Upgrade NixOS versions

Overview

This guide provides general guidance on upgrading between NixOS versions

Check which version you're currently running

cat /etc/lsb_release

Get list of channels

This provides the URL used to download packages for nixos release

nix-channel --list | grep nixos

Add / Replace Software Channel

To get on the latest version, you need to update the nixos channel to the latest version.

You can find a list of versions in this repository.

For example, if you wanted to upgrade to the latest 24.05 version, you'd use the following command:

nix-channel --add https://channels.nixos.org/nixos-24.05 nixos

The general format is: nix-channel --add <CHANNEL_URL> nixos

Rebuild your system

Once you've configured the channel for the latest version, switch to it just like you would when upgading sofware packages.

nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade

After the operation completes, you'll want to check which version is running as mentioned in previous instructions.

Additional Resources