Arch Linux – Full installation Guide

In this video, the viewer is shown how to create a custom installation of Arch Linux with EFI, LVM, and Encryption.

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Considerations

  • If you plan to use UEFI, make sure that UEFI is enabled in the BIOS before you boot into the Arch installer

Prepare a flash drive

Download usbimager: https://gitlab.com/bztsrc/usbimager Use usbimager to turn your flash drive into Arch Linux installation media. Once that’s finished, boot your computer with that flash drive. Note: The process will erase everything on the drive.

Check if there is an Internet connection (if on wired)

 ip addr show

For WiFi, you can use iwctl

Access the iwd prompt:
 iwctl
Obtain a list of Wifi devices in your system:
 device list

Take note of the device name for your WiFi device, we’ll need it later.

Note: If you don’t see a Wifi device there, and you’re sure you do have WiFi capability, you shouldn’t proceed any further with installing Arch. You’ll want to check hardware compatibility with your Wifi card and Linux, and then resume installation at a later date.

Scan for wireless access points:
 station <device> scan
View a list of detected networks:
 station <device> get-networks
Connect to a wireless network:
 station <device> connect <wireless-network-name>

Preparing the hard disk (standard, no-UEFI)

See partitions/drives on the system (find the name of your hard drive)

 fdisk -l

Start the partitioner (fdisk)

 fdisk /dev/<DEVICE> (substitute <DEVICE> for your device name, example: /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1)

Show current partitions

 p

Create LVM partition

 o (to create an empty non-gpt partition table)
 n
 enter
 enter
 enter
 enter
 t
 enter
 8e

Show current partitions again

 p

Finalize partition changes

 w

Set up lvm

 pvcreate --dataalignment 1m /dev/<DEVICE NAME>
 vgcreate volgroup0 /dev/<DEVICE NAME>
 lvcreate -L 30GB volgroup0 -n lv_root
 lvcreate -l 100%FREE volgroup0 -n lv_home (or use something like "-L 250GB" if you want to make the volume size lower)
 modprobe dm_mod
 vgscan
 vgchange -ay

Format the root partition

 mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_root

Mount the root partition

 mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_root /mnt

Format the home partition

 mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_home

Create the home partition mount point

 mkdir /mnt/home

Mount the home volume

 mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_home /mnt/home

Create the /etc dirctory

 mkdir /mnt/etc

Create the /etc/fstab file

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

Check the /etc/fstab file

 cat /mnt/etc/fstab


Preparing the hard disk (UEFI)

See partitions/drives on the system (find the name of your hard drive)

 fdisk -l

== Start the partitioner (fdisk)

 fdisk /dev/<DEVICE> (substitute <DEVICE> for your device name, example: /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1)

Show current partitions

 p

Create EFI partition

 g (to create an empty GPT partition table)
 n
 enter
 enter
 +500M
 t
 1 (for EFI)

Create LVM partition

 n
 enter
 enter
 enter
 t
 enter
 30 (for Linux LVM)

Show current partitions again

 p

Finalize partition changes

 w

Format the EFI partition

 mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1 (or whatever the device name of the first partition is)

Set up lvm

 pvcreate --dataalignment 1m /dev/sda2 (or whatever the device name is of the second partition)
 vgcreate volgroup0 /dev/sda2 (or whatever the device name is of the second partition)
 lvcreate -L 30GB volgroup0 -n lv_root
 lvcreate -l 100%FREE volgroup0 -n lv_home (or use something like "-L 250GB" if you want to make the volume size lower)
 modprobe dm_mod
 vgscan
 vgchange -ay

Format the root partition

 mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_root

Mount the root partition

 mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_root /mnt

Format the home partition

 mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_home

Create the home partition mount point

 mkdir /mnt/home

Mount the home volume

 mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_home /mnt/home

Create the /etc dirctory

 mkdir /mnt/etc

Create the /etc/fstab file

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

Check the /etc/fstab file

 cat /mnt/etc/fstab

Preparing the hard disk (UEFI with encryption)

