Arch Linux Installation Guide

Arch Linux Install Guide

This guide covers everything you need to install a full fledged Arch Linux System with KDE Plasma Desktop Environment.

Initial Configuration

Network Config for liveiso

Connect using Wi-Fi
  • systemctl start iwd - Starts IW Daemon
  • systemctl start dhcpcd - Starts DHCP Client Daemon
  • ifconfig - Check Wi-Fi Interface Name (wlan0/wlo1/wlp2s0)
  • iwctl station <interface> connect "<ssid>" - Enter password after hitting enter
Connect using USB Tethering
  • Connect your phone with your PC using USB Cable
  • Enable USB Tethering in your phone from Settings

Check Connection

  • ping -c 3 1.1.1.1 - Check if DHCP is working
  • ping -c 3 archlinux.org - Check if DNS is working

Timezone Config for liveiso

  • timedatectl set-timezone <Region/City> - Put your timezone here (Asia/Kolkata)
  • timedatectl set-ntp true - Enable Network Time Sync
  • timedatectl set-local-rtc true - Sync local time with hardware clock

Partitioning Filesystem

  • fdisk -l - List Devices and Partitions
  • cfdisk /dev/<device> - Make 3 partitions:
  1. 512M EFI System Partition (<efi>)
  2. 8.8G Linux Swap Partition (<swap>)
  3. Remaining Size (Preferably 140.3G) Linux Filesystem (<root>)

    then write and quit
  • fdisk -l - Check the partition numbers properly.
  • mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/<efi> - Format the EFI Filesystem in Fat32
  • mkswap /dev/<swap> - Format the Swap Filesystem

Mounting Filesystem

Mount Root

BTRFS as root (Skip to next section for EXT4 guide)
  • mkfs.btrfs -f /dev/<root> - Format the Root Filesystem in B-Tree Filesystem
  • mount /dev/<root> /mnt - Mount the Root to /mnt

Create BTRFS Subvolumes

  • btrfs su cr /mnt/@
  • btrfs su cr /mnt/@home
  • btrfs su cr /mnt/@var
  • btrfs su cr /mnt/@opt
  • btrfs su cr /mnt/@tmp
  • btrfs su cr /mnt/@.snapshots

Unmount Root

  • umount /mnt

Mount "@" subvolume to /mnt

  • mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,subvol=@ /dev/<root> /mnt

Create necessary mountpoints

  • mkdir /mnt/{boot,home,var,opt,tmp,.snapshots}

Mount other subvolumes with proper options

  • mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,subvol=@home /dev/<root> /mnt/home
  • mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,subvol=@opt /dev/<root> /mnt/opt
  • mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,subvol=@tmp /dev/<root> /mnt/tmp
  • mount -o noatime,commit=120,compress=zstd,space_cache=v2,subvol=@.snapshots /dev/<root> /mnt/.snapshots
  • mount -o subvol=@var /dev/<root> /mnt/var
OR, EXT4 as root
  • mkfs.ext4 /dev/<root> - Format the Root Filesystem in Ext4 Filesystem
  • mount /dev/<root> /mnt - Mount the Root to /mnt

Mount Boot and Swap

  • mkdir /mnt/boot/efi - Make the EFI mount point folder
  • mount /dev/<efi> /mnt/boot/efi - Mount the EFI Partition
  • swapon /dev/<swap> - Using the Swap Partition

Installing the Base System with Linux/Linux Zen Kernel

  • nano /etc/pacman.conf - Uncomment the following:

Color
ParallelDownloads = 5

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

then save (Ctrl + S) and exit (Ctrl + X)

  • pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware vim nano btrfs-progs - Select the default.

NOTE: If you want Linux Zen Kernel, replace "linux" with "linux-zen". Don't replace "linux-firmware".
Also, if you are using Ext4, then "btrfs-progs" is not needed.

  • genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab - Generating fstab configuration

Chrooting

  • arch-chroot /mnt

NOTE: Chroot environment is the environment running inside the root directory of the new system. It is the environment in which the installation actually takes place. Do not exit this environment until the installation is complete, or the system may not boot properly. Also, don't be confused if you see same commands again. It's because you are now in the new system.

