Arch-Install

A comprehensive guide and scripts for installing Arch Linux, tailored for both beginners and advanced users.

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Overview

This repository provides step-by-step instructions and scripts to streamline the installation of Arch Linux. Whether you're new to Linux or an experienced user, this guide will help you set up Arch Linux effectively.

Steps included to Install Arch Linux:

• Step 1: Connect to the internet
• Step 2 : Partitioning disk for installation
• Step 3 : Mount the partitions
• Step 4 : Installing the base system
• Step 5 : Configuring the arch linux system
• Step 6 : Adding a user in Arch Linux
• Step 7 : Update the system and installing required packages
• Step 8 : Enabling system services and daemons
• Step 9 : Bootloader setup
• Step 10 : Post-installation

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Prerequisites

• Bootable arch linux pendrive
• Stable internet connection (explained on step number 1)

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Installation

Step 1 : Connect to the internet

Connect wia the ethernet (preferrable)

or

Connect wia wifi using iwctl tool

• Enter the iwctl interactive shell:

  iwctl

• Inside iwctl shell,check for available wireless interfaces

  device list

  list of available devices will be visible.

• To connect to available network select preferred station with:

  device wlan0 show

  station wlan0 get-networks

• Connect to your wifi network with:

  station wlan0 connect your_wifi_network

  Enter the passphrase.

• Check the internet connection with

  ping archlinux.org

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Step 2 : Partitioning disk for installation

To check for available drives:

lsblk

Remove the previous partition with and intialization of new partition can be done by cfdisk:

cfdisk /dev/sda

Create three partitions of EFI boot manager, root partition and swap partition

Step 3 : Mount the partitions

root@archiso ~ # lsblk
NAME    MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
archiso/airootfs
sda      8:0    0   931.5G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0   512M 0 part
├─sda2   8:2    0    16G  0 part
└─sda3   8:3    0 914.9G  0 part
root@archiso ~ #

Here,

• sda1 is EFI boot manager.
• sda2 is swap partition (virtual memory).
• sda3 is root partition.

Paritions are still not intialized and not mounted, it can be done manually

Firstly, format root partition by

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

Then, format boot manager partition by,

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1

Lastly, create swap partition by

mkswap /dev/sda2

Its time to mount each partition

mount root partition with,

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

Boot partition can be mounted by creating mount point directory with following commands:

mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi

We don't need to mount swap partition, just turn it on with:

swapon /dev/sda2

And, the final result should look like this

root@archiso ~ # lsblk
NAME    MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
archiso/airootfs
sda      8:0    0   931.5G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0     512M  0 part /mnt/boot/efi
├─sda2   8:2    0      16G  0 part [SWAP]
└─sda3   8:3    0   914.9G  0 part /mnt
root@archiso ~ #

Step 4 : Installing the base system

Use pacstrap script to install the base package, Linux Kernal and firmware:

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware sof-firmware base-devel grub efibootmgr nano networkmanager

After entering this command, base arch system packages with its core will get installed in the root partition. It may take some time according to internet connection.

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Information of the file system can be found with genfstab with:

genfstab /mnt

You may see output look something like this:

root@archiso ~ # genfstab /mnt
# UUID=4a806a2c-2fcf-4d3f-943e-10dc76aa4b43 /  ext4 rw,relatime                                0 1
# UUID=20DA-C959                             /boot/efi  ufat rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022, 0 2
/dev/sda1                                                 shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro
# UUID=2d38df14-9f29-4a3e-b2ee-7f09ac6685a7  none       swap defaults                                0 0
/dev/sda2

This information is on terminal, but we have to store it on out disk, it can be done via:

genfstab /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab

(optional) To ensure whether it is store or not:

cat /mnt/etc/fstab

The base system is installed and stored on out disk.

Step 5 : Configuring the arch linux system

We can now enter to our system with chroot

arch-chroot /mnt

• Configuration of the Time Zone

  ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Kolkata /etc/localtime

  check the date and time with "date" command.

  Synchronize the hardware clock with

  hwclock --systohc

• Configuration of the Localization

  nano /etc/locale.gen

  I am going to use "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8", use it by uncommenting the line. And save the file with CTRL+O to save and CTRL+X to exit.

  Check the locale with:

  locale-gen

  You should see output like this:

  Generating locales...
  en_US.UTF-8... done
  Generation complete.
  

  Again, specify the locale in /etc/locale.conf with following commands:

  nano /etc/locale.conf

  and paste following line on it:

  LANG=en_US.UTF-8

  once again, you can save it with CTRL+O and CTRL+X to exit.

• Configuration of Hostname Hostname : A hostname is a name used to identify a device on a network.

nano /etc/hostname

Enter desired hostname and exit. set the password by,

passwd

Step 6 : Adding a user in Arch Linux

• Adding the user

  useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash user_name

  Here,

  -m means create a home directory.

  -G means group is wheel

  user_name, put your desired username

or

• (optional) if you don't want to put user in wheel group then,

  useradd -m user_name

• Enter the user password with:

  passwd user_name

• For running sudo commands in user do following changes

  EDITOR=nano visudo

  inside the /etc/sudoers.tmp, you will find line

  # Uncomment to allow members of group wheel to execute any command
  # %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
  

  uncomment it and we can use sudo command.

or

• (optional) If you haven't put the user in wheel group, then specify the permission of your username in following line*

  # User privilege specification
  root ALL=(ALL) ALL
  user_name ALL=(ALL) ALL
  

• To run command inside a user,

  su user_name

Step 7 : Update the system and installing required packages

• Make sure you are in home user by writing "whoami", and you will see the name of user that you are currently logged in.

• One more way to check the current user is you may see the Shell prompt some thing like

  [mukund@archlinux ~]$

  where mukund is my username and archlinux is my hostname

• It is good practice to update the system when you login first time in system. You can do it by,

  sudo pacman -Syu

  and enter your user password.

Step 8 : Enabling system services and daemons

• Make sure you are in root privilege. It can be done via "sudo su"

• Enable networkmanager with

  systemctl enable NetworkManager 

• (optional) You may want to install a login manager like lightdm or sddm, it can be done via the following commands:

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

  If you want a plain and minimal arch install it is advisable to use this login manager. But, we will install it when we set-up our desktop environment in further step number 10.

Step 9 : Bootloader setup

• We will use Grub as out Bootloader.
• Again, make sure you are in root privileges and also in root directory which can be obtained by "cd".
• You can install grub with following command:

  grub-install /dev/sda

• Configure grub with:

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

• Reboot

Congratulation, we have installed the Arch Linux.

Step 10 : Post-installation

This step is for those who want to install a Desktop Environment. I will install KDE plasma as my desktop environment.

• Firstly, log in to user and update the system with:

  sudo pacman -Syu

• To install a complete KDE Plasma Desktop Environment, use following command,

  sudo pacman -S plasma-meta kde-applications

  Here,

  plasma-meta will only install the core plasma

  kde-applications will install all its applications and will provide a complete KDE Plasma experience

• Installing to the login display manager

  sudo systemctl enable sddm

  Now onward, at the time of boot, it will use sddm as login manager

  However, to access it now, we can use following command:

  sudo systemctl enable --now sddm

  Welcome to KDE Plasma!!

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  👤 About the Developer

Hello! I'm Mukund Tapaniya, a passionate developer dedicated to creating efficient and user-friendly applications. With a strong Interest in Linux and Artificial Intelligence, I love building systems that improve processes and enhance user experiences.

• GitHub: MukundTapaniya
• LinkedIn: Mukund Tapaniya
• Email: [mukundtapaniya47@gmail.com]

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to connect!