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Arch Linux Installation

1. Signature Verification

It is recommended to verify the signature of the image before use, especially when downloading from an HTTP mirror, where downloads are subject to interception to provide harmful images.

On a system with GnuPG installed, download the PGP ISO signature to the ISO directory and verify it with:

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

Alternatively, from an existing installation of Arch Linux run:

$ pacman-key -v archlinux-version-x86_64.iso.sig





2. Initial Configuration

To begin, we need to define the keyboard language, the default language without entering the command is US. The available layouts can be listed with:

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

set the language of our keyboard with the command:

# loadkeys it

The console characters can be found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ and can also be set with setfont. For example, to use one of the larger characters suitable for HiDPI displays, run:

# setfont ter-132b





3. Internet Connection

If you have connected the machine to the internet via cable or virtual machine, you can verify your acquired IP address using this command:

# ip a

The connection can be tested with a ping test command:

# ping -c 3 archlinux.org

Connect to the Wi-Fi network using the iwctl tool:

  • # iwctl Start iwctl
  • # device list Find the name of your device, example wlan0
  • # station wlan0 scan Scan for available wireless networks
  • # station wlan0 get-networks Get the list of networks
  • # station wlan0 connect yournetworkname Connection to your network
  • # exit

If in case our devices are disabled and we are unable to run ** iwctl **:

  • # rfkill list Check the blocked or unblocked status of the devices
  • # rfkill unblock all Unblock all our blocked devices
  • # systemctl restart iwd Restart the iwd service

Retry # iwctl and proceed as above.





4. Disk Preparation





Bios-MBR

Partitioning

Identify your disk to know the naming convention to use. For example, in the case of an SSD / dev / sda or in the case of M.2 /dev/nvme0n1 and, finally, the virtual disk /dev/vda.

# lsblk -l

Once the naming of our disk is identified, use cfdisk, here we will assume to have /dev/sda. You may be asked the type of partitioning table if the disk is raw. In this case, select DOS:

# cfdisk /dev/sda

Create the necessary partitions for the base installation, assuming that we have a 128GiB SSD:

  • # 4Gib Create a partition for swap and select swap type
  • # 124Gib Create the Root partition
  • # write (yes) and quit Write the changes and exit

Formatting Partitions

  • # mkswap /dev/sda1 Swap partition
  • # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2 Root partition in EXT4

Mounting Partitions

  • # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt Mount the root partition
  • # swapon /dev/sda1 Mount the swap partition





UEFI ext4

Disk Partitioning

Identify your disk to know the naming convention to use. For example, in the case of an SSD /dev/sda or in the case of M.2 /dev/nvme0n1 and, finally, the Virtual Disk /dev/vda.

# lsblk -l

Assuming that we have 128GiB SSD and will use GPT partitioning for UEFI install:

# cfdisk /dev/sda

  • # 512Mib Create an EFI partition and select EFI system partition type
  • # 4Gib Create a partition for swap and select swap type
  • # 23.5Gib Create the Root partition
  • # 100Gib Create the Home partition
  • # write (yes) and quit Write changes and exit

Formatting Partitions

  • # mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1 EFI system partition in FAT32 for boot
  • # mkswap /dev/sda2 Swap partition
  • # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3 Root partition in EXT4
  • # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda4 Home partition in EXT4

Mounting Partitions

  • # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt Mount root partition
  • # mkdir -p /mnt/{home,boot} Create /home and /boot directories
  • # mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/home Mount home partition
  • # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot Mount boot partition
  • # swapon /dev/sda2 Mount swap partition





UEFI btrfs

Disk Partitioning

Identify your disk to know the naming convention to use. For example, in the case of an SSD /dev/sda or in the case of M.2 /dev/nvme0n1 and, finally, the Virtual Disk /dev/vda.

# lsblk -l

Assuming that we have 128GiB SSD and will use GPT partitioning for UEFI install:

# cfdisk /dev/sda

  • # 512Mib Create an EFI partition and select EFI system partition type
  • # 27.5Gib Create the Root partition
  • # 100Gib Create the Home partition
  • # write (yes) and quit Write changes and exit

Formatting Partitions

  • # mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1 EFI system partition in FAT32 for boot
  • # mkfs.btrfs /dev/sda2 Root partition in BTRFS
  • # mkfs.btrfs /dev/sda3 Home partition in BTRFS

Mounting Partitions

Create @ and @home subvolumes:

  • # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

  • # btrfs su cr /mnt/@

  • # umount /mnt

  • # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

  • # btrfs su cr /mnt/@home

  • # umount /mnt

  • # mount -o noatime,ssd,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd,discard=async,subvol=@ /dev/sda2 /mnt

  • # mkdir -p /mnt/{home,boot} Create /home and /boot directories

  • # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

  • # mount -o noatime,ssd,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd,discard=async,subvol=@home /dev/sda3 /mnt/home





UEFI lvm-ext4

Disk Partitioning

Identify your disk to know the naming convention to use. For example, in the case of an SSD /dev/sda or in the case of M.2 /dev/nvme0n1 and, finally, the Virtual Disk /dev/vda.

