemeral-nixos-config
cd ephemeral-nixos-config
cp settings.example.json settings.json
cp hardware-configuration.example.nix hardware-configuration.nix
nix run path:.#vm
The user is nixuser; change username, desktop or anything else in settings.json first to try something else.
To go through the installer’s screens without touching a disk, from a clone of ephemeral-nixos:
shell
nix run path:.#installer -- --dry-run