Arch Linux: Installation guide

In this guide, I will show you the full Arch Linux installation process starting from your Windows Desktop and ending on your Arch Linux Desktop Environment.

This guide covers as many things as I could, explaining everything I could. Installation both with and without a USB Drive is covered, installation with a CD/DVD is covered, Virtualization is also covered. Installing in network boot is not yet covered.

Getting into an Arch Live Environment

There are many ways to boot a Live Environment. The recommended way is using a USB Drive for actual computers, and booting the ISO directly in case of Virtual Machines.

Downloading the ISO file

Visit the Download page and, depending on how you want to boot, acquire the ISO file or a netboot image

BitTorrent Download (recommended)

Install a BitTorrent client such as qBittorrent and open the magnet link on the download website. The ISO should start downloading after you open the magnet link with your BitTorrent client.

Direct download from mirror

Find a mirror for your country and download the ISO directly from there, you will not need a BitTorrent client for this.

Making a bootable media

If you are installing onto a Virtual Machine, you can skip to Booting the Live Environment.

Using a USB Drive

!! Warning !! All data on the USB Drive will be wiped. Backup anything you need first! Download and Install the KDE ISO Image Writer and use it to flash the ISO file onto your chosen USB Drive.

Using an Optical Disk

Using Localboot (not recommended)

Using local boot to install Arch is not recommended because it is a dangerous, long, and painful process, and if done wrong you could get to the point where you have to use another computer to make a bootable media on a USB Drive. If you don't have a USB Drive or a CD/DVD Disk, I would still recommend trying network booting first if your computer supports it. If you don't have any other option and have the time and nerves to do this, good luck.

Partitioning

Booting the Live Environment

Booting from a USB Drive or Optical Disk

Booting a virtual machine from ISO

Booting locally (again not recommended)

Installing Arch Linux

Setting a keyboard layout

If you want to use the default keyboard layout (English US) then you can skip this step
You can list the available keyboard layouts by using this command:

localectl list-keymaps

You can then select the keyboard layout by running this command, replacing <keymap> with the layout you want to use:

loadkeys <keymap>

for example, you would change your keyboard layout to a Czech one by running loadkeys cz-qwertz

Changing the console font

You can change the font that the console uses in this section. First, if you want to know what keyboard layouts are there, you can check out this list or run this command:

ls /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/

Then, you want to choose a font by running this command, replacing <font> for the font you want to use

setfont <font>

Verify what boot mode did you boot in

Run this command to see what boot mode did you boot in.

cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size

If the command returns 64, you are booted in UEFI and have 64-bit x64 UEFI If the command returns 32, you are booted in UEFI and have 32-bit IA32 UEF If the command returns that the file doesn't exist, you are booted in BIOS (or CSM) mode

If your computer supports UEFI, it is strongly recommended to use that instead of legacy BIOS. If it doesn't, don't worry, it's no problem.

If your computer hasn't booted in the mode you desired, check your motherboard's or computer's manual (depends if you have a custom build or a pre-built desktop/laptop)

Connecting to the internet

You will need an internet connection to install Arch Linux, since all the packages get downloaded from the internet.

Ethernet

Plug in your Ethernet cable

WiFi

First, if you do not know your wireless device name, list all Wi-Fi devices:

iwctl device list

If the device is turned off, turn it on, replacing <name> with the name of your device:

iwctl device <name> set-property Powered on

If the device's adapter is turned off, turn it on, replacing <adapter> with the adapter of your device:

iwctl adapter <adapter> set-property Powered on

Then, to scan for networks, use this command, again replacing <name> with the name of your device:

iwctl station <name> scan

This will not output anything, it will just scan for networks. To actually see what networks it found, use this command:

iwctl station <name> get-networks

Finally, to connect to a network that is password protected, use this command replacing <password> with the password and <SSID> with the name of the network:

iwctl --passphrase <password> station <name> connect <SSID>

To connect to a network that is not password protected, use this command, replacing <SSID> with the name of the network:

iwctl station <name> connect <SSID>

Verifying connection

You can now verify that you are connected to the internet by pinging any page, such as google.com:

ping google.com

If you see bytes being sent through, you are connected to the internet and you can cancel the ping by using the Ctrl + C shortcut, and continue on.

