The Omarchy ISO is the only supported way to install Omarchy. It includes the Omarchy Configurator and installs Arch Linux and the Omarchy packages from the bundled mirror. It then runs target system setup in the chroot, creates the user, and runs omarchy-provision-user for that user.
- Download the ISO.
- Write it to a USB stick. Use balenaEtcher on Mac or Windows, or caligula on Linux.
- Turn off Secure Boot and/or TPM in the BIOS.
- Boot from the stick.
- Answer the configuration questions and select a drive.
The install takes under a minute on the fastest machines and up to 5 minutes on an older computer.
Verify the ISO before you write it to the stick. Otherwise, a corrupted download causes a pacman "invalid or corrupted package" error several minutes into the install.
Every release ISO has a .sha256 file and a .sig file next to it. Run these commands to download and verify the ISO of the latest release of omacom/omarchy:
version=$(curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/omacom/omarchy/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name)
version=${version#v}
curl -fLO "https://iso.omarchy.org/omarchy-$version.iso"
curl -fsSLO "https://iso.omarchy.org/omarchy-$version.iso.sha256"
sha256sum -c "omarchy-$version.iso.sha256"Use the .sig file to verify the ISO against the Omarchy signing key.
- Getting started: the install step by step, installing for another owner, and installing without encryption.
- Dual-boot install: install Omarchy in the free space of a drive, beside Windows or another OS.
- Unattended installs: let the ISO install itself from a configuration on a second drive, with no keyboard and no wizard.
The rest of this file covers building, testing and publishing the ISO.
| What | Where | When |
|---|---|---|
| Release ISO | https://iso.omarchy.org/omarchy-<version>.iso |
Each release |
| Edge ISO | https://nightly.omarchy.org/edge/<version>/omarchy-edge-<version>.iso |
Every night |
| VM image of edge | https://nightly.omarchy.org/edge/<version>/omarchy-edge-<version>.qcow2 |
Every night |
| VM image of the latest release | https://nightly.omarchy.org/stable/<version>/<run>/omarchy-<version>.qcow2 |
Once per release |
latest.json |
https://nightly.omarchy.org/edge/latest.json and .../stable/latest.json |
With each nightly build |
Every ISO and every VM image has a .sha256 file next to it. The release ISO also has a .sig file. Each VM image has an unpacked/ folder next to it.
On nightly.omarchy.org, a published file is never replaced. Only latest.json changes. It is written last, after every file of the version has been fetched back through the CDN and compared.
.github/workflows/nightly-build.yml runs every night for two channels:
edge: builds the ISO from the edge channel: the edge packages and mirrors, and the edge builds of Omarchy (omarchy-dev).stable: uses the latest release. The latest release of omacom/omarchy determines the version. The ISO comes from iso.omarchy.org and is used only if its signature matches the release key. A scheduled run skips a release that is already published. A manual run builds it again.
Each ISO goes through the same install test that runs for pull requests: an unattended install, then a boot of the installed system. test/vm-image/vm-seal then turns the installed disk into a VM image, and test/vm-image/vm-verify boots that image and checks it. Nothing is published unless every check passes.
A separate job publishes. It is the only job with the bucket's key, and it runs only on quattro. To try a change, run the workflow manually on a branch. That run builds and checks everything and publishes nothing.
test/vm-image/nightly-plan decides which channels a run builds and where they are published. test/vm-image/nightly-layout lays out the files and writes latest.json. test/unit/nightly-test.sh tests both.
