# Testing the Installer

Building, burning, and booting from an installation CD is rather tedious, so here is a quick way to see if the installer works properly:

    # mount -t tmpfs none /mnt
    # nixos-generate-config --root /mnt
    $ nix-build '<nixpkgs/nixos>' -A config.system.build.nixos-install
    # ./result/bin/nixos-install

To start a login shell in the new NixOS installation in `/mnt`:

    $ nix-build '<nixpkgs/nixos>' -A config.system.build.nixos-enter
    # ./result/bin/nixos-enter