Every Arch user has an install guide. This is mine.

Tested on real hardware!

This guide is tested with archlinux-2024.06.01-x86_64.iso with an Ethernet connection. For WiFi setups, additional steps involving iwctl are necessary, as they require a different set of commands.

Enhanced Security with LUKS

• LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup): Using LUKS for disk encryption is particularly beneficial if you're using a laptop. It encrypts your entire drive, meaning your data is secure even if your computer is lost or stolen.

• Data Protection: With LUKS, there's no need to overwrite your data before selling or disposing of your computer. The encryption ensures that your data remains inaccessible without the correct passphrase.

Flexible File System with Btrfs

• Snapshots with Btrfs: Btrfs (B-tree File System) allows you to create snapshots of your system. This feature is very good for backing up and restoring your system state, making system updates and changes less risky.

• Advanced Features: Btrfs supports features like volume management, error detection, and self-repair capabilities, adding layers of robustness to your system.

Why Choose This Guide?

• Tailored for Arch Linux: Arch Linux is known for its simplicity, efficiency, and customization capabilities. This guide leverages these strengths to provide you with a powerful and personalized computing experience.

• Step-by-Step Instructions: Whether you're an old Linux user or new to Arch, this guide walks you through every step of the installation and setup process.

Note

This guide intentionally does not include a swap partition or swap file as part of the installation process. The primary reason for this is simplicity, aiming to provide a basic and straightforward installation experience.

In addition to not setting up swap, this guide also simplifies the installation process by not configuring locales and other detailed system settings. The focus is on delivering a streamlined and basic setup, ideal for users who prefer a minimal installation or for those new to Arch Linux.

Users with specific needs can always add swap space and other things post-installation.

Let's start!

Caution

Instead of /dev/sda use the proper disk. You can list your disks by using fdisk -l

ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK BEFORE ANY COMMAND IF YOU HAVE MULTIPLE DISKS

For my install for example it is /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 55.9 GiB, 60022480896 bytes, 117231408 sectors
Disk model: KINGSTON SV300S3

Fdisk Configuration

fdisk /dev/sda

Boot Partition

n
p
1
[Press Enter]
+512M
t
0c (W95 FAT 32 LBA)
a

Root Partition

n
[Press Enter]
[Press Enter]
[Press Enter]
[Press Enter]
w

Formatting Partitions

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda2
cryptsetup open /dev/sda2 cryptroot

Creating LVM (Logical Volume Management)

Tip

You can use lvs command to list all logical volumes.

You need to start by initializing physical storage devices (like hard drives or partitions) as Physical Volumes. This is done using the pvcreate command.

Volume Group (VG) with vgcreate: Once you have one or more Physical Volumes, you can create a Volume Group. This is a pool of storage made from the Physical Volumes, and it's created using the vgcreate command.

Logical Volume (LV) with lvcreate: Finally, within the Volume Group, you can create Logical Volumes. These are the volumes that your operating system and applications will use, and they are created with the lvcreate command.

• Physical Volume Create:

  pvcreate /dev/mapper/cryptroot
  

• Volume Group Create:

  vgcreate vgname /dev/mapper/cryptroot
  

• Logical Volume Create:

  lvcreate -l 100%FREE vgname -n root
  

Creating Btrfs Partition

mkfs.btrfs /dev/mapper/vgname-root

Creating Btrfs Subvolumes @ and @home

mount /dev/mapper/vgname-root /mnt
btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@
btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@home
umount /mnt

Mount Btrfs Subvolumes and Boot

Tip

Alternatively you can just use mount -o subvol=@ /dev/mapper/vgname-root /mnt and configure it later.

Also mount -o subvol=@home /dev/mapper/vgname-root /mnt/home

mount -o subvol=@,rw,noatime,autodefrag,ssd,compress=zstd /dev/mapper/vgname-root /mnt
mkdir /mnt/home
mount -o subvol=@home,rw,noatime,autodefrag,ssd,compress=zstd /dev/mapper/vgname-root /mnt/home
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Install Base System

pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware btrfs-progs base-devel nano

Tip

If you installed any software before pacstrap (termux, or byobu for example) you may need to use

pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring

Fstab

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

Configuring System

arch-chroot /mnt
pacman -Syy lvm2
nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
HOOKS=(encrypt btrfs lvm2) <- Add these to the uncommented hooks line.
mkinitcpio -P

Bootloader

Tip

With this command and using ctrl + K and ctrl + U with nano you can easily copy the correct UUID. Go to the bottom of the file and copy it (ctrl+k) then paste where the UUID needed. If you are installing on SSH you can copy paste it more easily.

pacman -S grub
grub-install /dev/sda
blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/sda2 >> /etc/default/grub

nano /etc/default/grub

now scroll down the document and copy the UUID by pressing ctrl + K

GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y (Uncomment this)

Tip

GRUB_TIMEOUT=0 (Default is 5, but for faster boot you can change it to 0)

Caution

Now this is the most important line!