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
version |
Edge: the build's date and run number, 2026.10.09.431. Stable: the release, 4.0.4. |
channel |
edge or stable. |
built_at |
When this file was written, after the image passed its checks. UTC, 2026-10-09T18:02:35Z. |
url |
The ISO that was installed. Edge: on nightly.omarchy.org. Stable: the release ISO on iso.omarchy.org. |
sha256, size |
The ISO's SHA-256 and its size in bytes. |
iso_commit |
The omarchy-iso commit the nightly build ran from. |
omarchy_version |
The version of the Omarchy package in the image. |
omarchy_commit |
Edge: the omarchy commit that package was built from. Stable: empty. |
kernel |
The image's kernel release, as reported by uname -r. |
vm.url, vm.sha256, vm.size |
The VM image: its URL, SHA-256 and size in bytes. |
vm.unpacked |
The URL of the image's unpacked/ folder, ending in /. |
vm.unpacked_files |
Every file in that folder. |
vm.user, vm.password |
The account for the desktop and sudo. |
vm.ssh |
SSH authentication: keys only. Password authentication is off. |
The version is also in the edge ISO's file name.
VM images are for testing. Users download the release ISO from iso.omarchy.org.
A VM image is Omarchy already installed, as one .qcow2 file. There is an image of the edge channel, rebuilt every night, and an image of the latest release. Every boot is a new machine, with a new machine ID and new SSH host keys.
The user is omarchy and the password is omarchy. SSH takes keys only.
The image boots through UEFI with no other file. Run these commands on a Linux machine with QEMU, read and write access to /dev/kvm, curl and jq:
latest=https://nightly.omarchy.org/edge/latest.json # or .../stable/latest.json
image=$(curl -fsSL "$latest" | jq -r .vm.url)
curl -fLO "$image"
curl -fsSLO "$image.sha256"
sha256sum -c "${image##*/}.sha256"
cp /usr/share/edk2/x64/OVMF_VARS.4m.fd vars.fd
qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -cpu host -smp 4 -m 4G \
-drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on,file=/usr/share/edk2/x64/OVMF_CODE.4m.fd \
-drive if=pflash,format=raw,file=vars.fd \
-drive file="${image##*/}",if=virtio,snapshot=on \
-device virtio-vgaThe firmware paths are Arch's. snapshot=on keeps the downloaded image unchanged. The image is a 4 to 5 GB download.
The unpacked/ folder next to each image holds what a direct boot needs:
| File | What it is |
|---|---|
vmlinuz, initrd, cmdline |
The image's own kernel, initramfs and kernel arguments. |
vm-boot |
A script that boots the image directly into its kernel and gives it an SSH key. |
SHA256SUMS |
Checksums of the files above. |
A direct boot skips the firmware and the boot loader: SSH answers after about 6 seconds instead of about 20. Download the folder next to the image, then run vm-boot. It also needs qemu-img and ssh:
unpacked=$(curl -fsSL "$latest" | jq -r .vm.unpacked)
for file in $(curl -fsSL "$latest" | jq -r '.vm.unpacked_files[]'); do curl -fsSLO "$unpacked$file"; done
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS
chmod +x vm-boot
./vm-boot "${image##*/}" # boots, prints how to log in, runs until Ctrl-C
./vm-boot "${image##*/}" uname -r # boots, runs the command over SSH, powers offvm-boot makes a new SSH key for each boot. It runs the machine on an overlay under /var/tmp, so the downloaded image is never changed, and deletes the overlay on exit. Set VM_STATE_DIR to put the overlay somewhere else.
To get the URL of the edge ISO, run jq -r .url on the same latest.json.
The manual's page is the one for users; this is the same feature in full.
The shipped ISO installs itself with no keyboard when it finds its configuration on a second drive. Attach a drive labeled cidata alongside the ISO and the installer copies the config off it and skips the configurator; with no such drive, nothing changes and the wizard runs as usual. No rebuild, no extra boot entry.
cidata is the cloud-init NoCloud label, so Proxmox, libvirt, and Packer already know how to attach one.
