archinstall

This guide is meant to serve as a mostly linear walkthrough for installing Arch linux manually. I go through all the steps in the official Arch Linux installation guide and add some more in-depth explanations to sections that are oftentimes troublesome. I also added some steps in the pre-installation section that are aimed at Windows users who might be unfamiliar with the processes of torrenting, verifying digital signatures, and preparing ISO files. For those who would like to test Arch out on a VM first, I’ve included a general setup guide for VirtualBox. At the end, I’ve outlined a few post-installation steps for getting the system into a useable state with a working compositor, window manager, and a few other essentials.

Info

Due to the inherently transitive nature of Arch Linux, it is entirely likely that some portions of this writeup will become outdated. You should always consult the official Arch wiki for the most up-to-date information.

Although this guide goes over all the installation steps in detail, I’d actually recommend using the archinstall installation script in most cases. If you decide to use archinstall, please read the wiki first, as there are a few gotchas that you must keep in mind.

1 Pre-installation

1.1 Acquire an installation image

A torrent client is recommended for downloading the ISO file—the qBittorrent client is a good choice. Download the latest stable version, but do not open the executable yet. On the qBittorrent downloads page, open the checksums and library versions tab and copy the SHA-256 checksum for the 64-bit installer. Open a PowerShell instance, navigate to the folder containing the executable, and verify the checksum by typing:

(Get-FileHash ".\qbittorrent_version_x64_setup.exe").Hash -eq "expected-hash"

If the prompt returns True, go ahead and install qBittorrent.

Next, visit the Arch Linux download page and click the magnet link under the BitTorrent section to download the ISO. This will trigger a prompt to open the selected file using qBittorrent, after which the file will begin the torrent process. Once the download is complete, the client will begin “seeding” the file for other users. This process can be terminated manually by removing the file from the transfer list.

1.2 Verify signature

Before using the Arch Linux ISO, the signature attached to the file must be verified using GNU Privacy Guard (GPG). In a PowerShell instance, install gpg via winget:

winget install GnuPG.GnuPG

Visit the checksums section of the Arch Linux download page and download the ISO PGP signature file. Navigate to the directory containing the ISO file and validate the signature using gpg:

gpg --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --verify archlinux-version-x86_64.iso.sig archlinux-version-x86_64.iso

The expected output is:

Good signature from "First Last <developername@archlinux.org>" [unknown]

The User ID might not be certified, and will generate the following output:

WARNING: The key's User ID is not certified with a trusted signature!

To be extra cautious, visit the developers page and match the primary key fingerprint output by gpg to the PGP key listed under the appropriate developer.

1.3 Prepare an installation medium

For a hardware installation, dowload Rufus to create a bootable USB flash drive. After downloading, right-click the executable, go to Properties, and navigate to the Digital Signatures tab. The signed name should state “Akeo Consulting.”

Plug in a USB flash drive and launch Rufus. Select the ISO downloaded earlier and change the partition scheme to GPT. The target system should automatically switch to UEFI (non CSM). Name the volume and leave the file system as Large FAT32 with a cluster size of 32 kB. Click START to write the ISO to the removable drive. If a pop-up is encountered, continue with writing the disk in ISO image mode. Rufus can be closed when the status bar reads READY. Eject the drive and physically remove it.

1.4 Boot the live environment

Note

Arch Linux installation images do not support Secure Boot. You will need to disable Secure Boot to boot the installation medium. If desired, Secure Boot can be set up after completing the installation.

Boot to the BIOS settings on the target machine. Find Secure Boot and disable it, as this feature will prevent booting from an external device if this step is not performed. While in the BIOS, hyper-threading and CPU virtualization should also be enabled. Save the changed settings and exit the BIOS.