Network Configuration

  • echo "<hostname>" > /etc/hostname - Replace <hostname> with your hostname here
  • echo 127.0.0.1$'\t'localhost >> /etc/hosts
  • echo ::1$'\t\t'localhost >> /etc/hosts
  • echo 127.0.1.1$'\t'$(cat /etc/hostname) >> /etc/hosts

Locale Configuration

  • nano /etc/locale.gen - Uncomment your locale here (en_US.UTF-8)
  • locale-gen - Generates your locales based on "/etc/locale.gen"
  • echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf
  • export $(cat /etc/locale.conf)

Installing necessary packages

  • nano /etc/pacman.conf - Uncomment the following:

Color
ParallelDownloads = 5

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

then save (Ctrl + S) and exit (Ctrl + X)

  • pacman -Syy sudo linux-headers efibootmgr grub intel-ucode git base-devel grub-btrfs dkms avahi os-prober ntfs-3g terminus-font

NOTE: If you have an AMD Processor instead, replace "intel-ucode" with "amd-ucode"
If you have installed "linux-zen" in the previous pacstrap command, then replace "linux-headers" with "linux-zen-headers"
Also, if you have Ext4 then "grub-btrfs" is not required.

Adding Console Font

  • echo "FONT=ter-112n" > /etc/vconsole.conf - Adds Terminus Font to Console

Adding a sudo user

  • passwd - Enter new password for root
  • useradd -s /bin/bash -mG wheel <username> - Enter your new username (<username>)
  • passwd <username> - Enter new password for your new user
  • EDITOR=nano visudo - At the bottom of the file, uncomment the line "%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL", save (Ctrl + S) and exit (Ctrl + X)

Installing a Bootloader (GRUB)

  • grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id="Arch Linux" --efi-directory=/boot/efi --recheck - Installing GRUB

NOTE: If your UEFI Entry disappears on reboot due to the requirement of known location to bootable file before showing up UEFI NVRAM Boot entries, just use "--removable" flag after the whole command.

  • nano /etc/default/grub - Uncomment the line at the end of file saying "GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false"
  • mkinitcpio -P - Generating Initramfs
  • grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg - Generating GRUB Configuration file

Installing KDE Plasma Desktop Environment

  • pacman -S plasma plasma-wayland-session kde-applications sddm gnu-free-fonts noto-fonts noto-fonts-emoji packagekit-qt5 gnome-keyring cronie pipewire-media-session pipewire-jack phonon-qt5-vlc tesseract-data-ind python-pyqt5 xdg-desktop-portal-kde
  • Read carefully and select the options
    Go for all in the options, then wait till installation
  • pacman -R colord colord-kde - Fixes screen color issues
  • systemctl enable NetworkManager sddm avahi-daemon - Enabling KDE's NetworkManager, Display Manager and Avahi Daemon
  • exit - Exiting Chroot
  • reboot now - Rebooting to Installed Arch Linux. Do not forget to change DE to Plasma (X11).

Post Install Configuration

Installing an AUR Helper (YAY)

  • cd /opt
  • sudo git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-git.git
  • sudo chown -R $USER:$USER ./yay-git
  • cd yay-git
  • makepkg -si
Optional: Performance Tweak for YAY
  • sudo pacman -S ccache
  • sudo nano /etc/makepkg.conf

Find BUILDENV and remove the exclamation (!) mark from "ccache" like this:

BUILDENV=(fakeroot !distcc color ccache check !sign)

Find MAKEFLAGS, uncomment it and edit the numerical value to the number of CPU threads you have. For example, for 16 threads, do this:

MAKEFLAGS="-j16"

Save (Ctrl + S) and Exit (Ctrl + X)

  • Run the following command to add ccache to your PATH:
cat >> /etc/bash.bashrc << EOF
export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache/bin/:$PATH"
EOF
Optional: For Zsh Users
cat >> /etc/zsh/zshrc << EOF
export PATH="/usr/lib/ccache/bin/:$PATH"
EOF

Installing NVIDIA Drivers

  • Run the following command to create a hook for NVIDIA Drivers:
cat > /etc/pacman.d/hooks/nvidia.hook << EOF
[Trigger]
Operation=Install
Operation=Upgrade
Operation=Remove
Type=Package
Target=nvidia
Target=nvidia-dkms
Target=nvidia-lts
Target=linux
Target=linux-zen

[Action]
Description=Update NVIDIA module in initcpio
Depends=mkinitcpio
When=PostTransaction
NeedsTargets
Exec=/bin/sh -c 'while read -r trg; do case \$trg in linux) exit 0; esac; done; /usr/bin/mkinitcpio -P'
EOF

NOTE: If you have installed Linux Zen Kernel, then replace "linux" with "linux-zen" in the last line.

Save (Ctrl + S) and Exit (Ctrl + X)

  • yay -S nvidia-dkms nvidia-utils lib32-nvidia-utils opencl-nvidia lib32-opencl-nvidia nvidia-settings - Installing NVIDIA Drivers

NOTE: Some Laptops come with NVIDIA Optimus Technology by which the NVIDIA GPU is used only when needed, otherwise an Integrated Intel/AMD GPU is used. If you have such a laptop, then expand and follow the Optimus section below. This is usually not required for Desktops.

