First Arch linux installation steps

Sources used:

Create installation media

  • Download iso from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide
  • Verify signature by download sig file and running : 
    # Is this correct?
gpg --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --verify <latest-iso>-x86_64.iso.sig <Name of iso??>
  • Write iso to a usb key with dd or cp on linux, dd on macos, or Rufus on Windows: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/USB_flash_installation_medium 
    # Example for cp in linux
# Do not mount usb drive, instead do an ls in /dev/disk/by-id/ and find the usb stick
# Copy to top level usb drive
# e.g.
cp <iso image> /dev/disk/by-id/usb-something-0\:0

Start installation

  • Boot with downloaded ISO
  • Load keymap (available list here: /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/*/.map.gz) 
    # E.g. for Norway
loadkeys no-latin1
  • If wifi: connect to internet 
    # Password is stored in /var/lib/iwd/<ssid name>.psk
iwctl
device list
station <device,e.g wlan0> scan
station <device> get-networks
station <device> connect <your wifi ssid name>
  • Enable time update over internet by enabling ntp client 
    timedatectl set-ntp true
timedatactl status
  • Partition disks with the following partitions
    • EFI system partition if you booted in UEFI mode (check if dir /sys/firmware/efi/efivars is present)
    • EFI partition should probably be first and must a least be 1GB
    • Root partition /
    • Swap partion (more than 512MB)
    • Optional home partiton /home/ 
      fdisk -l (take note of the disk you will be using here)
cfdisk /dev/sd<a|b|c> 
# Do not use the number after sd<letter> 
# Select dos for BIOS boot with MBR or efi/gpt for UEFI boot
# Make root or efi partition bootable
# Set type swap on swap partition
# Select Write og answer yes
  • Format partitions
    • E.g using brtfs to support timeshift 
      # First list disks to get devicenames and then issue format commands
fdisk -l
mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sdxY # If EFI partition
mkfs.btrfs /dev/<root device>
mkswap /dev/<swap device>
mkfs.btrfs /dev/<home device>

Mount filesystem and install packages

If the installation somehow get stuck in a bad state, e.g. you are missing a package, but can connect to the internet to download it, this is where you continue after booting from the ISO image again

  • Mount the root, home and swap partitions 
    mount /dev/<root partition> /mnt
swapon /dev/<swap partition>
# If you created and home partition
mkdir /mnt/home
mount /dev/<home partition> /mnt/home
# If booted with efi
mkdir /mnt/efi
mount /dev/<efi partition> /mnt/efi
  • Install the basic packages to root at /mnt/ 
    pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware dhcpcd vim man-db man-pages texinfo iwd
  • Generate fstab with old style device names (use -U for new UUID names) 
    genfstab /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
  • Chroot into the new installation 
    arch-chroot /mnt

    Configure and reboot

  • Set timezone 
    ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Oslo /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc
  • Set localization and generate locales
    • Edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment the types you will be using in next step locale.conf
      • For this was en_US-UTF-8 UTF-8 and nb_NO ISO-8859-1 
        vim /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
  • Create locale.conf and set LANG, LC_MESSAGES and LANGUAGE 
    # E.g. for Norwegian formats, but English userinterface
vim /etc/locale.conf
LANG=nb_NO.ISO-8859-1
LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
  • Make keyboard layout persistent in /etc/vconsole.conf 
    vim /etc/vconsole.conf
KEYMAP=no-latin1
  • Create hostname file 
    vim /etc/hostname 
myhostname
  • Create hosts file 
    vim /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.1.1 <my hostname.localdomain <my hostname>
  • Enable dhcp and iwd 
    systemctl enable dhcpcd
systemctl enable iwd
  • Improve network speed (Don´t know if this is necessary in 2025) 
    sudo echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi11n.conf
  • Set root passwd with passwd
  • Install boot loader, old LEGACY version, see below for EFI 
    # It is important the the last config step reports that a linux image is found
pacman -S grub os-prober
grub-install /dev/<main device without number>
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
  • Install boot loader, EFI version 
    # It is important the the last config step reports that a linux image is found
pacman -S grub os-prober efibootmgr
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB
mkdir /mnt/windows
mount /dev/<windows boot mgr partition> /mnt/windows/
#Add GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false to /etc/default/grub
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
  • Exit chroot and reboot 
    exit
reboot

Add network again and user

  • Add wifi network again if using wifi 
    iwctl
station <device> connect <ssid name>
  • Add user with password 
    useradd -m <name>
passwd <name>
  • Add user to sudoers
    • Make sure vim is installed
    • Add EDITOR=vim to environment, e.g. update .bashrc with export EDITOR=vim
    • Edit /etc/sudoers file with visudo command
    • Add the following to the file: <user> ALL=(ALL) ALL

Add some applications

  • Web browser 
    pacman -S vivaldi
  • Tools 
    pacman -S git htop openssh libreoffice-still keepassxc vscode shotwell screenfetch gimp gnome-calculator imagemagick texlive texlive-langeuropean
# Add AllowUsers to /etc/ssh/sshd_config
systemctl enable sshd

Configure sound

  • Alsa utils will install and enable service alsa-restore
  • Pulseaudio is a server that connects to alsa to control it
  • pavucontrol will popup sound control when icon in waybar pressed
pacman -Sy alsa-utils pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pulseaudio-bluetooth pavucontrol

Disable annoying bell in login shell

Add set bell-style none to /etc/inputrc