Basic Arch Linux Install

Arch Linux is an OS which you need to install yourself. I've installed it several times on several different machines. This is the instruction guide that I follow.

Installation

1. You'll need a USB drive to store the Arch Linux ISO and serve as a bootable drive. Got to the Arch Linux website and download the latest ISO file from one of the mirrors. Last I checked it's ~700 MB.

2. Put the ISO on the USB drive. If you are using Windows or MacOS, you may want to use Fedora's Media Writer. On Linux, use:

dd if=(ISO LOCATION) of=/dev/(USB DRIVE) status="progress"

3. Boot the machine you want to install Arch on from the USB. Usually you have to bash F2, F11, or F12 to choose the USB to boot from.

4. Check to see if your computer has UEFI.

ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

If the output of this command is:

ls: cannot access '/sys/firmware/efi/efivars': No such file or directory

then you don't have UEFI and you can proceed with these installation instructions. Otherwise, you'll have to follow a UEFI installation guide. (The steps below will not work for you.)

5. Make sure that you have an internet connection:

ping nolanmcmahon.net

You should see that your machine is pinging 64 bytes per second to the domain you choose. Control-C will cancel this operation. If you are plugged into ethernet, you should have internet automatically. If you'd prefer to use WIFI:

iwctl

device list

Note the name of your device and make sure that it isn't disabled or turned off.

station (name of device) connect (name of WIFI network)

Enter your WIFI password when prompted. If ever you get stuck:

iwctl

help

is your friend. (Also Control-D to exit the IWD prompt back to the BASH prompt.)

6. Run:

timedatectl set-ntp true

7. Find the name of the drive you want to install Arch on with:

lsblk

It will probably be something like "sda", "sdb", or "nvme" something or other. Double check the drive size, make sure you pick the right one.

8. Format the drive with:

fdisk /dev/(drive name)

9. Delete all existing partitions. (This is as good a time as any to say that you will lose ALL data on your drive, so making a backup NOW would be prudent.) Do this using:

d

repeatedly.

10. Create a boot partition with:

n

Make it primary if prompted, partition number default (should be 1), first sector default, and last sector use:

+200M

If you are prompted to clear signatures, say yes.

11. Create a swap partition with:

n

Make it primary if prompted, partition number default (should be 2), first sector default, and last sector, make it 150% of your RAM capacity.

+(amount)G

If you are prompted to clear signatures, say yes.

12. Create a root partition with:

n

Make it primary if prompted, partition number default (should be 3), first sector default, and last sector use:

+25G

This is where all of your software will be installed. You can make it bigger if you like having lots of software installed. If you are prompted to clear signatures, say yes.

13. Create a home partition with:

n

Make it primary if prompted, partition number default (should be 1), first sector default, and last sector default. If you are prompted to clear signatures, say yes.

14. Write changes with:

w

15. Make ext4 filesystems on all but the swap partition with:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/(name)1

mkfs.ext4 /dev/(name)3

mkfs.ext4 /dev/(name)4

16. Make your swap partition a swap partition:

mkswap /dev/(name)2

swapon /dev/(name)2

17. Mount the root partition:

mount /dev/(name)3 /mnt

18. Make directories to mount the other partitions to and mount them.

mkdir /mnt/home /mnt/boot

mount /dev/(name)1 /mnt/boot

mount /dev/(name)4 /mnt/home

19. Install Arch Linux packages with:

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware vim

20. Tell Linux how to mount your drives properly on boot with:

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

21. Move to your install (and off of the USB) with:

arch-chroot /mnt

22. I prefer to use Network Manager to handle my internet connection.

pacman -S networkmanager

systemctl enable NetworkManager

23. Install the boot loader Grub:

pacman -S grub

grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/(name) --force

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

24. Make a password for the root user:

passwd

25. Configure your locale.

vim /etc/locale.gen

Uncomment the lines associated with your locale (like "en_CA.UTF-8 UTF-8" and "en_CA ISO-8859-1").

locale-gen

vim /etc/locale.conf

Add your locale to the LANG variable, for example with the "en_CA" locale:

LANG=en_CA.UTF-8

26. Set your timezone. Find all timezones with:

ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/

Set it with:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/(YOUR TIME ZONE) /etc/localtime

27. Give your computer a host name:

vim /etc/hostname

Make it one word at the top of this new file.

28. Prepare to reboot. After your machine turns off, unplug the USB.

exit

umount -R /mnt

reboot

You should now be prompted to login. You can do so with the username root and the password that you set before. Congratulations!

Extras

These are a couple of extra steps that I typically use to make my system a bit more usable.

1. Connect to the internet with Network Manager:

nmcli radio all on

nmtui

2. Add a user account and give them SUDO privileges (without requiring a password).

useradd -m -g wheel (username)

passwd (username)

sudo vim /etc/sudoers

Uncomment the line:

%wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

near the bottom of the file.

3. Enable colour and a pacman animation for pacman by adding the line "ILoveCandy" and uncommenting the line "Color" in /etc/pacman.conf.

4. From here I typically install the list of programs that I typically use, starting with an AUR manager and restore my /home directory from a backup, but you can also proceed by installing a desktop environment. It's up to you from this point on!