Partitioning the disks

Please remember that if you are booted in UEFI then you should use the UEFI partitioning guide, if you are booted in Legacy BIOS, you should use this BIOS partitioning guide.

Normal installation with UEFI

First, list all the disks and partitions with lsblk:

lsblk

Now, you will see a list of disks. You want to find the disk you want to install Arch Linux to. You can probably find it by size, but if you have multiple disks and you are not sure which one is the right one, I recommend removing all the other disks except the one you want to install to during installation. Now, you want to remember the name of your disk, it will probably be something like sda or nvme0n1 or something similar.

Now, you want to start a partitioning tool on the disk that you want to install your system to by using this command, replacing <diskname> with the name of your disk from the previous step:

fdisk /dev/<diskname>

Now, before doing any actual partitioning, we want to wipe the disk clean by removing any existing partitions. You can do this by using the d command in the fdisk console and then selecting the partition we want to remove. Since we don't care about what partitions we delete, we just want a clean slate, you don't have to select which partition to remove and just press enter. Repeat the d command until the output says No partition is defined yet!

Now, since we are in UEFI mode, we have to make three partitions. An EFI partition that the system will use to boot, the Swap partition (this is not needed but recommended), and the root partition where the whole system will be stored. You can also make a separate home partition for all your files and documents, but it is not needed and your home directory can be stored in your root partition.

Making the EFI partition (required)

First, we have to make a new partition. We can do this by using the n command: n Now, you will be asked for the partition type. The partition type should be primary so you can input p or just leave it blank and press enter since primary type is the default option. Next, you will be asked for the partition number. The EFI partition should be the first partition, so you can just input 1 or leave it blank and press enter because 1 is the default option Now you will be asked for the first sector, I recommend just leaving it blank and pressing enter because the default is usually the best choice for the first sector. Finally, you will be asked for the last sector. The recommended size of the EFI partition is 1 GiB, so when you want to add 1 GiB from the first sector as the last sector, you just say +1GiB and press enter

Now, we have the partition made, but it is of the wrong type. To change the type, use the t command: t Then, when it asks for the type, you want to list all types by inserting L Now, all the partition types will get listed. Now, you should search for EFI (FAT-12/16/32) or EFI System and type in the prefix before it and press enter

Making the Swap partition (recommended)

If you don't want to make a Swap partition, skip ahead to "Making the Root partition" First, we have to make a new partition. We can do this by using the n command: n Now, you will be asked for the partition type. The partition type should be primary so you can input p or just leave it blank and press enter since primary type is the default option. Next, you will be asked for the partition number. The Swap partition should be the second partition, so you can just input 2 or leave it blank and press enter because 2 will be the default option Now you will be asked for the first sector, I recommend just leaving it blank and pressing enter because the default is usually the best choice for the first sector. Finally, you will be asked for the last sector. For most computers, the size of 4 GiB for the Swap partition is enough, so when you want to add 4 GiB from the first sector as the last sector, you just say +4GiB and press enter

Now, we have the partition made, but it is of the wrong type again. To change the type, use the t command: t When it asks you for the partition number, select 2 Then, when it asks for the type, you want to list all types by inserting L Now, all the partition types will get listed. Now, you should search for Linux swap / Solaris or Linux swap and type in the prefix that's displayed before it and press enter

Making the Root partition (required)

Please note that from this point, the setup process might differ if you haven't made a Swap partition. First, we have to make a new partition. We can do this by using the n command: n Now, you will be asked for the partition type. The partition type should be primary so you can input p or just leave it blank and press enter since primary type is the default option. Next, you will be asked for the partition number. The Root partition will be the third partition since we have two other ones already, so you can just input 3 or leave it blank and press enter because 3 will be the default option Now you will be asked for the first sector, I recommend just leaving it blank and pressing enter because the default is usually the best choice for the first sector. Finally, you will be asked for the last sector. If you don't want to make a home partition as well, you can just press enter and the remaining space will be used. If you want to also have a home partition, consider what size do you want your home partition to be and type in -<amount>GiB replacing <amount> with the amount of GiB to leave for the home partition.

