Install Arch Linux

Overview

the sections in this page cover:

1. partitioning & formatting the host computer
2. acquiring an Internet connection for the host computer
3. synchronizing the host computer’s system clock with the Internet

Partitioning & Formatting

this section covers partitioning and formatting the host computer. all existing data on the host computer will most likely unrecoverable upon completing the instructions in this section.

System Partitions

we will be partitioning the host computer as follows:

1. this partition shall be used by the UEFI bootloader to boot up the Arch Linux operating system on boot.

   • Device: /dev/sda1
   • Size: 512 MB
   • Type: EFI System
   • Format: fat32

2. this partition shall be where the overflowing data from RAM is stored.

   • Device: /dev/sda2
   • Size: sizeof(RAM)
   • Type: Linux Swap
   • Format: linux swap

3. this partition shall be used to store the root file system (/).

   • Device: /dev/sda3
   • Size: remaining memory
   • Type: Linux Filesystem
   • Format: ext4

Partitioning the Host System with cfdisk

this section has instructions for using cfdisk to partition the host computer into the partitions mentioned in the previous section.

cfdisk provides a pseudo graphical user interface for manipulating the system’s partition table. it actually uses fdisk under the hood to manipulate system’s the partition table.

1. start cfdisk; enter the command below into a Terminal:

    # cfdisk
   

   the cfdisk interface should appear…

2. some brief instructions on using cfdisk:
   • use the ← and → arrow keys to select different operations to perform
   • use the ↑ and ↓ arrow keys to select which partition to perform the operation on
   • press enter to execute the operation.
3. use the Delete operation to delete all existing partitions from the host computer.
4. use the New operation to allocate the three partitions discussed earlier with their appropriate sizes.
5. use the Type command to change the types of the allocated partitions to their appropriate types.

6. use the Write command to commit and apply your changes to the host computer’s partition table.

   

7. use the Quit command to exit cfdisk.

Formatting the Host System with mkswap and mkfs

this section uses the mkswap and mkfs tools to format the partitions allocated in the previous section. (beware! partition device names used in the following steps may be different in your case):

1. format the EFI System Partition on /dev/sda1 to be fat32.

    # mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1
   

2. format the Swap Partition on /dev/sda2 to be linux swap.

    # mkswap /dev/sda2
   

3. finaly, format the Root Partition on /dev/sda3 to be ext4.

    # mk.ext4 /dev/sda3
   

Acquiring an Internet Connection

skip this section if you are already able to access the Internet. you can check whether or not you have access to the Internet by pinging Google with the command ping 8.8.8.8.

if you do not already have an Internet connection, it is likely that you need to connect to a wireless network. this section uses the netctl service to do just that; however, if this is not the case, the instructions in this section can still be useful!

Instructions

follow the steps below to set up an Internet connection:

1. create a netctl profile in the /etc/netctl directory. the name of the profile in our case is default. use the command below to create the profile. an example profile is provided in the next section (Example Netctl Profile). more example profiles can be found in the /etc/netctl/examples directory.

    # nano /etc/netctl/default
   

2. have netctl attempt to establish a connection using your profile. this command can take a while:

    # netctl start default
   

3. verify that you have an Internet connection:

    # ping 8.8.8.8
   

   

Example Netctl Profile (/etc/netctl/default)

below is a sanitized version of the netctl profile I used for my network for reference.

Interface=wlp1s0
Connection=wireless
Security=wpa
IP=dhcp
ESSID='myHomeNetwork'
Key='superSecurePassword'

Synchronizing the System Clock with the Internet

follow the instructions in this section to synchronize the host computer’s system clock with the Internet clock.

1. turn on network clock synchronization.

   enter the command:

    # timedatectl set-ntp true
   

2. verify that network clock synchronization has been enabled and acquired.

   enter the command:

    # timedatectl status
   

   make sure that you have Network time on: yes and NTP synchronized: yes in the output of the command above.

   

Install Arch Linux

this section assumes that:

• the EFI System Partition is on /dev/sda1
• the Linux Swap Partition is on /dev/sda2
• the Linux Root Partition is on /dev/sda3

follow the instructions below to install the Arch Linux base packages onto the host system:

1. mount the Linux Root Partition:

    # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
   

2. create a boot directory for the EFI System Partition in the Linux Root Partition:

    # mkdir /mnt/boot
   

3. mount the EFI System Partition onto the boot directory:

    # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
   

4. download the Arch Linux base packages into the mounted partitions:

    # pacstrap /mnt base
   

Miscellaneous System Configuration

1. generate the fstab file so the system will know how to mount the partitions:

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

2. change the root directory of the terminal:

    # arch-chroot /mnt
   

3. set the locale of the system:

   1. uncomment any lines in the /etc/locale.gen file to enable those localizations. we uncommented en_US.UTF-8.

   2. generate the characters for the selected locales:

       # locale-gen
      

   3. create the file locale.conf to set the localization of the host system. in this case, we are setting the localization of the host system to en_US.UTF-8:

       # echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf
      

4. create the /etc/hostname file to set the name of the host computer by writing to the file:

    # echo "hostname" > /etc/hostname
   

5. if the host system will be connecting to the LAN wirelessly, run the following command to install the appropriate packages:

    # pacman -S -y iw wpa_supplicant dialog
   

6. set the password of the root user account:

    # passwd
   

7. install and configure the systemd-boot bootloader:

   1. install the systemd-boot bootloader:

       # bootctl --path=/boot install
      

   2. modify the /boot/loader/loader.conf file to configure the bootloader to load the appropriate bootloader entries from the /boot/loader/entries directory:

       # cat << EOF > /boot/loader/loader.conf
       > default arch
       > timeout 3
       > editor 0
       > EOF
      

   3. discover the partition UUID of the host system’s root partition (it is assumed that /dev/sda3 is the root partition in the command below):

       # blkid -s PARTUUID -o value /dev/sda3
      

   4. create a bootloader entry that loads Arch Linux:

       # cat << EOF > /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
       > title Arch-Linux
       > linux /vmlinuz-linux
       > initrd /initramfs-linux.img
       > options root=PARTUUID={partition UUID} rw
       > EOF
      

      replace {partition UUID} in the command above with the UUID from the previous step.

8. exit the chroot environment:

    # exit
   

9. unmount all mounted partitions:

    # umount -R /mnt
   

10. reboot the system:

    # reboot