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Arch Linux installation guide

Arch Linux installation guide

Last updated: May 1, 2019

The installation guide below is a summarized version of the official Installation Guide.

Installing basic system

Choose correct keyboard keymaps
```
loadkeys keymap
```
Assert boot mode
```
ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
```
Make sure internet connection is present
```
ping 8.8.8.8
```
Set correct system time
```
timedatectl set-ntp true
```
Partition the disks
1. List disks using fdisk
```
fdisk -l
```
2. If UEFI is present, use GPT and make EFI partition, swap, and root /
```
cfdisk /dev/sdX # or /dev/nvme0nX
```
3. Set correct size, type and write partition table.

Format the disks

Make EFI partition

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sdXA # A is EFI partition

Make swap
```
mkswap /dev/sdXB # B is swap partition
```
Turn swap on
```
swapon /dev/sdXB
```

Make root fs

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdaXC # C is root partition

Mount root partition to mnt
```
mount /dev/sdXC /mnt
```

Install necessary packages

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware vim nano man zsh

Configuring system

Write filesystem table
```
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
```
Change root to /mnt
```
arch-chroot /mnt
```

Set correct time zone

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich /etc/localtime

hwclock --systohc

Set locale
1. Uncomment the correct locale
```
vim /etc/locale.gen
```
2. Set locale
```
locale-gen
```

Set hostname and hosts

Add your hostname yourhostname
```
echo "yourhostname" >> /etc/hostname
```

Append the following to /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1   localhost
::1         localhost
127.0.1.1   yourhostname.localdomain    yourhostname

Setup root password using passwd
```
passwd
```

Add default users

Add new user
```
useradd -m -s /bin/zsh newuser
```
Give new user a password with passwd
```
passwd newuser
```

Add new user to the wheel

usermod -aG wheel,audio,video,optical,storage newuser

Setup sudo
```
pacman -S sudo
```
Enable wheel with visudo
```
visudo
```

Setup grub

Install grub and efi-tools

pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstoosl os-prober mtools

Make efi boot directory
```
mkdir /boot/EFI
```
Mount efi partition
```
mount /dev/sdXA /boot/EFI
```

Install grub (efi) for x86-64

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck

Make grub config file
```
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
```

Network manager for internet connectivity

pacman -S networkmanager

systectl enable NetworkManager # enable network manager

Optional: Reboot to conclude with bare system setup.

exit # now back to iso image
umount -R /mnt
shutdown now # or reboot

Additional setup for a complete system

Install audio
```
pacman -S pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa
```
Install a Graphical user interface; Display server (xorg), display driver (nvidia), desktop environment (gnome), window manager, display manager (gdm).
1. Install packages
```
pacman -S gnome nvidia # gnome-extra for further applications
```
2. Enable display manager for next reboot
```
systemctl enable gdm.service
```
Additional network tools
```
pacman -S openssh rsync
```
Development tools: git, htop
```
pacman -S git htop
```

Reboot

exit # now back to iso image
umount -R /mnt
shutdown now # or reboot