Arch Install

Objective

This file contains my notes for installing Arch Linux.

Installation

Make bootable ISO

I download the Arch iso and put it on a external hard drive with Ventoy setup

• go to arch page
• dl iso lul

WiFi

• Look for you network adaper

  1# displpay network adapter info
  2ip link
  

• Use iwctl to connect to your wireless access point

  1# config network with iwctl
  2iwctl
  3station $DEVICE scan
  4station $DEVICE get-networks
  5station $DEVICE connect $SSID
  

Create Partitons

• Partitions needed

• I used fdisk to complete this part.

  1# open disk up in fdisk
  2fdisk /dev/sdX
  3fdisk /dev/nvmeX
  4fdisk $DEVICE
  

• fdisk options reference

  1# options
  2o - blank out partition table
  3g - setup gpt scheme
  4n - new partition
  5t - change type
  6w - write to partition table
  

• If you want to use LVM, you will need to create the partitions

Encryption

After you are done partitioning your disks, you can encrypt your devices. Encrypt before pv/vg/lv creation and filesystem creation

1import os
2
3data = 1 + 1
4
5print(data)

• Use cryptsetup to encrypt devices

  1# encrypt partition
  2cryptsetup luksFormat -v -s 512 -h SHA512 $DEVICE
  3cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdX1
  4
  5# unlock encrypted partition
  6cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sdX1 lv_home
  

LVM

• Setup LVM on partitions after encryption

Create Filesystems

• Root Filesystem (/)

  1# create ext4 filesystem
  2mkfs.ext4 $DEVICE
  3mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX
  4
  5# create btrfs filesystem
  6mkfs.btrfs -L archlinux $DEVICE
  

• boot partition (/boot)

  1# create vfat partition
  2mkfs.vfat -F32 $DEVICE
  3mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdX1
  

• Optional: home partition (/home)

btrfs

• Create btrfs
• Create btrfs root subvolume volume
• Create btrfs home subvolume

1# create btrfs filesystem
2mkfs.btrfs -L archlinux $DEVICE
3
4# mount btrfs filesystem
5
6# create subvolumes
7cd /mnt
8btrfs subvolume create @
9btrfs subvolume create @home

Note

• seems that you need to mount btrfs fillsystem at the device level first. anytime you decide to go back and create another subvolume (ie. swap) you will need to
• unmount the device before mounting the subolvumes

Mount filesystems

• Mount root filesystem to /mnt
• Mount the EFI System Partition (esp)
  • mkdir /mnt/boot
  • mount esp to /mnt/boot
• Mount home partition

1sudo mount -o noatime,compress=zstd:1,space_cache=v2,discard=async,subvol=@swap /dev/mapper/luks /
2sudo mount -o noatime,compress=zstd:1,space_cache=v2,discard=async,subvol=@swap /dev/mapper/luks /home

Generate fstab

• Sanity check

1# generate fstab
2genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Setup Mirrors

• Edit /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
• Top 6 mirrors will be used to intall system

Pacstrap

• Its a good idea to install some important software at this time.

1# pacstrap and install packages
2pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-headers linux-firmware vim \
3		networkmanager grub efibootmgr mtools osprober dosfstools git \
4		make python sudo fakeroot man-db man-pages dialog netctl \
5		lvm2

Chroot

1arch-chroot /mnt

mkinitcpio

• edit /etc/mkinitcpio

1HOOKS=(. . . block encrypt lvm2 filesystems btrfs . . .) run 

• run mkinitcpio

1mkinitcpio -p linux

Set locale

1# edit config file
2vim /etc/locale.gen
3
4# generate local
5locale-gen

Set timezone

1# link your localtime
2ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/*/* /etc/localtime
3
4# sync system to hardware clock
5hwclock --systohc --utc

Networking

• Enable NetworkManager.service
• Start service
• nmtui to set up wifi or manage connections

Update

Create users and groups and set passwords

• Set root password
• Add your User

1useradd -m -g users -G wheel \<user>

• change password
• visudo and edit the sudoer file to let users in the group wheel be able to execute with root priveleges
• Add your user to group wheel

Bootloader

systemd loader

grub

• Encryption

  • /etc/default/grub

  GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=“loglevl=3 cryptdevice=<dev>:<vg>:allow-discards queit”

• enable corectrl to get full control of amdgpu

  GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="<other_params>… amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff"

• Install groub to esp

1grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck

• mkdir /boot/grub/locale

• Generate configuration

1grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Optional: Create Swap File

btrfs swap

 1# create swap subvolume
 2mount $MAPPER /mnt
 3btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@swap
 4umount /mnt
 5
 6# create swapfile
 7btrfs filesystem mkswapfile --size 4g --uuid clear /swap/swapfile
 8
 9# turn on swap
10swapon /swap/swapfile
11
12# fstab
13/swap/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0

Graphical Enviroment

• Install xorg
• Install DE or Display Manager + Window Manager
• Configure