Trouble with the installer after migrating to a new Mac via MacOS's Migration Assistant

[ilyagr]

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I'm having trouble reinstalling nix after moving all of my data to a fresh Mac.

On that mac, I upgraded Monterey -> Sonoma and used Migration Assistant to transfer all data from the old Mac via a USB cable.

Now, nix does not seem to be installed. I tried installing it. First, it told me to remove the /nix line from /etc/fstab and to sudo rm some plist file. (I don't have a record). The next time running the installer, here's what I got:

info: downloading installer https://install.determinate.systems/nix/tag/v0.15.1/nix-installer-aarch64-darwin
`nix-installer` needs to run as `root`, attempting to escalate now via`sudo`...
Password:
Nix install plan (v0.15.1)
Planner: macos (with default settings)

Planned actions:
* Create an APFS volume `Nix Store` for Nix on `disk3` and add it to `/etc/fstab` mounting on `/nix`
* Fetch `https://releases.nixos.org/nix/nix-2.18.1/nix-2.18.1-aarch64-darwin.tar.xz` to `/nix/temp-install-dir`
* Create a directory tree in `/nix`
* Move the downloaded Nix into `/nix`
* Create build users (UID 300-332) and group (GID 30000)
* Configure Time Machine exclusions
* Setup the default Nix profile
* Place the Nix configuration in `/etc/nix/nix.conf`
* Configure the shell profiles
* Configuring zsh to support using Nix in non-interactive shells
* Configure Nix daemon related settings with launchctl
* Remove directory `/nix/temp-install-dir`


Proceed? ([Y]es/[n]o/[e]xplain): y
 INFO Step: Create an APFS volume `Nix Store` for Nix on `disk3` and add it to `/etc/fstab` mounting on `/nix`
ERROR Error saving receipt: RecordingReceipt("/nix/receipt.json", Os {code: 30, kind: ReadOnlyFilesystem, message: "Read-only file system" })
ERROR
   0: Install failure
   1: Error executing action
   2: Action `create_nix_volume` errored
   3: Action `kickstart_launchctl_service` errored
   4: Failed to execute command with status 113 `"launchctl" "kickstart" "-k" "system/org.nixos.darwin-store"`, stdout:
      stderr: Could not find service "org.nixos.darwin-store" in domain for system

   4:

Location:
   /rustc/cc66ad468955717ab92600c770da8c1601a4ff33/library/core/src/convert/mod.rs:716

Backtrace omitted. Run with RUST_BACKTRACE=1 environment variable to display it.
Run with RUST_BACKTRACE=full to include source snippets.

Consider reporting this error using this URL: https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer/issues/new?title=%3Cautogenerated-issue%3E&body=%23%23+Error%0A%60%60%60%0AError%3A+%0A+++0%3A+Install+failure%0A+++1%3A+Error+executing+action%0A+++2%3A+Action+%60create_nix_volume%60+errored%0A+++3%3A+Action+%60kickstart_launchctl_service%60+errored%0A+++4%3A+Failed+to+execute+command+with+status+113+%60%22launchctl%22+%22kickstart%22+%22-k%22+%22system%2Forg.nixos.darwin-store%22%60%2C+stdout%3A+%0A++++++stderr%3A+Could+not+find+service+%22org.nixos.darwin-store%22+in+domain+for+system%0A%0A%0A%60%60%60%0A%0A%23%23+Metadata%0A%7Ckey%7Cvalue%7C%0A%7C--%7C--%7C%0A%7C**version**%7C0.15.1%7C%0A%7C**os**%7Cmacos%7C%0A%7C**arch**%7Caarch64%7C%0A
Installation failure, offering to revert...
Nix uninstall plan (v0.15.1)

Planner: macos (with default settings)

Planned actions:
* Delete file `/Library/LaunchDaemons/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook.plist`
* Remove the APFS volume `Nix Store` on `disk3`


Proceed? ([Y]es/[n]o/[e]xplain): e
Nix uninstall plan (v0.15.1)

Planner: macos

Configured settings:
* case_sensitive: false
* diagnostic_endpoint: "https://install.determinate.systems/nix/diagnostic"
* extra_conf: []
* force: false
* modify_profile: true
* nix_build_group_id: 30000
* nix_build_group_name: "nixbld"
* nix_build_user_count: 32
* nix_build_user_id_base: 300
* nix_build_user_prefix: "_nixbld"
* nix_package_url: {"Url":"https://releases.nixos.org/nix/nix-2.18.1/nix-2.18.1-aarch64-darwin.tar.xz"}
* proxy: null
* root_disk: "disk3"
* ssl_cert_file: null
* volume_encrypt: null
* volume_label: "Nix Store"