These are the configurator's own output files, so the way to get a starting set is to run one interactive install and copy what it wrote into /root.
| File | Required | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
user_configuration.json |
Yes | archinstall config: disk, hostname, timezone, keyboard |
user_credentials.json |
Yes | Username and password hash |
user_full_name.txt |
No | Git full name |
user_email_address.txt |
No | Git email |
user_encrypt_installation.txt |
No | true when user_configuration.json carries a disk_encryption block; defaults to false |
authorized_keys |
No | SSH public keys in sshd's own format, one per line |
tailscale_authkey |
No | Tailscale auth key; the machine joins your tailnet on first boot |
Both required files must be present or the installer falls back to the configurator. (A defer-provisioning marker file can stand in for user_credentials.json: user creation is then deferred to first boot.) Generate the password hash for user_credentials.json with openssl passwd -6 "yourpassword".
Encryption itself is configured by the disk_encryption block inside user_configuration.json — which carries the passphrase in plaintext, so treat a drive built from an encrypted install accordingly. The flag file must match it: it drives the encrypted install's SDDM autologin and the final boot validation, not the encryption.
authorized_keys is the same file sshd reads — copy your own or write one key per line:
ssh-ed25519 AAAA... you@host
When authorized_keys is present, autoinstall installs it as the user's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys, enables sshd, and adds a ufw allow ssh rule — a stock Omarchy install ships openssh with the service disabled and its firewall opens neither port 22 nor anything else beyond LocalSend and Docker's DNS. Networking needs nothing extra; NetworkManager is already enabled with DHCP. Password SSH authentication is left at the distro default. An authorized_keys with no keys in it fails the install rather than producing a machine nobody can reach.
When tailscale_authkey is present (one key, blank lines and # comments ignored), the install adds the tailscale package from the ISO's bundled mirror — nothing is fetched from the network at install or boot — and stages the join for first boot: the key lands at /etc/tailscale/authkey (root-only), tailscaled is enabled, ufw allows traffic in on tailscale0, and a background unit runs tailscale up once the network is actually up, retrying until it succeeds without holding up the boot. After a successful join the key is deleted and the unit disables itself; until then both survive reboots, so a machine installed offline joins whenever it first gets connectivity. The node appears on the tailnet under the configured hostname. Use a reusable, pre-authorized (tagged) key so one drive image serves many machines — or an ephemeral key for disposable VMs.
mkdir cidata
cp user_configuration.json user_credentials.json authorized_keys cidata/
genisoimage -output cidata.iso -volid cidata -joliet -rock cidata/qm create 101 --name my-omarchy \
--bios ovmf --machine q35 --cpu host --cores 4 --memory 8192 \
--ostype l26 --scsihw virtio-scsi-single \
--efidisk0 local-lvm:0,efitype=4m,pre-enrolled-keys=0 \
--scsi0 local-lvm:40,discard=on,iothread=1 \
--net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 --vga virtio --serial0 socket \
--ide2 local:iso/omarchy.iso,media=cdrom \
--ide3 local:iso/cidata.iso,media=cdrom \
--boot order='scsi0;ide2'
qm start 101Boot order is disk first: the empty disk falls through to the ISO on the first boot, and the installed system boots from disk afterwards. The machine reboots into Omarchy on its own when the install finishes.
Encrypted autoinstalls are not fully unattended — the LUKS passphrase prompt still needs someone at the first boot.
Run ./bin/omarchy-iso-make; output goes into ./release. By default the ISO uses the Omarchy packages and tracks the quattro branch, from the stable mirror. Pass --edge to use omarchy-dev and omarchy-settings-dev from the edge mirror.
For local development, build the ISO from sibling checkouts:
./bin/omarchy-iso-make --local-source ../omarchy-installer ../omarchy-pkgsDespite the local folder name, the first argument is the Omarchy source checkout (runtime commands, configs, setup scripts, themes, shell, migrations). The installer itself lives in this ISO repo.
Use --dev or --rc to build against those package channels. Both --dev and --edge select the dev packages from the edge mirror.
Run ./bin/omarchy-iso-boot [release/omarchy.iso].
