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.UTF-8 UTF-8 
        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.UTF-8
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 (maybe only on protected networks)
    • 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 tools and applications

  • Web browser : vivaldi
  • Photo management : shotwell Seems to be to slow and buggy
  • Office : libreoffice-still
  • Photo editing: gimp
  • Office for science nerds: texlive texlive-langeuropean
  • Password management: keepassxc
  • Coding: vscode and git
  • ssh login: openssh
  • Task manager: htop
  • Cool sysinfo: screenfetch
  • Calculator: gnome-calculator
pacman -S vivaldi git htop openssh libreoffice-still keepassxc vscode screenfetch gimp gnome-calculator texlive texlive-langeuropean

Configure ssh server

  • Add AllowUsers to /etc/ssh/sshd_config to enable user login
  • Enable sshd daemon
  • Maybe disable if travelling and using open networks
vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# Add AllowUsers <username>
systemctl enable sshd

Configure sound and install Spotify

  • Alsa utils will install and enable service alsa-restore
  • Pipewire is a server that connects to alsa to control it
    • It is a replacement for pulseaudio and works with both cosmic and hyprland desktop
  • pavucontrol will popup sound control when icon in waybar pressed
pacman -Sy pipewire pipewire-pulse alsa-utils pavucontrol spotify-launcher

Disable annoying bell in login shell

Add set bell-style none to /etc/inputrc

Install solaar to check battery on logitech devices

pacman -S solaar

Download udev permissions from git repo: solaar git repo and copy to /etc/udev/rules.d/ to enable access to devices without being root (I wonder if this is completely safe)

sudo cp ~/Downloads/42-logitech-unify-permissions.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/

Then reboot computer to make udev rules take effect.

Then it is possible to issue solaar command.

Update Oct, 2025: Need to add MODE=”666” to the bottom of the rules file to enable config access to devices.

Enable access for Lemokey/Keychron web config tools

My Lemokey mouse G2 worked out of the box on linux, but the web configuration tool launcher.lemokey.com was not able to access the mouse.

To enable user access to the device I copied the above 42-logitech-unify-permissions.rules files and made a new file 99-lemokey.rules that enabled access.

To find the device idVendor and idProduct id’s the command lsusb can be used:

Bus 001 Device 007: ID 362d:d028  Ultra-Link 8K

The first hex number is idVendor and second id idProduct. This is the wireless connection. If the mouse was connected with cable a second row would show up with another idProduct for usb. It seems this is idProduct is not necessary in the configuration file.

NOTE: Remember to unplug the cable if connecting wireless or else the web config tool will not find the correct idProduct and complain that firmware needs to be upgraded.

NOTE2: It might be necessary to connect it with cable first after the rules are applied.

Reboot when config is copied to /etc/udev/rules.d/.

Update Oct, 2025: Need to add MODE=”666” to the bottom of the rules file to enable config access to devices.

Install kuro to get Microsoft ToDo

There are several versions. This is an appimage version that bundles everything in one image and uses fuse2 to run. I am co maintainer on this one.

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/kuro-appimage.git
cd kuro-appimage
makepkg -si

Install Microsoft teams

There are several versions of teams in the AUR. I have used this one which seems to work ok: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/teams-for-linux-bin

I also added a line in the hyprland config to start teams minimized when starting hyprland. exec-once = /opt/teams-for-linux/teams-for-linux %U --minimized

Installation:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/teams-for-linux-bin.git
cd teams-for-linux-bin
makepkg -si

Security

Using simple nmap commands show that only the ssh daemon port is open, but is not accepting root logins. So it should be fairly safe.

I also tried the vulscan script from arch repo with nmap, but that seemed to have a bug.

Thinking about it is probably smart to

  • disable the ssh daemon when outside the home network
  • not have sudo rights on user
  • and be careful with the passwords
# Scan max range of ports
nmap <ip> -p 1-65535

# Detect version of ssh protocol
nmap -sV <ip>

# Prope the ssh port for max information
sudo nmap -p 22 -sU -A <ip>