See partitions/drives on the system (find the name of your hard drive)

 fdisk -l

Start the partitioner (fdisk)

 fdisk /dev/<DEVICE> (substitute <DEVICE> for your device name, example: /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1)

Show current partitions

 p

Create EFI partition

 g (to create an empty GPT partition table)
 n
 enter
 enter
 +500M
 t
 1 (For EFI)

Create boot partition

 n
 enter
 enter
 +500M

Create LVM partition

 n
 enter
 enter
 enter
 t
 enter
 30

Show current partitions again

 p

Finalize partition changes

 w

Format the EFI partition

 mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/<DEVICE PARTITION 1> (for example: /dev/sda1)

Format the boot partition

 mkfs.ext4 /dev/<DEVICE PARTITION 2> (for example: /dev/sda2)

Set up encryption

 cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/<DEVICE PARTITION 3>
 cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/<DEVICE PARTITION 3> lvm

Set up lvm

 pvcreate --dataalignment 1m /dev/mapper/lvm
 vgcreate volgroup0 /dev/mapper/lvm
 lvcreate -L 30GB volgroup0 -n lv_root
 lvcreate -L 250GB volgroup0 -n lv_home (or instead of "-L 250GB", use "-l 100%FREE" to use all the remaining space).
 modprobe dm_mod
 vgscan
 vgchange -ay

Format the root partition

mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_root

Mount the root partition

mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_root /mnt

Create the boot partition mount directory

mkdir /mnt/boot

Mount the boot partition

mount /dev/<DEVICE PARTITION 2> /mnt/boot

Format the home partition

mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_home

Create the home partition mount point

mkdir /mnt/home

Mount the home volume

mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_home /mnt/home

Create the /etc dirctory

mkdir /mnt/etc

Create the /etc/fstab file

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

Check the /etc/fstab file

cat /mnt/etc/fstab

Install Arch Linux

Install Arch Linux base packages

pacstrap -i /mnt base

Access the in-progress Arch installation

arch-chroot /mnt

Install a kernel and headers

pacman -S linux linux-headers

For LTS:

pacman -S linux-lts linux-lts-headers

Or both:

pacman -S linux linux-lts linux-headers linux-lts-headers 

Install a text editor

pacman -S nano

Install optional packages

pacman -S base-devel openssh

Enable OpenSSH if you’ve installed it

systemctl enable sshd

Install packages for networking

pacman -S networkmanager wpa_supplicant wireless_tools netctl

Install dialog (required for wifi-menu)

pacman -S dialog

Enable networkmanager

systemctl enable NetworkManager

Add LVM support

pacman -S lvm2

Edit /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

On the “HOOKS” line, add support for lvm2 and optionally encryption.

unencrypted hard disk:

Add “lvm2” in between “block” and “filesystems”

encrypted hard disk:

Add “encrypt lvm2” in between “block” and “filesystems”

It should look similar to the following (don’t copy this line in case they change it, but just add the required new items):

HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block encrypt lvm2 filesystems keyboard fsck)

Create the initial ramdisk for the main kernel

mkinitcpio -p linux

Create the initial ramdisk for the LTS kernel (if you installed it)

mkinitcpio -p linux-lts

Uncomment the line from the /etc/locale.gen file that corresponds to your locale

nano /etc/locale.gen (uncomment en_US.UTF-8)

Generate the locale

locale-gen

Set the root password

passwd

Create a user for yourself

useradd -m -g users -G wheel <username>

Set your password

 passwd <username>

Install sudo (may already be installed)

pacman -S sudo

Allow users in the ‘wheel’ group to use sudo

EDITOR=nano visudo

Uncomment:

%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Setting up GRUB

GRUB is the bootloader that was used in the video. Follow ONE of the following sections, depending on whether you are using UEFI, encryption, etc

Installing GRUB for non-UEFI, with no encryption

Install the required packages for GRUB:
pacman -S grub dosfstools os-prober mtools