Plug the removable drive into the target machine and power it on. Enter the startup interrupt menu and proceed to the boot selection menu. Select the removable drive as the boot device. After arriving at the GNU GRUB menu, select Arch Linux install medium (x86_64, UEFI). You’re loaded in once the Zsh tty prompt appears:

root@archiso ~ #

1.5 Set the console keyboard layout and font

For users based in the United States, these settings can remain unchanged as the default console keymap is US. The available layouts can be listed with:

localectl list-keymaps

To set the keyboard layout, pass its name to loadkeys(1). For example, to set a German keyboard layout:

loadkeys de-latin1

Console fonts are located in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ and can likewise be set with setfont(8) omitting the path and file extension. For example, to use one of the largest fonts suitable for HiDPI screens, run:

setfont ter-132b

1.6 Verify the boot mode

Verify the boot mode by checking the UEFI bitness:

cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size

If the command returns 64, then the system is booted in UEFI mode and has a 64-bit x64 UEFI. If the command returns 32, then system is booted in UEFI mode and has a 32-bit IA32 UEFI; while this is supported, it will limit the boot loader choice to systemd-boot. If the file does not exist, the system may be booted in BIOS (or CSM) mode. If the system did not boot in the mode you desired (UEFI vs BIOS), refer to your motherboard’s manual.

1.7 Connect to the internet

Ensure that your network interface is listed and enabled by typing:

iplink

Some number of network devices should appear, the amount and type dependent upon the current machine. Devices named lo and labeled link/loopback can be ignored. Once the network has been set up using one of the options below, test that the network has been properly connected to by running:

ping archlinux.org

Note

In the installation image, systemd-networkd, systemd-resolved, iwd and ModemManager are preconfigured and enabled by default. That will not be the case for the installed system.

Ethernet

Ethernet connectivity works out of the box. Simply plug in the ethernet cable.

Wireless

For wireless connectivity, enter the iwctl utility:

iwctl

Get a list of the wireless devices:

device list

Here, something like wlan0 should appear. Ensure the device is powered on by reading the appropriate column. If the device is powered off, type:

device device_name set-property Powered on

Still in the iwd prompt, type adapter list and ensure that the adapter is also powered on. If not, type:

adapter adapter_name set-property Powered on

Begin the scan for networks within range by typing:

station device_name scan

You can then list all available networks:

station device_name get-networks

Connect to the appropriate network with the command

station device_name connect SSID

and enter the password for the network. Finally, exit the iwd prompt by typing exit.

1.8 Update the system clock

In the live environment, systemd-timesyncd is enabled by default and time will be synced automatically once a connection to the internet is established. Use timedatectl(1) to ensure the system clock is accurate:

timedatectl

For now, the time zone should be UTC, the system clock should be syncronized, and network time protocol (NTP) should be active. If NTP reads inactive, type:

timedatectl set-ntp true

1.9 Partition the disks

Before getting into the details of disk partitioning, some choices must be made about the overall file structure of the system.

The official wiki suggests using a single root partition for simplicity.

Single root partition

Discrete partitions

When recognized by the live system, disks are assigned to a block device such as /dev/sda, /dev/nvme0n1 or /dev/mmcblk0. To identify these devices, use lsblk or fdisk:

fdisk -l

Remove old partitions.

Tip

Check that your NVMe drives and Advanced Format hard disk drives are using the optimal logical sector size before partitioning.

The following partitions are required for a chosen device:

• One partition for the root directory /.
• For booting in UEFI mode: an EFI system partition.

If you want to create any stacked block devices for LVM, system encryption or RAID, do it now.

Use a partitioning tool like fdisk to modify partition tables. For example:

Create a new GUID Partition Table (GPT).

fdisk /dev/selected_disk

1.10 Format the partitions

Format the EFI system partition to FAT32 using mkfs.fat(8).

Warning

Only format the EFI system partition if you created it during the partitioning step. If there already was an EFI system partition on disk beforehand, reformatting it can destroy the boot loaders of other installed operating systems.