# lsblk -l

Assuming that we have 3 128GiB disks for LVM: sda sdb sdc use cfdisk for one disk at a time:

# cfdifk /dev/sda

  • # 512Mib Create an EFI partition and select EFI system partition type
  • # 127.5GiB Create a partition and select LVM type
  • # write (yes) and quit Write changes and exit

# cfdifk /dev/sdb

  • # 128GiB Create a partition and select LVM type
  • # write (yes) and quit Write changes and exit

# cfdifk /dev/sdc

  • # 128GiB Create a partition and select LVM type
  • # write (yes) and quit Write changes and exit

To create partitions under LVM, we need to first create a physical volume:

Create Physical Volume

# pvcreate /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1

Create Volume Group

Create and extend your volume group; you need to create a volume group on one or more physical volumes # vgcreate volume_group physical_volume for example:

# vgcreate lvm /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1

This command will first set up the three partitions as physical volumes (if needed), and then create the volume group with the three volumes. The command will alert you if it detects an existing filesystem on any device.

Create Logical Volumes

Create logical volumes, for a basic configuration, we'd need one each for root, swap, and home.

  • # lvcreate -L 120G lvm -n root
  • # lvcreate -L 8G lvm -n swap
  • # lvcreate -l 100%FREE lvm -n home

Formatting Partitions

  • # mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1 EFI system partition in FAT32 for boot
  • # mkfs.ext4 /dev/lvm/root
  • # mkfs.ext4 /dev/lvm/home
  • # mkswap /dev/lvm/swap

Mounting Partitions

  • # mount /dev/lvm/root /mnt
  • # mkdir -p /mnt/{home,boot} Create /home and /boot directories
  • # mount /dev/lvm/home /mnt/home
  • # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
  • # swapon /dev/lvm/swap

Extend an LVM group

If in the future you want to add a new physical volume to the group, see which command to use, assuming a fourth disk sdd and having partitioned it as before, we extend space for example to /dev/lvm/home:

  • # pvcreate /dev/sdd1
  • # vgextend lvm /dev/sdd1
  • # lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/lvm/home

5. Mirrorlist

Save the mirrorlist for the repositories in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist using the tool reflector, specifying the country to synchronize the servers, for example it. Multiple countries can be added using a comma, for example it,us:

# reflector --verbose -c it -a 12 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist





6. Pacstrap

Install the linux kernel and base packages to create our Arch system, also add an editor such as vim. If following the installation for lvm, add the lvm2 package to the following command:

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





7. Generate Fstab

The /etc/fstab file allows you to control which filesystems are mounted on your Linux system during boot, including Windows partitions and network shares:

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





8. Chroot

Enter the chroot and configure the following steps: Configuration of localtime, systemclock, language, keyboard mappings, localhost, Root Password, User Creation and Password.

Enter the chroot:

# arch-chroot /mnt





Time zone

  • # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Italy /etc/localtime
  • # hwclock --systohc





Localization

  • # echo "it_IT.UTF-8 UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.gen
  • # locale-gen
  • # echo "LANG=it_IT.UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.conf
  • # echo "KEYMAP=it" >> /etc/vconsole.conf





Hostname and Hosts

  • # echo "YOURMACHINENAME" > /etc/hostname
  • # echo "127.0.0.1 localhost" >> /etc/hosts
  • # echo "::1 localhost" >> /etc/hosts





User and Root

Configure Root password, be careful!

# passwd

Configure a new lowercase user, creating the directory /home/USERNAME with -m, the group wheel with -G, and the shell with -s:

# useradd -mG wheel -s /bin/bash USERNAME

Configure the real name (which appears in graphics with uppercase initial letter for example "Alessio")

# usermod -c 'REALNAME' USERNAME

Configure a password for the newly added user, be careful!

# passwd USERNAME

Configure the sudoers file for the wheel group:

# echo "USERNAME ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL" >> /etc/sudoers.d/USERNAME





mkinitcpio for lvm

add lvm2 to hooks in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

HOOKS="base udev ... block lvm2 filesystems"

then use the command:

# mkinitcpio -p linux





9. Bootloader

GRUB (Bios-MBR)

  • # pacman -S grub
  • # grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda
  • # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg





GRUB (UEFI)

  • # pacman -S grub
  • # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
  • # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

GRUB fully supports secure boot using CA keys or shim, however, the installation command is different depending on which one you intend to use.