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="cryptdevice=UUID=[PASTE UUID HERE]:cryptroot root=/dev/mapper/vgname-root rootfstype=btrfs rootflags=subvol=@"

For example: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="cryptdevice=UUID=0d02ca7d-b4bd-47a8-8df8-70c972be025f:cryptroot root=/dev/mapper/vgname-root rootfstype=btrfs rootflags=subvol=@"

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

passwd (Don't forget to set your root password)

Network

Pacman -S networkmanager
systemctl enable NetworkManager < Capital letters

Note

From now you can exit chroot by typing exit and restart the computer by typing reboot. Don't forget to set up networkmanager. You can only login as root user for now.

Users + Sudo

useradd -m test (m is creating home directory)
passwd test
pacman -S sudo
EDITOR=nano visudo
test ALL=(ALL) ALL <-- Add this to the end of the file, or the beginning.

# For testing
su - test
sudo ls /root

Note

If you want to use SDDM you first need to create one user. So it displays it automatically.

KDE + SDDM

Tip

If you want a minimal installation, you can just install plasma-desktop.

pacman -S xorg
pacman -S plasma kde-applications
pacman -S sddm
systemctl enable sddm
nano /etc/sddm.conf
[Autologin]
User=test
Session=plasma

Hungarian Keyboard

nano /etc/vconsole.conf
KEYMAP=hu

In KDE Konsole for examle: setxkbmap hu
or in tty: loadkeys hu

Timeshift

pacman -S timeshift
systemctl enable --now cronie
systemctl start cronie

Edit your fstab at /etc/fstab

Example:

UUID=[Your UUID] / btrfs subvol=@,rw,noatime,autodefrag,ssd,compress=zstd 0 1  
UUID=[Your UUID] /home btrfs subvol=@home,rw,noatime,autodefrag,ssd,compress=zstd 0 2

Explanation of Parameters:

• UUID=[Your UUID]: Replace [Your UUID] with the UUID of your Btrfs partition.
• subvol=@: Specifies the subvolume to mount. Replace @ with your specific subvolume name if it's different.
• rw: Mounts the filesystem in read-write mode.
• noatime: Disables updating the access time on files to improve performance.
• autodefrag: Enables automatic defragmentation of the filesystem.
• ssd: Optimizes for SSD usage (change to nosdd if not on an SSD).
• compress=zstd: Uses Zstandard compression for efficient file storage.
• 0 1: Sets the dump and fsck order. Typically 0 1 for the root filesystem.

Using BtrFS

To check subvolumes

sudo btrfs subvolume list /

Managing Btrfs Space Usage and Deleting Subvolumes

1. Enable Quotas for Btrfs

To manage space efficiently, first enable quotas on the Btrfs filesystem:

sudo btrfs quota enable /

2. Rescan Quotas

Initiate a rescan of the quotas. This ensures that the quota information is up to date:

sudo btrfs quota rescan -s /

3. Show Quota Groups

Display the quota groups (qgroups) to see space usage:

sudo btrfs qgroup show -pcre /

4. Sort by Space Usage

To find out which backup is using the most space, sort the qgroups by their exclusive space usage:

sudo btrfs qgroup show -pcre / | awk '{print $3, $0}' | sort -h | cut -d' ' -f2-

This command sequence does the following:

• awk '{print $3, $0}': Extracts the exclusive size and prints it alongside the entire line.
• sort -h: Sorts the output in human-readable format.
• cut -d' ' -f2-: Removes the exclusive size field, leaving the rest of the data.

5. Delete a Subvolume by ID

If you want to delete a subvolume by its ID, use the following command. Replace [Your ID] with the actual subvolume ID:

sudo btrfs subvolume delete --subvolid [Your ID]

Note: Be cautious with this operation, as deleting a subvolume is irreversible and can lead to data loss if performed incorrectly.

Configuring fail2ban

If you have an SSH server installed, it is advisable to use SSH keys for authentication and also enable fail2ban.

Installation

First, install fail2ban:

sudo pacman -S fail2ban

Configuration

Then, go to the /etc/fail2ban folder and make a file called jail.local:

nano jail.local

This is a very basic fail2ban configuration. You can configure it further. Here's an example configuration:

[sshd]
enabled = true
port = ssh
filter = sshd
logpath = /var/log/sshd_auth.log
maxretry = 2
findtime = 300000
bantime = -1

This configuration allows 2 login attempts before banning the IP address.

Managing fail2ban Service

Restart and check the status of fail2ban:

systemctl restart fail2ban
systemctl status fail2ban

Logs and Status

You can view the log at /var/log/fail2ban.log or check the status of a specific jail like sshd:

fail2ban-client status sshd

My Favorite Terminal Applications

A list of some of my favorite terminal applications and how to install and use them on systems using pacman package manager (like Arch Linux).

ttyd

ttyd is a program that allows you to share your terminal over the internet.

• Installation:

  sudo pacman -S ttyd

• Usage:

  The default mode is readonly. For example, if you want to share your top command:

  ttyd top

dool

dool is great software for checking server status, CPU usage, etc., with a nice format.

• Installation:

  sudo pacman -S dool

nmap

While there are simpler ways to check open ports on your computer, I just love nmap for checking open ports.

• Usage:

  nmap -p- localhost