By default, Arch Linux assumes that you have a US keyboard layout. This should be fine for most people but just in case if you happen to have a different one, you can change to that.
loadkeys uk
* All the available keymaps are kept inside the /usr/share/kbd/keymaps directory.
To install Arch Linux, you need a working internet connection. To connect to Wi-Fi, follow the following commands.
ictwl
device list
station <device> scan
station <device> get-networks
station <device> connect <your_network>
exit
Update the system clock.
timedatectl set-ntp true
Pick the disk you want to install Arch Linux on.
fdisk -l
cfdisk <disk>
Select "GPT" for your UEFI based system. I typically use the following configuration for my partitions:
| Type | Size |
|---|---|
| EFI system | 500M |
| Linux swap | 4G - 8G |
| Linux filesystem | remaining space |
Take note of the device names, for example: EFI = /dev/sda1, SWAP = /dev/sda2, FILESYSTEM = /dev/sda3
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext /dev/sda3
mkswap /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
Before overwriting the default mirrorlist, make a backup of it.
cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak`
Now execute the reflector command to generate your new mirror list. You're now ready to install the base Arch Linux system.
reflector --country <your_country> --age 12 --protocol https --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist`
pacman -Sy
Install the bare minimum to run Arch Linux, I've included the neovim package here to make the next steps easier but this isn't necessary.
pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware sudo networkmanager neovim
Arch-chroot into your newly installed system to configure it before rebooting your machine. This script is part of the arch-install-scripts package.
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
arch-chroot /mnt
edit etc/locale.gen with nvim to uncomment the language(s) you want. Then run the following command to generate them.
locale-gen
edit /etc/locale.conf to set the default langauge. Here's an example to set the default language to "en_US".
LANG=en_US.UTF-8Set the password for root.
passwd
Configure a new user to run i3-wm with. It is never recommended to use i3 as root. We're giving this user sudo permissions, however this is not required.
useradd --create-home <username>
usermod -aG wheel
* To give sudo permissions: uncomment # %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL in /etc/sudoers.
Enable NetworkManager.
Install processor microcode:
# AMD
pacman -S amd-ucode
# Intel
pacman -S intel-ucode
Install xorg:
pacman -S xorg-server
Install graphics drivers:
# NVIDIA
pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils
# AMD
pacman -S xf86-video-amdgpu
# Intel integrated
pacman -S xf86-video-intel
Install the required packages for my specific i3 configuration as shared in this repository:
pacman -S i3-wm lightdm lightdm-slick-greeter efibootmgr grubEnable lightdm.service so LightDM will be started at boot; see also Display manager#Loading the display manager.
* For a complete list of packages, checkout README.md and my package lists. Make sure to read Tips_and_tricks#Install_packages_from_a_list
To start, let's create the EFI directory where we'll mount the efi partition.
mkdir /boot/efi
mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efiNow we'll use 'grub-install' to install GRUB in the newly mounted EFI partition.
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=some_nameIf you're installing Arch alongside other operating systems, you'll also need the os-prober package. This package will search for already installed operating systems on your machine and will make them a part of your GRUB. you'll have to enable it before generating the config. To do so, open the /etc/default/grub file in a text editor and uncommont the following line:
#GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
Now execute the following command to generate the configuration file:
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
* #configuration (5. GRUB theme)
exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot