Guide: Installing Arch Linux

This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to install Arch Linux alongside Windows, using GRUB as the bootloader and a desktop environment.

Installation Steps

Connect to wifi

If there is no Ethernet connection available, use the Wi-Fi instead.

# to manage wireless connections in Linux, use `iwctl` to enter the iwctl mode.
iwctl

# show device:
device list

# show network: (wlan0 is my device)
station wlan0 get-networks

# connect:
station wlan0 connect MyWifiNetwork

Erase Drive

(only on single boot)

# enter gdisk mode
gdisk /dev/nvme0ne

# enter expert mode
x

# Erase the drive 
z

Configuration to use ssh

# set password to use ssh:
passwd

# check ip address:
ip -c a

Update time date:

timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York

timedatectl status

Partitions:

# Check all drive:
lsblk

# Check more information:
fdisk -l

# Create partition: (nvme0n1 is my drive)
cfdisk /dev/nvme0n1

Create 3 partitions

swap is optional

Partition	Size	Type
Boot	1G	EFI System
Root	Remaining Space	Linux filesystem
Swap	4-8G	Linux swap

after creating the disk, press write and quit

Format 3 new partitions:

# Format Boot partition
mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p6

# Format Root partition:
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p7

# Format Swap partition:
mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p8

# Enable Swap partition:
swapon  /dev/nvme0n1p8

# Mount Root Partition:
mount /dev/nvme0n1p6 /mnt

# Create Dir:
mkdir /mnt/home

# Mount the home partition to this Dir:
mount /dev/nvme0n1p7 /mnt/home

Connect to wifi in root

sudo nmcli dev wifi connect MY_WIFI password "MY_PASSWORD"

Sync mirrors servers

# Backup best mirrors list:
 cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak

# backup location
 cat /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak

# Update Pacman database:
pacman -Sy

# Install packman rank mirrors tool:
pacman -S pacman-contrib

# Save top 10 mirrors list:
rankmirrors -n 10 /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# Top 10 servers:
cat /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Install Arch to Root Partition

# install system packages (add linux-lts for lts version)
pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel linux linux-headers linux-firmware intel-ucode sudo nano vim git neofetch networkmanager dhcpcd pulseaudio wpa_supplicant

# Generate File System Table FSTAB:
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

# See all partitions and their mounting points:
cat /mnt/etc/fstab

Configure Arch

# Enter into the arch linux drive:
arch-chroot /mnt

# Set root password:
passwd

# create user:
useradd -m maxime

# add password to maxime user
passwd maxime

# Add user to wheel group, allow to access root privileges:
usermod -aG wheel,storage,power maxime

# Edit sudo config file:
visudo

# Uncomment the first line to allow wheel group to run sudo command
# Add second line to repromp user to enter password for sudo after a timestamp

Set System Language:

# Uncomment local: (en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8)
vim /etc/locale.gen

# Generate a locale:
locale-gen

# Create a conf file:
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf

# Set System language:
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

# Sync Local time with region:
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/localtime

Hostname

# Set hostname:
echo ArchLinuxMaxime > /etc/hostname

# Read hostname
cat /etc/hostname

# Add hosts:
vim /etc/hosts

Install Grup Bootloader:

# Install into EFI partition:
mkdir /boot/efi
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /boot/efi

# Install grub:
pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools mtools

# Uncomment this last line:
vim /etc/default/grub

# config for dual boot
pacman -S os-prober

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck

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

Network Config

# Enable Network services:
systemctl enable dhcpcd.service
systemctl enable NetworkManager.service

Unmount and reboot

# Unmount all partitions:
umount -lR /mnt

# Reboot and eject usb boot:
reboot

Install KDE Plasma desktop environment

sudo pacman -S xorg xorg-xinit xterm plasma plasma-desktop kde-applications kdeplasma-addons sddm

# Create config file to start kde on boot
sudo vim ~/.xinitrc

# Add these lines
export DESKTOP_SESSION=plasma
exec startplasma-x11

# Enable Display Manager:
sudo systemctl enable sddm.service

reboot

Install GNOME desktop environment

sudo pacman -S xorg xorg-xinit xterm gnome gnome-extra gnome-shell gnome-tweaks gdm

# Create config file to start kde on boot
sudo vim ~/.xinitrc

# Add these lines
export XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11
export GDK_BACKEND=x11
exec gnome-session

# Enable Display Manager:
sudo systemctl enable gdm.service

reboot

Install Nvidia driver

# find what card and drivers im using
lspci -k | grep -A 2 -E "(VGA|3D)"

# Install Nvidia driver
sudo pacman -S nvidia

# remove kms from hooks to prevent nouveau driver to start on boot
sudo vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

sudo reboot

# make sure nvidia driver are being used
lspci -k | grep -A 2 -E "(VGA|3D)"

!

Install Packages from install_packages.sh

# give execute permission
sudo chmod +x install_packages.sh

./install_packages.sh