Planned actions:
* Delete file `/Library/LaunchDaemons/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook.plist`
  Delete file `/Library/LaunchDaemons/systems.determinate.nix-installer.nix-hook.plist`
* Remove the APFS volume `Nix Store` on `disk3`
  Create or insert file `/etc/synthetic.conf`
  Create objects defined in `/etc/synthetic.conf`
  Unmount the `Nix Store` APFS volume
  Create an APFS volume on `disk3` named `Nix Store`
  Add a UUID based entry for the APFS volume `Nix Store` to `/etc/fstab`
  Unload, then recreate a `launchctl` plist to mount the APFS volume `/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.darwin-store.plist`
  Bootstrap the `org.nixos.darwin-store` service via `launchctl bootstrap system /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.darwin-store.plist`
  Enable ownership on `/nix`


Proceed? ([Y]es/[n]o): y
 INFO Revert: Remove directory `/nix/temp-install-dir`
 INFO Revert: Configure Nix daemon related settings with launchctl
 INFO Revert: Unload, then recreate a `launchctl` plist to put Nix into your PATH
 INFO Revert: Configuring zsh to support using Nix in non-interactive shells
 INFO Revert: Configure Nix
 INFO Revert: Configure Time Machine exclusions
 INFO Revert: Create build users (UID 300-332) and group (GID 30000)
 INFO Revert: Provision Nix
 INFO Revert: Create an APFS volume `Nix Store` for Nix on `disk3` andadd it to `/etc/fstab` mounting on `/nix`
Error:
   0: Multiple errors

Location:
   src/cli/subcommand/install.rs:282

Error:
   0: Action `bootstrap_launchctl_service` errored
   1: Failed to execute command with status 5 `"launchctl" "bootout" "system" "/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.nixos.darwin-store.plist"`, stdout:
      stderr: Boot-out failed: 5: Input/output error

   1:

Backtrace omitted. Run with RUST_BACKTRACE=1 environment variable to display it.
Run with RUST_BACKTRACE=full to include source snippets.

Consider reporting this error using this URL: https://github.com/DeterminateSystems/nix-installer/issues/new?title=%3Cautogenerated-issue%3E&body=%23%23+Error%0A%60%60%60%0AError%3A+%0A+++0%3A+Multiple+errors%0A%60%60%60%0A%0A%23%23+Metadata%0A%7Ckey%7Cvalue%7C%0A%7C--%7C--%7C%0A%7C**version**%7C0.15.1%7C%0A%7C**os**%7Cmacos%7C%0A%7C**arch**%7Caarch64%7C%0A
[08:24 PM] macaw ~ [1]
🐠

I'll keep trying.

Metadata

key	value
version	0.15.1
os	macos
arch	aarch64

[ilyagr]

Good news: running the installer again seems to have worked. This is after whatever cleanup the previous run performed, as seen in the transcript.

[Hoverbear]

I'm so glad it worked out! It's unfortunate you met this. I believe it is related to the fact that we use APFS provided UUIDs in places like the fstab which change when a migration happens...

[ilyagr]

Yes. I really appreciated the (not shown) instructions the installer provided that I should edit /etc/fstab, but it's a bit unfortunate that the installer didn't quite know how to function afterwards.

Thanks for making the installer, by the way, I imagine things would be far more painful without it.

[abathur]

Not sure if it'll apply to this installer, but there's also a known issue with ~official installs not functioning correctly after migration due to some small difference between freshly-created nixbld group/users and what you end up with after running migration assistant.

• https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/6078

[eh8]

I encountered this same error on a freshly activated 2020 M1 MacBook Air without using Migration Assistant running macOS Sonoma version 14.2.1.

info: downloading installer https://install.determinate.systems/nix/tag/v0.17.0/nix-installer-aarch64-darwin
`nix-installer` needs to run as `root`, attempting to escalate now via `sudo`...
Password:
 INFO Step: Create an encrypted APFS volume `Nix Store` for Nix on `disk3` and add it to `/etc/fstab` mounting on `/nix`
ERROR Error saving receipt: RecordingReceipt("/nix", Os { code: 30, kind: ReadOnlyFilesystem, message: "Read-only file system" })
Error: 
   0: Install failure
   1: Error executing action
   2: Action `create_nix_volume` errored
   3: Action `encrypt_apfs_volume` errored
   4: Failed to execute command with status 1 `"/usr/sbin/diskutil" "mount" "Nix Store"`, stdout: 
      stderr: Volume on disk3s7 failed to mount

   4: 

Location:
   /rustc/82e1608dfa6e0b5569232559e3d385fea5a93112/library/core/src/convert/mod.rs:757

Backtrace omitted. Run with RUST_BACKTRACE=1 environment variable to display it.
Run with RUST_BACKTRACE=full to include source snippets.

What worked for me was deleting the volume via diskutil apfs deleteVolume "Nix Store" as per installer recommendation and then re-running the installer. Not quite sure why it couldn't have just succeeded the first time around.