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arch linux installation for noobs
Welcome to Arch-Linux install guide for noobs like me. Who take hard-time reading arch-wiki, which is a god among wiki's.
Note: This Guide is simplified from ArchWiki installation guide, and a bit from here, here
Getting Arch: Pre-Install (check this out once)
Firstly, Download Arch Linux form here, then burn the ISO file into a disk or Pen-drive(using rufus in windows or etcher for linux etc), then boot into the installtion media, which automatically logins as root.
This guide assumes that you are using uefi mode enabled.
To check if UEFI is enabled (if the following file is populated, then yes)
ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
To ensure internet is working, If the following works skip next step.
ping google.com
Wireless configuration:
To find network card name (note: lo is loop device) lspci -v or ip link
To shows available networks
wifi-menu -o (network card name)
To check if loaded
dmesg | grep (network card name)
To show network up down status
ip link show dev (network card name)
To manually configure static IP
sudo cp /etc/netctl/examples/ethernet-static /etc/netctl/(network card name)
sudo nano /etc/netctl/(network card name)
change interface to your network card name and save the file.
sudo netctl enable (network card name)
sudo netctl start (network card name)
sudo systemctl stop dhcpcd
sudo systemctl disable dhcpcd
To verify network is up or down
ip addr
For more Network Configuration
timedatectl set-ntp true
timedatectl status
To identify the device where the system will be installed lsblk
x is your device, usually x=a.
fdisk -l
fdisk /dev/sdx
For uefi we need a fat32 esp partition (For windows pre-installed this partition is already created by windows and is usually about 500mb. Do not create new partition if this is available or else make one)
Note: Do not format this partition as you may loose windows boot loader More Dual Boot
Basic Partitioning:
/dev/sda1 This is root partition around 10gb, ext4
/dev/sda2 This is swap partition around 2*RAM size(usually for less ram devices below 8)
/dev/sda3 This is ESP partition around 500mb, FAT32 (skip this for dual boot as mentioned above)
/dev/sda5 This is home partition rest of space, ext4
To list all partitions, Open fdisk dialogue
fdisk -l /dev/sda
fdisk /dev/sda
In fdisk dialogue use n to create new partitions, first initial block can be default, end point can be given +10G(+[size][K,G,etc]).
after creating required parts w to save and exit
Should format all partitions except swap
To list all partitions
lsblk /dev/sda
Formatting boot partition (do not format esp if not created by you i.e if using already available esp).
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda3
Setup swap space
mkswap /dev/sda2
swapon /dev/sda2
Formatting Root and Home partitions
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda5
check again using lsblk to verify
Mounting Root Partition
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
Mounting Boot Part(here y is your esp partition number, In this guide it is sda3)
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sday /mnt/boot
Mounting Home partition
mkdir /mnt/home
mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/home
Pacstrap:
Installing arch linux base system
pacstarp /mnt base base-devel
Fstab:
Generating fstab file
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
To verify fstab entries
cat /mnt/etc/fstab
Chroot:
changing root into new system
arch-chroot /mnt
Time zone:
Check your time zone using ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/ and setup using:
ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/(Region)/(city) /etc/localtime
Adjusting time skew and setting to utc
hwclock --systohc --utc
Locale:
In the following file uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 in the file and save and quit.
nano /etc/loacle.gen
To create new location
locale-gen
Set system locale
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
Add a hostname (Feel free to change hostid in the following command)
echo hostid > /etc/hostname
Deprecated method:
To find your interface or network card name
ip link
enabling dhcpcd service for wired connections where nwname is interface name from above command
systemctl enable dhcpcd@nwname.service
Install the following for wireless connections
pacman -S iw wpa_supplicant dialog
(check out wireless management arch wiki)
Modern method:
pacman -S networkmanager
systemctl enable NetworkManager.service
nmtui-connect
Initramfs:
mkinitcpio -p linux
Password:
passwd
For amd install amd-ucode, For intel install intel-ucode package
In this Guide we are using grub (widely used)
First install grub and efibootmgr
pacman -S grub efibootmgr
To install grub (ESP is the 500mb partition we created, at esp type where you mounted, here in this guide it is /boot)
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=esp --bootloader-id=GRUB
To regenerate the grub main config
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
If windows is pre-installed then add the following to grub to make windows boot option visible: add this
To exit from chroot exit or ctrl + D
To manually unmount all partitions
umount -R /mnt
To restart the machine reboot
Arch Linux Installation is complete.
Login as root
To update system pacman -Syu
User Managerment:
Root is dangerous to play with, It is always recommend to use a user.
To install sudo pacman -S sudo
To add a user account and give a password, where uname is your username (wheel is a group name)
useradd -m -G wheel uname
passwd uname
To give sudo access, run visudo and uncomment the required line (mostly %wheel ALL =(ALL) ALL)
export EDITOR=nano && visudo
Logout and Login as user
Install Basic Packages:
sudo pacman -S gcc make wget tar tmux
I recommend reading these:
systemctl usage,
system maintenance,
security.
Finally, Install a aur helper.
Display Servers:
Xorg: old stable, Wayland: new (not so stable)
Here we are using Xorg (also known as X), Install xorg-server xorg-apps xorg-server-utils
sudo pacman -S xorg-sever xorg-apps xorg-server-utils
Driver Installation:
To identify driver card
lspci | grep -e VGA -e 3D
Install appropriate driver from the list
pacman -Ss xf86-video
Install required display drivers
Install Desktop Environment or Window Manager of choice. DE's, WM's
Most Used:
DE's: GNOME, KDE, LXDE, XFce.
WM's: i3, openbox, fluxbox, awesomebox, bspwm, dwm.
Install Display Manager:
Starts GUI automatically, Select a Display manager
Enable required display manager service using systemd
systemctl enable lightdm.service
Use a custom greeter to login using credentials: LightDm Greeters
More:
Install most-essential applications from here
Install required applications from here