diff --git a/pkgs/nomarchy-install/nomarchy-install.sh b/pkgs/nomarchy-install/nomarchy-install.sh
index 8ea40b6..ee7ac37 100644
--- a/pkgs/nomarchy-install/nomarchy-install.sh
+++ b/pkgs/nomarchy-install/nomarchy-install.sh
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #   NOMARCHY_UNATTENDED=1 NOMARCHY_DISK=/dev/vda NOMARCHY_USERNAME=me \
 #   NOMARCHY_PASSWORD=secret [NOMARCHY_HOSTNAME=nomarchy] \
 #   [NOMARCHY_TIMEZONE=UTC] [NOMARCHY_LUKS_PASSPHRASE=...] \
+#   [NOMARCHY_LOCALE=en_US.UTF-8] [NOMARCHY_KB_LAYOUT=us] [NOMARCHY_KB_VARIANT=] \
 #   [NOMARCHY_SWAP_GB=N (default: RAM size; 0 = none)] \
 #   [NOMARCHY_HW="auto"|"none"|"mod1 mod2"] [NOMARCHY_FINISH=none|reboot|poweroff]
 #   nomarchy-install
@@ -150,6 +151,9 @@ if [[ "$UNATTENDED" == "1" ]]; then
     PASSWORD="${NOMARCHY_PASSWORD:?}"
     HOSTNAME_="${NOMARCHY_HOSTNAME:-nomarchy}"
     TIMEZONE="${NOMARCHY_TIMEZONE:-UTC}"
+    LOCALE="${NOMARCHY_LOCALE:-en_US.UTF-8}"
+    KB_LAYOUT="${NOMARCHY_KB_LAYOUT:-us}"
+    KB_VARIANT="${NOMARCHY_KB_VARIANT:-}"
 else
     while true; do
         USERNAME=$(gum input --placeholder "username (lowercase, e.g. ada)")
@@ -169,6 +173,26 @@ else
         warn "Invalid hostname."
     done
     TIMEZONE=$(timedatectl list-timezones | gum filter --placeholder "timezone (type to search)" || echo UTC)
+    # Curated UTF-8 locales: the live system only generates en_US, so
+    # `locale -a` can't enumerate what the TARGET could use.
+    LOCALE=$(printf '%s\n' \
+        en_US en_GB de_DE fr_FR es_ES es_MX pt_PT pt_BR it_IT nl_NL \
+        pl_PL ru_RU uk_UA cs_CZ sk_SK sv_SE nb_NO da_DK fi_FI tr_TR \
+        el_GR hu_HU ro_RO bg_BG hr_HR sl_SI lt_LT lv_LV et_EE ja_JP \
+        ko_KR zh_CN zh_TW ar_EG he_IL hi_IN th_TH vi_VN id_ID \
+        | sed 's/$/.UTF-8/' \
+        | gum filter --placeholder "language / locale (type to search)" \
+        || echo en_US.UTF-8)
+    KB_LAYOUT=$(localectl list-x11-keymap-layouts 2>/dev/null \
+        | gum filter --placeholder "keyboard layout (type to search)" \
+        || echo us)
+    KB_VARIANT=""
+    if [[ "$KB_LAYOUT" != "us" ]] || gum confirm --default=No "Pick a keyboard variant (intl, nodeadkeys, …)?"; then
+        KB_VARIANT=$( { echo "(none)"; localectl list-x11-keymap-variants "$KB_LAYOUT" 2>/dev/null; } \
+            | gum filter --placeholder "variant for $KB_LAYOUT (pick '(none)' for the default)" \
+            || echo "(none)")
+        [[ "$KB_VARIANT" == "(none)" ]] && KB_VARIANT=""
+    fi
 fi
 [[ "$USERNAME" =~ ^[a-z_][a-z0-9_-]*$ ]] || fail "Invalid username '$USERNAME'."
 [[ -f "/usr/share/zoneinfo/$TIMEZONE" || -e "/etc/zoneinfo/$TIMEZONE" ]] \
@@ -177,6 +201,7 @@ fi
 HASHED_PASSWORD=$(printf '%s' "$PASSWORD" | mkpasswd -m sha-512 -s)
 unset PASSWORD
 info "User: $USERNAME @ $HOSTNAME_ ($TIMEZONE)"
+info "Locale: $LOCALE · keyboard: $KB_LAYOUT${KB_VARIANT:+ ($KB_VARIANT)}"
 
 # ─── Hardware profile ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
 section "Hardware detection"
@@ -320,9 +345,35 @@ nixos-generate-config --root /mnt
 mv /mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix "$FLAKE_DIR/"
 rm -rf /mnt/etc/nixos
 
-cp "$SHARE/template/home.nix" "$FLAKE_DIR/"
 cp "$SHARE/template/theme-state.json" "$FLAKE_DIR/"
 
+# home.nix is generated (not copied from the template) so the chosen
+# keyboard layout reaches the Hyprland session — standalone HM cannot
+# read system.nix.
+cat > "$FLAKE_DIR/home.nix" <<EOF
+# Your user environment. The Nomarchy desktop (Hyprland, Waybar,
+# Ghostty, theming engine, Stylix) comes from homeModules.nomarchy;
+# tune it via the nomarchy.* options, add your own packages and
+# programs below.
+{ pkgs, ... }:
+
+{
+  # Keyboard for the desktop session; console + LUKS prompt get the
+  # same layout from system.nix (xkb + console.useXkbConfig).
+  nomarchy.keyboard.layout = "$KB_LAYOUT";
+  nomarchy.keyboard.variant = "$KB_VARIANT";
+
+  # Examples:
+  # nomarchy.terminal = "kitty";        # swap the default terminal
+  # nomarchy.waybar.enable = false;     # bring your own bar
+  # nomarchy.stylix.enable = false;     # opt out of GTK/Qt theming
+
+  home.packages = with pkgs; [
+    # firefox
+  ];
+}
+EOF
+
 hw_nix=""
 for p in "${HW_PROFILES[@]:-}"; do
     [[ -n "$p" ]] && hw_nix+=" \"$p\""
@@ -371,7 +422,17 @@ cat > "$FLAKE_DIR/system.nix" <<EOF
 
