diff --git a/auto-install.sh b/auto-install.sh
index 151464c..a329fc9 100755
--- a/auto-install.sh
+++ b/auto-install.sh
@@ -144,4 +144,29 @@ echo "-----"
 installusername=$(echo $USER)
 sed -i 's/username\s*=\s*"\([^"]*\)"/username = "'"$installusername"'"/' ./flake.nix
 
-# TODO
\ No newline at end of file
+echo "${NOTE} generating the hardware configuration..."
+attempts=0
+max_attempts=3
+hardware_file="./hosts/$hostName/hardware.nix"
+
+while [ $attempts -lt $max_attempts ]; do
+  sudo nixos-generate-config --show-hardware-config > "$hardware_file" 2>/dev/null
+
+  if [ -f "$hardware_file" ]; then
+    echo "${OK} hardware configuration successfully generated"
+    break
+  else
+    echo "${WARN} failed to generate hardware configuration. attempt $(($attempts + 1)) of $max_attempts"
+    attempts=$(($attempts + 1))
+
+    # exit if this was the last attempt
+    if [ $attempts -eq $max_attempts ]; then
+      echo "${ERROR} unable to generate hardware configuration after $max_attempts attempts!"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  fi
+done
+
+echo "-----"
+
+TODO
\ No newline at end of file