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/efi_partition

If you created a partition for swap, initialize it with mkswap(8):

mkswap /dev/swap_partition

Create an Ext4 file system on the root partition:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/root_partition

Same with home:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/home_partition

1.11 Mount the file systems

Mount the boot partition:

Tip

Run mount(8) with the --mkdir option to create the specified mount point. Alternatively, create it using mkdir(1) beforehand.

mount --mkdir /dev/efi_partition /mnt/boot

Enable the swap partition with swapon(8):

swapon /dev/swap_partition

Root:

mount /dev/root_partition /mnt

Home:

mount --mkdir /dev/home_partition /mnt/home

2 Installation

2.1 Select the mirrors

Before installing any packages with pacman, it is beneficial to select a list of mirror servers optimized for geographic locality and download speed. On the live system, after connecting to the internet, reflector updates the mirror list by choosing 20 most recently synchronized HTTPS mirrors and sorting them by download rate. However, I’d like to show the process manually.

First, back up the current mirrorlist in case of bad overwrites:

cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.backup

Use the built-in reflector script to save a list of the 20 most recently syncronized mirrors (located in the US and using the https protocol) into the pacman mirrorlist, sorted by download rate:

reflector --verbose --latest 20 --country US --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

To enable parallel downloads, open the pacman configuration file for editing:

vim /etc/pacman.conf

The following lines will be listed under the [options] section. Uncomment them to enable colors (for increased clarity when downloading and installing packages) and parallel downloads:

[options]
#Colors
...
#ParallelDownloads = 5

2.2 Install essential packages

Note

No software or configuration (except for /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist) gets carried over from the live environment to the installed system.

Use the pacstrap(8) script to initialize an empty pacman keyring into the /mnt target, followed by installing the base package, Linux kernel, and firmware for common hardware:

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware

Tip

• You can substitute linux with a kernel package of your choice, or you could omit it entirely when installing in a container
• You could omit the installation of the firmware package when installing in a virtual machine or container

The base package does not include all tools from the live installation, so installing more packages may be necessary for a fully functional base system.

3 Configure the system

3.1 Fstab

Generate an fstab file (use -U or -L to define by UUID or labels, respectively):

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

Check the resulting file:

vim /mnt/etc/fstab

It should read something like:

3.2 Chroot

Change root into the new system:

arch-chroot /mnt

3.3 Time

Set the time zone:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime

Run hwclock(8) to generate /etc/adjtime:

hwclock --systohc

This command assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC. To prevent clock drift and ensure accurate time, set up time synchronization using a Network Time Protocol (NTP) client such as systemd-timesyncd.

3.4 Localization

Edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed UTF-8 locales. Generate the locales by running:

locale-gen

Create the locale.conf(5) file, and set the LANG variable accordingly:

/etc/locale.conf
----------------
LANG=en_US.UTF-8

If you set the console keyboard layout, make the changes persistent in vconsole.conf(5):

/etc/vconsole.conf
------------------
KEYMAP=de-latin1

3.5 Network configuration

Create the hostname file:

/etc/hostname
-------------
yourhostname

Complete the network configuration for the newly installed environment. That may include installing suitable network management software, configuring it if necessary and enabling its systemd unit so that it starts at boot.

3.6 Initramfs

3.7 Root password

Set the root password:

passwd

3.8 Boot loader

Install the GRUB boot loader and efi boot manager:

pacman -S grub efibootmgr

Execute the following command to install the GRUB EFI application grubx64.efi to /boot/efi/EFI/GRUB/ and install its modules to /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB

Use the grub-mkconfig tool to generate /boot/grub/grub.cfg:

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

To acquire updated microcode, depending on the processor, install one of the following packages:

pacman -S ...

• amd-ucode for AMD processors,
• intel-ucode for Intel processors.

GRUB will automatically detect the microcode update and configure itself appropriately. After installing the microcode package, regenerate the GRUB configuration to activate loading the microcode update by running:

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

4 Reboot

Exit the chroot environment by typing exit.

Manually unmount all the partitions with umount -R /mnt: this allows noticing any “busy” partitions, and finding the cause with fuser(1).

Finally, restart the machine by typing reboot: any partitions still mounted will be automatically unmounted by systemd. Remember to remove the installation medium and then login into the new system with the root account.

5 Post-installation

Coming soon!