Optional: NVIDIA Optimus
  • yay -S nvidia-prime - Installing NVIDIA Optimus

This package comes with a script called prime-run which can be used to run any application with NVIDIA GPU.

For example, to run Steam with NVIDIA GPU, do this:

  • prime-run steam

Installing FlatPak

  • sudo pacman -S flatpak
  • sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo - Adding FlatHub repo
  • sudo flatpak override --filesystem=xdg-config/gtk-3.0 - Forcing FlatPak to use System GTK Themes
  • reboot - Reboot to complete installation
Alternate: Installing Snapd
  • yay -S snapd
  • sudo systemctl enable snapd snapd.socket snapd.seeded snapd.apparmor
  • sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap
  • reboot - Reboot to complete installation

Installing Plymouth

  • sudo pacman -S plymouth

Configure Initramfs

  • sudo nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

Edit HOOKS to have "plymouth" after "base" and "udev" and MODULES to have "i915" (for Intel GPU only) at beginning like this:

MODULES=(i915 ...)
HOOKS=(base udev plymouth ...)

NOTE: If you have AMD GPU, replace "i915" with "amdgpu" and for NVIDIA GPU, replace it with "nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm"

NOTE: For Laptops having a dGPU and an iGPU, consider using iGPU in this part, i.e., usually Intel GPU or AMD GPU.

Save (Ctrl + S) and Exit (Ctrl + X)

Regenerate Initramfs

  • sudo mkinitcpio -P

Configure GRUB

  • sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Edit GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT to have "splash" after "quiet" like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

Save (Ctrl + S) and Exit (Ctrl + X)

Regenerate GRUB Configuration

  • yay -S update-grub
  • sudo update-grub

Install a Plymouth Theme

  • yay -S plymouth-theme-arch-breeze-git
  • sudo plymouth-set-default-theme -R arch-breeze

NOTE: To list all available themes, run plymouth-set-default-theme -l

  • reboot - Reboot to complete installation

Install a better GRUB Theme (Xenlism GRUB Theme)

  • git clone https://github.com/xenlism/Grub-themes.git
  • cd ./Grub-themes/xenlism-grub-arch-1080p/

NOTE: If your monitor has a higher resolution than 1080p, then select the theme directory accordingly.

  • sudo ./install.sh
  • reboot now - Reboot to complete installation

Install Missing Kernel Headers

  • yay -S mkinitcpio-firmware

Install better shell (Oh-My-Zsh)

Install Zsh

  • sudo pacman -S zsh zshdb zsh-syntax-highlighting zsh-autosuggestions zsh-history-substring-search
  • touch ~/.zshrc - Create Initial Empty Zsh Config
  • chsh -s /bin/zsh - Change Default Shell to Zsh
  • sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)" - Install Oh-My-Zsh on top of zsh
  • nano .zshrc

Edit the value of ZSH_THEME to "xiong-chiamiov" like this:

ZSH_THEME="xiong-chiamiov"

Edit the last line of the file to have the following:

cat >> ~/.zshrc << EOF
source /usr/share/zsh/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh
source /usr/share/zsh/plugins/zsh-history-substring-search/zsh-history-substring-search.zsh
source /usr/share/zsh/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions/zsh-autosuggestions.zsh
EOF

Save (Ctrl + S) and Exit (Ctrl + X)

  • reboot - Reboot to complete installation

Install Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Web Browser

  • yay -S google-chrome microsoft-edge-stable-bin
Optional: Enable Dark Mode in Google Chrome Edit the application launcher to have the following as the command:

/usr/bin/google-chrome-stable --enable-features=WebUIDarkMode --force-dark-mode %U

Configure Automatic System Backup

  • yay -S timeshift timeshift-autosnap

Open Timeshift from your app launcher and set BTRFS Backup to Boot, Daily and Hourly. Also select @home subvolume for backup. That's it.

Install BlackArch Repository

  • curl -O https://blackarch.org/strap.sh
  • chmod +x strap.sh
  • sudo ./strap.sh
  • sudo pacman -Syyu

Allow udisks to mount disks without asking sudo password

  • Run the following command to create a rule for udisks:
cat > /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/.rules << EOF
polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
    if (((action.id == "org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-fstab") ||
        (action.id == "org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-fstab")) &&
        subject.local && subject.active) {
        return polkit.Result.YES;
    }
});

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
    if (((action.id == "org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-mount-system") ||
        (action.id == "org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-mount-system")) &&
        subject.local && subject.active) {
        return polkit.Result.YES;
    }
});
EOF

Save (Ctrl + S) and Exit (Ctrl + X)

  • reboot - Reboot to apply changes