Now, we have the partition made, but it is of the wrong type again. To change the type, use the t command: t When it asks you for the partition number, select 3 since the root partition is the third partition Then, when it asks for the type, you want to list all types by inserting L Now, all the partition types will get listed. Now, you should search for Linux with the 83 prefix or Linux root (x86-64) with the 23 prefix and type in the prefix and press enter

If you don't want to make a home partition, skip ahead to the "Finishing partitioning" step, If you do want to make a home partition, don't skip and go to the next topic

Making a home partition (optional)

Finishing partitioning

You have now successfully made all your partitions, but the changes haven't yet been written. You can write the changes that you have made by using the w command. If you feel that you messed up at any point in the process you can use the q command to quit without saving changes and do this whole part again.

Normal installation with BIOS

First, list all the disks and partitions with lsblk:

lsblk

Now, you will see a list of disks. You want to find the disk you want to install Arch Linux to. You can probably find it by size, but if you have multiple disks and you are not sure which one is the right one, I recommend removing all the other disks except the one you want to install to during installation. Now, you want to remember the name of your disk, it will probably be something like sda or nvme0n1 or something similar.

Now, you want to start a partitioning tool on the disk that you want to install your system to by using this command, replacing <diskname> with the name of your disk from the previous step:

fdisk /dev/<diskname>

Now, before doing any actual partitioning, we want to wipe the disk clean by removing any existing partitions. You can do this by using the d command in the fdisk console and then selecting the partition we want to remove. Since we don't care about what partitions we delete, we just want a clean slate, you don't have to select which partition to remove and just press enter. Repeat the d command until the output says No partition is defined yet!

Now, since we are in BIOS mode, we have to make two partitions. A Swap partition (this is not needed but recommended), and the root partition where the whole system will be stored. You can also make a separate home partition for all your files and documents, but it is not needed and your home directory can be stored in your root partition.

Making the Swap partition (recommended)

If you don't want to make a Swap partition, skip ahead to "Making the Root partition" First, we have to make a new partition. We can do this by using the n command: n Now, you will be asked for the partition type. The partition type should be primary so you can input p or just leave it blank and press enter since primary type is the default option. Next, you will be asked for the partition number. The Swap partition should be the first partition, so you can just input 1 or leave it blank and press enter because 1 will be the default option Now you will be asked for the first sector, I recommend just leaving it blank and pressing enter because the default is usually the best choice for the first sector. Finally, you will be asked for the last sector. For most computers, the size of 4 GiB for the Swap partition is enough, so when you want to add 4 GiB from the first sector as the last sector, you just say +4GiB and press enter

Now, we have the partition made, but it is of the wrong type. To change the type, use the t command: t When it asks for the type, you want to list all types by inserting L Now, all the partition types will get listed. Now, you should search for Linux swap / Solaris or `` and type in the prefix that's displayed before it and press enter

Making the Root partition (required)

Please note that from this point, the setup process might differ if you haven't made a Swap partition. First, we have to make a new partition. We can do this by using the n command: n Now, you will be asked for the partition type. The partition type should be primary so you can input p or just leave it blank and press enter since primary type is the default option. Next, you will be asked for the partition number. The Root partition will be the second partition since we have one other already, so you can just input 2 or leave it blank and press enter because 2 will be the default option Now you will be asked for the first sector, I recommend just leaving it blank and pressing enter because the default is usually the best choice for the first sector. Finally, you will be asked for the last sector. If you don't want to make a home partition as well, you can just press enter and the remaining space will be used. If you want to also have a home partition, consider what size do you want your home partition to be and type in -<amount>GiB replacing <amount> with the amount of GiB to leave for the home partition.

Now, we have the partition made, but it is of the wrong type. To change the type, use the t command: t When it asks you for the partition number, select 2 since the root partition is the second partition Then, when it asks for the type, you want to list all types by inserting L Now, all the partition types will get listed. Now, you should search for Linux with the 83 prefix or Linux x64/x86 with the xx prefix and type in the prefix and press enter

If you don't want to make a home partition, skip ahead to the "Finishing partitioning" step, If you do want to make a home partition, don't skip and go to the next topic

Making a home partition (optional)

Finishing partitioning

You have now successfully made all your partitions, but the changes haven't yet been written. You can write the changes that you have made by using the w command. If you feel that you messed up at any point in the process you can use the q command to quit without saving changes and do this whole part again.