   networking.hostName = "$HOSTNAME_";
   time.timeZone = "$TIMEZONE";
-  i18n.defaultLocale = "en_US.UTF-8";
+  i18n.defaultLocale = "$LOCALE";
+
+  # One keyboard layout everywhere: xkb is the source of truth, the
+  # virtual console derives from it (greeter/ttys), and the systemd
+  # initrd applies it to the LUKS passphrase prompt too (the classic
+  # script initrd cannot). The Hyprland session reads the same layout
+  # from nomarchy.keyboard.* in home.nix.
+  services.xserver.xkb.layout = "$KB_LAYOUT";
+  services.xserver.xkb.variant = "$KB_VARIANT";
+  console.useXkbConfig = true;
+  boot.initrd.systemd.enable = true;
 
   # Your login user — \`username\` flows in from flake.nix automatically.
   users.users.\${username} = {
@@ -410,6 +471,9 @@ fi
 # outright. The first normal NixOS user is always 1000:users(100); the
 # account doesn't exist in the target yet, so numeric ids it is.
 chown -R 1000:100 "$FLAKE_DIR"
+# The templates come out of the nix store mode 0444 and cp preserves
+# that — without this the user owns home.nix but can't edit it.
+chmod -R u+w "$FLAKE_DIR"
 
 # /etc/nixos on the installed system points at the user-owned flake.
 mkdir -p /mnt/etc
@@ -464,6 +528,25 @@ success "System installed (bootloader in place)"
 # fully themed desktop, not bare Hyprland. Best-effort: a failure here
 # only costs the user one `home-manager switch` after logging in.
 section "Baking the desktop"
+
+# Build the generation HERE in the live environment, not in the chroot:
+# the live store always carries the offline pin set, while the target
+# store only gets the full ISO store on OFFLINE installs — an online
+# install skips that copy, and the old in-chroot build (substituters
+# deliberately empty) then tried to compile the world from source.
+# Building against the live store is the exact path the live session's
+# own theme switching exercises, online or off.
+info "Building the desktop generation..."
+hm_out=""
+if hm_out=$(nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" \
+        build --no-link --print-out-paths \
+        --option substituters "" \
+        "path:$FLAKE_DIR#homeConfigurations.$USERNAME.activationPackage"); then
+    nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" \
+        copy --no-check-sigs --to "local?root=/mnt" "$hm_out" \
+        || hm_out=""
+fi
+[[ -n "$hm_out" ]] || warn "live-side desktop build failed — retrying inside the chroot"
 # NOT /mnt/tmp: nixos-enter mounts a fresh tmpfs over /tmp inside the
 # chroot, which silently vaporizes any script staged there (cost us a
 # full verification round to find). /root persists into the chroot.
@@ -471,10 +554,15 @@ cat > /mnt/root/nomarchy-hm-activate.sh <<EOF
 set -ex
 exec > /var/log/nomarchy-hm-preactivate.log 2>&1
 export PATH=/run/current-system/sw/bin:\$PATH
-out=\$(nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" \
-    build --no-link --print-out-paths \
-    --option substituters "" \
-    "path:/home/$USERNAME/.nomarchy#homeConfigurations.$USERNAME.activationPackage")
+# Normally pre-built in the live env and copied over; the in-chroot
+# build (default substituters — the live-side build already proved the
+# no-network case) is a last-resort fallback.
+out="$hm_out"
+if [ -z "\$out" ]; then
+    out=\$(nix --extra-experimental-features "nix-command flakes" \
+        build --no-link --print-out-paths \
+        "path:/home/$USERNAME/.nomarchy#homeConfigurations.$USERNAME.activationPackage")
+fi
 install -d -o "$USERNAME" -g users /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/$USERNAME
 install -d -o "$USERNAME" -g users /nix/var/nix/gcroots/per-user/$USERNAME
 # activate's profile ops need store access; as the user that means a
diff --git a/templates/downstream/home.nix b/templates/downstream/home.nix
index 29b4ba1..9420a2c 100644
--- a/templates/downstream/home.nix
+++ b/templates/downstream/home.nix
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
   # nomarchy.terminal = "kitty";        # swap the default terminal
   # nomarchy.waybar.enable = false;     # bring your own bar
   # nomarchy.stylix.enable = false;     # opt out of GTK/Qt theming
+  # nomarchy.keyboard.layout = "de";    # session keyboard (pair with
+  #                                     # xkb + console.useXkbConfig in
+  #                                     # system.nix for tty/LUKS)
 
   home.packages = with pkgs; [
     # firefox
diff --git a/tools/test-install.sh b/tools/test-install.sh
index 48cd1a2..37db568 100755
--- a/tools/test-install.sh
+++ b/tools/test-install.sh
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ if df --output=fstype "$TARGET_DIR" | tail -1 | grep -q tmpfs; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-OVMF=""
-for c in /run/current-system/sw/share/qemu/edk2-x86_64-code.fd \
+OVMF="${NOMARCHY_OVMF:-}"
+[ -n "$OVMF" ] || for c in /run/current-system/sw/share/qemu/edk2-x86_64-code.fd \
          /run/current-system/sw/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd \
          /usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd; do
     [ -f "$c" ] && { OVMF="$c"; break; }