Base system Installation
How to install an Arch Linux base system
Download the ISO and create a bootable USB Device
| Option | Download |
|---|---|
| Arch Linux | https://archlinux.org/download/ |
| balenaEtcher | https://www.balena.io/etcher/ |
| Rufus | https://rufus.ie/ |
If you experience glitches on booting the installation medium with a nVidia graphics card and do not see the command line
edit USBDEVICE/loader/entries/01-archiso-x86_64-linux.conf
on your installation medium device
and add nomodeset as boot parameter
Press E during systemd-boot selection and pass nomodeset
Boot the installation medium and ensure that you’re using EFI
ls /sys/firmware/efi
Ensure you have internet connectivity
Plug in a ethernet cable or if you use Wi-Fi
wifi-menu
Login to your Network and note your IPADRESS
ip a s
Check the Network Connection
ping -c 3 1.1.1.1
Set USB installation media password for the root user
passwd
Enable SSH on the installation medium
systemctl start sshd
systemctl status sshd
You may continue the installation through SSH from another Computer
ssh root@IPADRESS
Check the avaible devices
lsblk -f
Choose the device you want to install Arch Linux
Partition disk
cfdisk /dev/nvme1n1
Select GPT label type, then select Free Space then hit on New from bottom menu.
Type the partition size in GiB (1G) and press enter key, select Type from bottom menu and choose EFI System partition type.
For /(root) partition use the following configuration: New -> Size: 100G-> Type Linux root.
For /home partition use the following configuration: New -> Size: rest of free space -> Type Linux home.
| Option | Size | Type |
|---|---|---|
| /boot | 1G | EFI System partition |
| /(root) | 100G | Linux root |
| /home | Rest | Linux home |
All previous files on the device will be erased
After you review the partition table select Write, answer with yes in order to apply disk changes and then, type quit to exit cfdisk utility.
You can also review the partition table summary by running fdisk command.
fdisk -l
Format partitions
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/nvme1n1p1
mkfs.xfs /dev/nvme1n1p2
mkfs.xfs /dev/nvme1n1p3
Check partitions
lsblk -f
Mount partitions
Mount root partition
mount /dev/nvme1n1p2 /mnt
Mount boot partition
mkdir -pv /mnt/boot
chmod 0700 /mnt/boot
mount -o fmask=0137,dmask=0027 /dev/nvme1n1p1 /mnt/boot
Mount home partition
mkdir -pv /mnt/home
mount /dev/nvme1n1p3 /mnt/home
Install arch base running package installs against mount
pacstrap -i /mnt linux linux-firmware base base-devel amd-ucode sudo zsh zsh-autosuggestions zsh-completions zsh-syntax-highlighting
Install intel-ucode for Intel processors
Generate a Filesystem Table (fstab)
genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.
# <device> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <fsck>
# If the root file system is btrfs or XFS, the fsck order should be set to 0 instead of 1.
# /dev/nvme1n1p2
UUID=1314508c-df47-4972-822c-7e60c9cd12eb / xfs defaults 0 0
# /dev/nvme1n1p1
UUID=1DE1-20E9 /boot vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0137,dmask=0027,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 2
# /dev/nvme1n1p3
UUID=3650e797-e902-4c6a-a704-6aa3b3b448a9 /home xfs defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=07f20613-d710-4141-831d-60ca79f7dbd2 /mnt/sda1 ext4 defaults,noatime,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
# /dev/sdb1
UUID=ca5f78a9-71db-408f-9148-b3add8dd7c80 /mnt/sdb1 ext4 defaults,noatime,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
# ntfs3
# /dev/nvme0n1p2
# UUID=CCB22606B225F59C /mnt/nvme0n1p2 ntfs3 defaults,discard,noatime,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
# /dev/nvme0n1p3
# UUID=0125876E5D886075 /mnt/nvme0n1p3 ntfs3 defaults,discard,noatime,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
# /dev/nvme2n1p1
# UUID=73C99ED2175A3468 /mnt/nvme2n1p1 ntfs3 defaults,discard,noatime,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
# /dev/nvme3n1p1
# UUID=0436AA0013BB9B40 /mnt/nvme3n1p1 ntfs3 defaults,discard,noatime,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
# /dev/sdc1
# UUID=43B0754E6391E844 /mnt/sdc1 ntfs3 defaults,noatime,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
# /dev/sdd1
# UUID=72B601494AED575D /mnt/sdd1 ntfs3 defaults,noatime,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
# nfs
10.0.1.11:/srv/nfs/music /mnt/nfs/music nfs noauto,x-systemd.automount,x-systemd.device-timeout=10,timeo=14,x-systemd.idle-timeout=1min 0 0
# hugepages
# hugetlbfs /dev/hugepages hugetlbfs mode=01770,gid=kvm 0 0
Chroot to install directory
arch-chroot /mnt
Set the machine hostname
echo "archlinux" >> /etc/hostname
Set timezone
Remove old localtime
rm /etc/localtime
ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin /etc/localtime
Set hardware clock to UTC
hwclock --systohc --utc
Synchronize the system clock
/etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
[Time]
NTP=ptbtime1.ptb.de ptbtime2.ptb.de ptbtime3.ptb.de
FallbackNTP=0.arch.pool.ntp.org 1.arch.pool.ntp.org 2.arch.pool.ntp.org 3.arch.pool.ntp.org
RootDistanceMaxSec=5
PollIntervalMinSec=32
PollIntervalMaxSec=2048
ConnectionRetrySec=30
SaveIntervalSec=60
systemctl enable systemd-timesyncd
timedatectl show-timesync --all
Edit locale
/etc/locale.gen
uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF8
locale-gen
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.conf
Customize pacman & enable multilib and Arch AUR community repositories
/etc/pacman.conf
uncomment [multilib]; Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
uncomment Color
add ILoveCandy
Installing the systemd bootloader
bootctl install
bootctl --path=/boot install
Whenever there is a new version of systemd-boot, the boot manager must be updated by the user.
