Arch Linux Install Guide

Pigges — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 18:55:00 +0000

I made this guide to easily install Arch Linux without having to go to many different links just to get it working. Then I decided to share it here for others who may be new to linux and may not completely understand the Arch Wiki.

This is a guide about how to install Arch Linux from start to finish in one place. If you follow these steps you will end up with an clean install of Arch Linux without any graphical environment.

Keep in mind that this guide is made for BIOS and not UEFI systems

Check if you have a UEFI system:
```
$ ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
```
- If the command shows you the directory without any error, then you have a UEFI system. But you may still be able to follow this guide to some extent.
- If you got an error that looks like this, then you are good to go and can follow this guide.
```
ls: cannot access '/sys/firmware/efi/efivars': No such file or directory
```

Pre install steps

1. Set the keyboard layout

Find keyboard layout:

$ ls /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/**/*.map.gz

Set the keyboard layout example:
```
$ loadkeys sv-latin1
```

2. Connect to the internet

Enable the network interface:
```
$ ip link
```
Verify that it works:
```
$ ping pigges.xyz
```

3. Update the system clock

Enable the clock service:
```
$ timedatectl set-ntp true
```
Check the service status:
```
$ timedatectl status
```

4. Partition the disks

Check what disks are connected:
```
$ lsblk
```
Example for lsblk:
Enter fdisk:
```
$ fdisk /dev/sda
```
- Example partition layout for a 100GB disk:
  
  NAME SIZE TYPE MOUNT
  
  sda 100G disk
  
  ├─sda1 200M part /boot
  
  ├─sda2 12G part [SWAP]
  
  ├─sda3 30G part /
  
  └─sda4 57.8G part /home

NAME	SIZE	TYPE	MOUNT
sda	`100G`	disk
├─sda1	`200M`	part	`/boot`
├─sda2	`12G`	part	`[SWAP]`
├─sda3	`30G`	part	`/`
└─sda4	`57.8G`	part	`/home`

5. Format the partitions

Make filesystem for all the partitions except for the SWAP partition:
```
$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdaX
```

Make and enable SWAP:

$ mkswap    /dev/sda2

$ swapon    /dev/sda2

6. Mount file systems

Mount the root partition to /mnt:
```
$ mount /dev/sda1   /mnt
```
Create directories for partitions:
```
$ mkdir /mnt/boot

$ mkdir /mnt/home
```

Mount the other partitions

$ mount /dev/sda1   /mnt/boot

$ mount /dev/sda4   /mnt/home

Install steps

1. Run the install command with `pacstrap`

$ pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware nano

2. Generate fstab file and Chroot to the disk

Generate an fstab file:
```
$ genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
```
Chroot into the disk
```
$ arch-chroot   /mnt
```

Post install steps

1. Set Time Zone

Check Region and City:

$ ls /usr/share/zoneinfo # Get the REGION

$ ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/REGION # Get the CITY

Set Region and City

$ ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/REGION/CITY /etc/localtime

Run hwclock to generate /etc/adjtime:
```
$ hwclock --systohc
```

2. Setup localization

Edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment the locales you may need:
```
$ nano /etc/locale.gen
```
Example for /etc/locale.gen:
```
en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
sv_SE.UTF-8 UTF-8
```
Generate the locales:
```
$ locale-gen
```
Create and setup the /etc/locale.conf file:
```
$ nano /etc/locale.conf
```
Example for /etc/locale.conf:
```
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
```
Set keyboard layout:
```
$ nano /etc/vconsole.conf
```
Example for /etc/vconsole.conf:
```
KEYMAP=sv-latin1
```

3. Network configuration

Install and enable networkmanager:

$ pacman -S networkmanager

$ systemctl enable NetworkManager

Create the /etc/hostname file:

$ nano /etc/hostname.conf

Example for /etc/hostname:

hostname # change to your liking

Edit the /etc/hosts file:

$ nano /etc/hosts

Example for /etc/hosts: Change "hostname" to your hostname

# Static table lookup for hostnames.
# See hosts(5) for details.

127.0.0.1       localhost
::1             localhost
127.0.1.1       hostname.localdomain      hostname

4. Root password

Set a root password
```
$ passwd
```

5. Setup a bootloader 'GRUB'

Install grub

$ pacman -S grub

$ grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda

Configure grub

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

If you get this warning:

Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
done

Edit the /etc/default/grub file:

$ nano /etc/default/grub

Add this line:
```
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
```
Example for /etc/default/grub:

Then run this again:

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

6. Setup a user

Create the user:
```
useradd -m -G wheel user #change user
```
Set a user password:
```
$ passwd user
```
Edit the sudo config so users of the wheel group can use sudo:
```
$ EDITOR=nano visudo
```
- Find the line where it says "# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL" and uncomment it.

7. Exit and shutdown

Exit from chroot:
```
$ exit
```
Unmount the disk:
```
$ umount -R /mnt
```
Shutdown the computer:
```
$ shutdown now
```

8. Done!

You can now remove the install media and boot into your newly made arch install and be prompted with a login.

BTW I use Arch

DEV Community: Pigges