Localboot

Formatting the partitions

We have all the partitions made, but haven't formatted them yet. First, run lsblk again to see how the partitions got made.

lsblk

You should see branches coming from your disk showing the partitions. If you don't see your partitions, you might've done something wrong in the partitioning process.

Now, you want to actually remember the names of the partitions themselves and not the whole disk, and which partition corresponds to what. The EFI partition (UEFI only) will be the one that says 1G for its size, the Swap partition (if you have made one) will say 4G for its size, and etc.

Formatting the EFI partition (UEFI only)

You can format the EFI partition to fat32 by using this command, replacing <efipartition> with the name of your EFI partition:

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/<efipartition>

Formatting the Swap partition

You can initialize the swap partition by using this command, replacing <swappartition> with the name of your swap partition:

mkswap /dev/<swappartition>

Formatting the Root partition

You can format the root partition to ext4 by using this command, replacing <rootpartition> with the name of your root partition:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/<rootpartition>

Formatting the Home partition

You can format the home partition to ext4 by using this command, replacing <homepartition> with the name of your home partition:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/<homepartition>

Mount the partitions

We have the partitions created and formatted, but now we have to actually mount them. This is a pretty simple process.

Mounting the Root partition

The root partition has to be mounted first, and it can be mounted by using this command, replacing <root> with the name of your root partition:

mount /dev/<root> /mnt

Mounting the EFI partition (UEFI only)

If you have an EFI partition, it can be mounted with this command, replacing <efi> with the name of your EFI partition:

mount --mkdir /dev/<efi> /mnt/boot

Mounting the Home partition (If you made one)

If you have a home partition, it can be mounted with this command, replacing <home> with the name of your home partition:

mount --mkdir /dev/<home> /mnt/home

Mounting the Swap partition

If you have a swap partition, it can be mounted with this command, replacing <swap> with the name of your swap partition:

swapon /dev/<swap>

Installing the system itself

Everything is done, we can now get to the installation. First, we have to strap the base package, linux kernel and firmware to our root partition since the partitions are still empty and cannot do anything right now. We will use pacstrap for this.

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware

pacstrap downloads these packages, and then straps them onto our mountpoint /mnt

Configuration of the system

Our Arch Linux system is now installed, but it isn't configured yet and if we went to boot it right now, it wouldn't.

Generating the fstab

The fstab is essentially the file that tells our system what partitions should be mounted at which mountpoints every time during startup. This configuration is currently saved in our live session, so we just need to generate a file for the system by using this command:

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Change root into the new system

We now need to do things in our new system, and we can do that by changing the root to our new system so that it's just like we were on the system. We can do this with this command:

arch-chroot /mnt

Installing a text editor

Right now we need to install a text editor to proceed. For this guide, I will be using nano as my text editor, and you can install it with this command:

pacman -S nano

Persistent keyboard layout

The keyboard layout that you have set will reset to the default (English US) once you reboot your machine. If you want to change your keyboard layout and for it to stay even after reboots, use this command to make a vconsole.conf file in the /etc/ directory, and open it with nano:

nano /etc/vconsole.conf

nano will now open the file it has just made. You can change the keyboard layout persistently by typing this into the text file, replacing <layout> with the keyboard layout you want to use:

KEYMAP=<layout>

When you're done, press Ctrl + S to save, and Ctrl + X to exit.

Network configuration

Create a /etc/hostname file and add the hostname entry to this file. Hostname is basically the name of your computer on the network.

In my case, I’ll set the hostname as arch, because it makes sense. You can choose whatever you want by replacing <hostname> with the hostname you want to use:

echo <hostname> > /etc/hostname

Next, let's create the hosts file, and edit it to put some configuration into it. You can do this with this command:

nano /etc/hosts

Next, input these lines into the file, replacing <hostname> with your hostname again:

127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.1.1 <hostname>

Root password

Now, you want to create a password for the root account. The root account has unlimited privileges, and if you don't set a password for it now, you won't be able to access it unless you come back to the live session sometime and set the password. Please note that this is not the password for your user account, but for the root account. You can set a password for the root account by using this command:

passwd

You will then be asked for the password twice.