Install GRUB:

grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda
Create the locale directory for GRUB
mkdir /boot/grub/locale
Copy the locale file to locale directory
cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo
Generate GRUB’s config file
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Installing GRUB for UEFI, with no encryption

Install the required packages for GRUB:
pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools
Create the EFI directory:
mkdir /boot/EFI
Mount the EFI partition:
mount /dev/<DEVICE PARTITION 1> /boot/EFI
Install GRUB:
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck
Create the locale directory for GRUB
mkdir /boot/grub/locale
Copy the locale file to locale directory
cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo
Generate GRUB’s config file
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Installing GRUB for UEFI, with LUKS disk encryption

Install the required packages for GRUB:
pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools
Create the EFI directory:
mkdir /boot/EFI
Mount the EFI partition:
mount /dev/<DEVICE PARTITION 1> /boot/EFI
Install GRUB:
 grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck
Create the locale directory for GRUB
 mkdir /boot/grub/locale
Copy the locale file to locale directory
cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo
Set up GRUB to be able to unlock the disk

Open the defaulg config file for GRUB:

nano /etc/default/grub

Uncomment:

GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y

Add cryptdevice=<PARTUUID>:volgroup0 to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line If using standard device naming, the option will look similar this (be sure to adjust the device name):

cryptdevice=/dev/sda3:volgroup0:allow-discards quiet
Generate GRUB’s config file
 grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Testing the installation

Check the /etc/fstab file to make sure it includes all the right partitions

 cat /etc/fstab

You should have a mountpoint for all of the partitions that were created.

Moment of truth: Reboot your machine

Exit the chroot environment
exit
Unmount everything (some errors are okay here)
umount -a
Reboot the machine
reboot

Post-Install Tweaks/Enhancements

Create swap file

dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=2048 status=progress
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile

Back up the /etc/fstab file

 cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak

Add the swap file to the /etc/fstab file

 echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | tee -a /etc/fstab

Set time zone

List time zones:

timedatectl list-timezones

Set your time zone:

timedatectl set-timezone America/Detroit

Enable time synchronization via systemd:

systemctl enable systemd-timesyncd

Set the hostname

Consider setting the hostname of your new installation. You can do so with the following command:

hostnamectl set-hostname myhostname

Also, make the same change in /etc/hosts:

nano /etc/hosts

Example lines to add:

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 myhostname

Install CPU Microde files (AMD CPU)

pacman -S amd-ucode

Install CPU Microde files (Intel CPU)

pacman -S intel-ucode

Install Xorg if you plan on having a GUI

pacman -S xorg-server

Install 3D support for Intel or AMD graphics

If you have an Intel or AMD GPU, install the mesa package:

pacman -S mesa

Install Nvidia Driver packages if you have an Nvidia GPU

pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils

Note: Install nvidia-lts if you’ve installed the LTS kernel:

pacman -S nvidia-lts

Install Virtualbox guest packages

If you’re installing Arch inside a Virtualbox virtual machine, install these packages:

pacman -S virtualbox-guest-utils xf86-video-vmware

Installing a Desktop Environment

GNOME

To install GNOME, install the gnome package:

sudo pacman -S gnome

Also consider installing GNOME Tweaks:

sudo pacman -S gnome-tweaks

To enable the login screen to appear automatically at boot, run:

sudo systemctl enable gdm

Note: At first login, one or more GNOME apps may fail to start. You might see a spinning circle or equivelant, and then the app never appears. To prevent this situation, you should first open GNOME’s settings, then “Region and Language”, and set your info there

Plasma

To install Plasma, install the plasma package:

 sudo pacman -S plasma-meta kde-applications

Enable the login manager to start automatically at boot:

sudo systemctl enable sddm

Xfce

To install xfce, install the following packages:

 sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies

Install and enable lightdm, for a graphical logon screen at boot:

sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
sudo systemctl enable lightdm

MATE

To install the MATE desktop environment, install the following packages:

sudo pacman -S mate mate-extra

Install and enable lightdm, for a graphical logon screen at boot:

 sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
 sudo systemctl enable lightdm

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