To use CA keys, the command is:

# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=esp --bootloader-id=GRUB --modules="tpm" --disable-shim-lock

To use shim-lock, the command is:

# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=esp --bootloader-id=GRUB --modules="normal test efi_gop efi_uga search echo linux all_video gfxmenu gfxterm_background gfxterm_menu gfxterm loadenv configfile tpm"





Systemd-boot (EXT4)

  • # pacman -S efibootmgr
  • # bootctl --path=/boot install
  • # echo "default arch-*" >> /boot/loader/loader.conf
  • # vim /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

Now create the configuration of the arch.conf file opened with vim, it is important to write the correct root boot partition such as root=/dev/sdax where x is the number of the root partition.

  • title Arch Linux
  • linux /vmlinuz-linux
  • initrd /initramfs-linux.img
  • options root=/dev/sdax rw quiet loglevel=3 rd.systemd.show_status=auto rd.udev.log_level=3





Systemd-boot (BTRFS)

  • # pacman -S efibootmgr
  • # bootctl --path=/boot install
  • # echo "default arch-*" >> /boot/loader/loader.conf
  • # vim /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

Now create the configuration of the arch.conf file opened with vim, it is important to write the correct root boot partition such as root=/dev/sdax where x is the number of the root partition, add the flag for the @ subvolume.

  • title Arch Linux
  • linux /vmlinuz-linux
  • initrd /initramfs-linux.img
  • options root=/dev/sdax rootflags=subvol=@ rw quiet loglevel=3 rd.systemd.show_status=auto rd.udev.log_level=3





Systemd-boot (LVM)

  • # pacman -S efibootmgr
  • # bootctl --path=/boot install
  • # echo "default arch-*" >> /boot/loader/loader.conf
  • # vim /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

Now create the configuration of the arch.conf file opened with vim, it is important to write the correct root boot partition such as for lvm root=/dev/mapper/lvm-root

  • title Arch Linux (LVM)
  • linux /vmlinuz-linux
  • initrd /initramfs-linux.img
  • options root=/dev/mapper/lvm-root rw quiet loglevel=3 rd.systemd.show_status=auto rd.udev.log_level=3





10. Base Packages

# pacman -S xorg wpa_supplicant wireless_tools netctl net-tools iw networkmanager alsa-utils pipewire-pulse mtools dosfstools mtools ntfs-3g f2fs-tools dosfstools exfatprogs fuse firewalld acpi cronie git reflector bluez bluez-utils cups reflector





11. Desktop Environment

Choose from some of the suggested popular desktop environments:

Gnome

Complete Gnome with GDM display manager

  • # pacman -S gnome gnome-extra gdm
  • # systemctl enable gdm

Xfce4

xfce4 with Lightdm display manager

  • # pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
  • # systemctl enable lightdm

Lxde

lxde with Lightdm display manager

  • # pacman -S lxde lxde-common lxsession openbox
  • # systemctl enable lightdm

Mate

mate with Lightdm display manager

  • # pacman -S mate mate-extra
  • # systemctl enable lightdm

Plasma

plasma kde with SDDM display manager

  • # pacman -S plasma kde-applications sddm
  • # systemctl enable sddm

Cinnamon

cinnamon with Lightdm display manager

  • # pacman -S cinnamon nemo-fileroller gnome-terminal lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings xdg-user-dirs-gtk
  • # systemctl enable lightdm





12. Services

If you have enabled the service for the display manager, you can move on to enabling the other necessary services.

  • # systemctl enable NetworkManager Be careful, it is case sensitive.
  • # systemctl enable bluetooth
  • # systemctl enable reflector
  • # systemctl enable cronie
  • # systemctl enable firewalld





13. Zram

The following example describes how to configure automatic swapping to zram at boot using a single udev rule. No additional packages should be needed to get this working.

Explicitly load the module at boot:

  • # vim /etc/modules-load.d/zram.conf

  • zram

Create the following udev rule adjusting the disksize attribute as required for the swap size in this example it is 16G:

  • # vim /etc/udev/rules.d/99-zram.rules

  • ACTION=="add", KERNEL=="zram0", ATTR{comp_algorithm}="zstd", ATTR{disksize}="16G", RUN="/usr/bin/mkswap -U clear /dev/%k", TAG+="systemd"

Add /dev/zram to your fstab with a higher priority than the default:

  • # vim /etc/fstab

  • /dev/zram0 none swap defaults,pri=100 0 0





Ultimo aggiornamento: August 16, 2023
Creata: August 16, 2023