Run ./test/all for the fast, VM-free tests under test/unit/, which cover cidata autoinstall loading and the orchestrator's phases without needing a built ISO.
To exercise installation alongside existing Windows-style partitions, run
./bin/omarchy-iso-test-windows-disk [release/omarchy.iso]. It creates a
synthetic disk in /tmp with an existing ESP and data partition plus ample
unallocated space, then offers to start an interactive installation on it. The
fixture exercises Windows partition preservation but does not contain Windows.
Run ./bin/omarchy-iso-test [release/omarchy.iso] to install the ISO into a headless VM by driving the real interactive install flow — the harness reads each screen via QMP screendumps + OCR and answers with virtual keystrokes, so the configurator wizard, install dashboard, reboot prompt, and SDDM login are all exercised exactly as a user would. It then boots the installed system, sends real VM keyboard shortcuts for the primary shell and window-management actions, and runs the in-guest acceptance suite (test/acceptance in the omarchy repo). The suite checks session and service health, the complete core-package manifest, user defaults, representative applications, menus, panels, live weather, launchers, visual selectors, notifications, clipboard, and other interactive shell behavior.
Visual checkpoints are saved as success-<step>.png or failure-<step>.png alongside the serial and install logs in test-runs/<iso>/runs/<timestamp>/. Independent test files and applications continue after a failure so one broken surface does not hide the rest of the report. The harness then stops the VM and opens the ordered screenshots in imv for quick visual review.
The harness syncs the acceptance suite from $OMARCHY_PATH when it is available. The install phase produces a reusable base image, so iterating against another checkout is fast:
./bin/omarchy-iso-test release/omarchy.iso --install-only # once per ISO
./bin/omarchy-iso-test release/omarchy.iso --reuse-base \
--sync-omarchy ../omarchy # fast loop against local testsPass --encrypt to drive the encrypted install flow (including typing the LUKS passphrase at boot) instead of the unencrypted one. Pass --no-preview to collect the same visual artifacts without opening them in imv when the run finishes.
Scenarios under test/integration.d/ boot a real ISO install in QEMU and assert on what the running system actually does. The runner installs the ISO once — unattended, from a generated cidata drive — and saves the result as a reusable base image; every scenario then boots a throwaway overlay of that base with its own copy of the firmware vars, so neither disk nor NVRAM state leaks between runs. Shared machinery (VM lifecycle, QMP screendump + OCR console driving, virtual keystrokes, guest SSH, the cidata build) lives in test/integration.d/base-test.sh, so a new scenario is one file.
./test/integration release/omarchy.iso # install once, run all scenarios
./test/integration release/omarchy.iso --reuse-base # fast loop against the saved base
./test/integration release/omarchy.iso factory-reset # a single named scenarioThe first scenario is factory-reset: it proves omarchy-system-factory-reset hands a machine on without destroying a shared ESP. The installed ESP gets a Windows entry with payload plus a second Linux cloned under a foreign machine-id with its own boot directory and UKIs; a real factory reset is then driven through a guest pty, and the harness asserts the foreign entries survive both the staged reset and first-boot provisioning, that the old Omarchy identity is fully retired, and that the machine reaches first-boot setup unattended.
Artifacts — screenshots, the fixtured/staged/final limine.conf, the reset typescript, and the factory-reset log — land under test-runs/<iso>-integration/runs/<timestamp>-<scenario>/, and --no-preview skips the imv review just like the acceptance harness.
Run ./bin/omarchy-iso-sign [release/omarchy.iso]. The signing key is retrieved from the shared Omarchy vault with the 1Password CLI.
Run ./bin/omarchy-iso-upload [release/omarchy.iso]. This requires rclone configuration (rclone config). The .sig and .sha256 sidecars go up with the ISO when they exist beside it.
Run ./bin/omarchy-iso-release VERSION to create, test, sign, and upload the ISO in one flow. Add --rc to release an RC build instead.