Installing a bootloader

The bootloader is used to boot the system, and without it the system won't even be recognized by your computer. There are many bootloaders out there, but I will be using GRUB. There are many parameters useful to know, so I'm gonna try to cover most of them.

GRUB on UEFI

For UEFI, GRUB has options to make a system portable, to support secure boot, and more things.

Installing the packages We first need to install the grub package as well as the efibootmgr package. You can do this with this command:

pacman -S grub efibootmgr

Mounting again Next, we need to mount the EFI partition again to a different location, we can do this by using this command, replacing <efi> with the name of your EFI partition:

mount --mkdir /dev/<efi> /boot/efi

Installing GRUB with the least parameters The least you can provide to grub when installing to UEFI is the EFI directory and the target type. We can install GRUB with these parameters using this command:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi

Installing GRUB with a different name for the UEFI entry By default, the GRUB bootloader is gonna appear as "GRUB" in UEFI. If you want to pick a different name, you can also provide the --bootloader-id="<name>" argument, replacing <name> with the name you want to see in UEFI. For example, if I wanted to see "Arch Linux" in UEFI, I would type this command to install GRUB:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id="Arch Linux" --efi-directory=/boot/efi

Installing GRUB with secure boot support By default, GRUB will not boot on devices that have secure boot enabled. You can enable secure boot support by passing --modules="tpm" --disable-shim-lock to the command. For example, if I wanted to enable secure boot support, I would use this command to install GRUB:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --modules="tpm" --disable-shim-lock

GRUB on BIOS

For BIOS, GRUB can really only by installed one way

Installing the packages We first need to install the grub package. You can do this with this command:

pacman -S grub

Installing GRUB To install GRUB on BIOS systems, you need to provide the name of your whole disk, not just any partition. To install GRUB on BIOS systems, use this command, replacing <diskname> with the name of the disk where you have your system installed

grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/<diskname>

Generating a GRUB Configuration

After installing GRUB, you need to generate its configuration. You can do that by using this command:

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Create additional user and change privileges

You should not boot into a system, which has only a root user account. This way, every change you make will happen without any authentication required, and you might end up messing up your system. Of course, you can still choose to do it, but it is not the recommended solution for a stable and secure experience. So you should make an additional user account, that will get its privileges using sudo

Installing sudo

You can install sudo with this command:

pacman -S sudo

Creating a new user

You can create a new user with this command, replacing <username> with the username you want your user to have:

useradd <username>

Setting a password for the user

You can set the password for this user by using this command, replacing <username> with the username of your user:

passwd <username>

You will be asked for your password twice.

Adding permissions

Now, we need to add this user to groups that enable specific permissions. This should be pretty self-explanatory, the wheel group makes the user a superuser (superusers can execute any command)

usermod -aG wheel,audio,video,storage <username>

Now, we need to edit the visudo file to enable the members of the wheel group to execute any command, after their password is given. We will first open the visudo file using this command:

EDITOR=nano visudo

Now, we need to scroll down through this until we find the lines that say:

## Uncomment to allow members of group wheel to execute any command
# %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Now, we need to remove the # symbol at the # %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL line so that it looks like this:

## Uncomment to allow members of group wheel to execute any command
%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

After you've done this, press Ctrl + S to save, and Ctrl + X to exit.

Making the network work

To make the network work, we will need some packages. First, we need to install networkmanager with dhcpcd for networking, and the iwd package for WiFi:

pacman -S networkmanager dhcpcd iwd

Next, you need to enable the networkmanager service with this command:

systemctl enable NetworkManager

You are done! (...if you didn't localboot)

You are done! The system is installed and ready for its first boot, with all the tools needed to continue. To finish the process, first exit the chroot with this command:

exit

Now finally, reboot the computer with this command:

reboot

Once your computer turns off, you can remove your bootable media and you will be booted into Arch Linux.