Installation

Choose your starting point

Option 1

Use NAILS-OS as the reference system.

This is the simplest path when you want the surrounding operating environment to follow the same design from the start.

Option 2

Integrate NAILS into your own NixOS build.

This path gives you more control, but it also means you own more of the surrounding risk.

Prepare hidden storage

NAILS expects a mounted directory tree that stays available for the full activation window.

Typical backends include:

• VeraCrypt hidden volumes
• remote filesystems presented as a normal writable tree
• removable encrypted media
• local encrypted storage mounted before activation

Hidden storage layout

hidden-root/
  etc/nixos/
  home/
  nix/
  config/nails.toml
  nixos/configuration.nix
  .work/

Practical advice

• keep the NAILS binary on hidden storage or separate removable media
• do not treat a barely configured decoy system as believable by default
• validate your deactivate path before you assume it is routine

Build and release retrieval

When a stable release is available, start from the downloads page.

If no stable release exists for your target, build from source using the documented release target in the product repository.