bootctl update
Create an automatic bootctl update hook for pacman
/etc/pacman.d/hooks/100-systemd-boot.hook
[Trigger]
Type = Package
Operation = Upgrade
Target = systemd
[Action]
Description = Updating systemd-boot
When = PostTransaction
Exec = /usr/bin/bootctl update
Setup the systemd bootloader
/boot/loader/loader.conf
default arch.conf
timeout 0
console-mode max
editor no
auto-entries 0
auto-firmware 1
Add an entry for Arch Linux
/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /amd-ucode.img
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options root=UUID=1314508c-df47-4972-822c-7e60c9cd12eb rw quiet
If you are dual booting Windows you can add an manual entry for it
/boot/loader/entries/windows.conf
title Microsoft Windows
efi /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
Set root password
passwd
Change root shell
usermod -s /usr/bin/zsh root
Create non-privileged user and add him to the wheel group
Create a normal user for daily use. Do not use the root user for daily use.
useradd -m -G wheel -s /usr/bin/zsh USER
Set user password
passwd USER
Edit sudoers
/etc/sudoers
# Enable insults
Defaults insults
# Ask for the root password instead of the user password
Defaults targetpw
# Infinite password timeout
Defaults passwd_timeout=0
# # Password timeout
# Defaults passwd_timeout=1800
uncomment root ALL=(ALL) ALL
uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
Set Sudoers default file permissions
The owner and group for the sudoers file must both be 0.
The file permissions must be set to 0440.
These permissions are set by default, but if you accidentally change them,
they should be changed back immediately or sudo will fail.
chown -c root:root /etc/sudoers
chmod -c 0440 /etc/sudoers
Networking
Disable systemd-networkd and istall Network Manager
rm /etc/systemd/network/*
pacman -Syu networkmanager
systemctl disable systemd-resolved
systemctl disable systemd-networkd
systemctl enable NetworkManager
Disable IPv6
/etc/sysctl.d/40-ipv6.conf
net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6 = 1
Configure Connection
nmcli connection edit Wired\ connection\ 1
set connection.id enp1s0
set ipv6.method disabled
save persistent
quit
Local hostname resolution
/etc/hosts
# Static table lookup for hostnames.
# See hosts(5) for details.
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
Networking through wired adapter using DHCP
/etc/systemd/network/20-wired.network
[Match]
Name=en*
[Network]
DHCP=yes
Wireless Network using DHCP
/etc/systemd/network/25-wireless.network
[Match]
Name=wl*
[Network]
DHCP=yes
[DHCPv4]
RouteMetric=20
Wireless network configuration
Enable systemd network
systemctl enable systemd-resolved -f
systemctl enable systemd-networkd -f
NetworkManager prefers known wireless networks and has the ability to switch to the most reliable network.
You must ensure that only one service that wants to configure the network is running.
Multiple networking services will conflict.
You can find a list of the currently running services with systemctl --type=service and then stop them.
Exit chroot, unmount and reboot
exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot now
Autoupdate mirrorlist
Install reflector
pacman -Syu reflector
Edit reflector configuration
/etc/xdg/reflector/reflector.conf
# Recommended Options
# Set the output path where the mirrorlist will be saved (--save).
--save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
# Select the transfer protocol (--protocol).
--protocol https
# Select the country (--country).
# Consult the list of available countries with "reflector --list-countries" and
# select the countries nearest to you or the ones that you trust. For example:
--country Switzerland,Germany
# Use only the most recently synchronized mirrors (--latest).
--latest 10
# Sort the mirrors by synchronization time (--sort).
--sort rate
Enable reflector timer and start reflector service
systemctl start reflector.service
systemctl enable reflector.timer
Discard unused packages weekly to prevent the directory to grow indefinitely in size
systemctl enable paccache.timer
Update system
pacman -Syu
Install base programs
pacman -Syu xfsprogs pacman-contrib openssh curl wget rsync git htop tldr fd ack ncdu duf man-db tree logrotate net-tools btop pwgen nfs-utils neofetch
Install additional kernel
pacman -Syu linux-lts linux-zen
Remove fallback from presets
/etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux-zen.preset
# mkinitcpio preset file for the 'linux-zen' package
#ALL_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
ALL_kver="/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen"
ALL_microcode=(/boot/*-ucode.img)
PRESETS=('default')
#default_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
default_image="/boot/initramfs-linux-zen.img"
#default_uki="/efi/EFI/Linux/arch-linux-zen.efi"
#default_options="--splash /usr/share/systemd/bootctl/splash-arch.bmp"
#fallback_config="/etc/mkinitcpio.conf"
fallback_image="/boot/initramfs-linux-zen-fallback.img"
#fallback_uki="/efi/EFI/Linux/arch-linux-zen-fallback.efi"
fallback_options="-S autodetect"
Install fonts
pacman -Syu ttf-ubuntu-font-family ttf-jetbrains-mono noto-fonts-emoji
Install AMDGPU driver
pacman -Syu lib32-mesa mesa xf86-video-amdgpu lib32-vulkan-radeon vulkan-radeon lib32-libva-mesa-driver libva-mesa-driver lib32-mesa-vdpau mesa-vdpau
Setup AUR
Enable compiler using all CPU threads
/etc/makepkg.conf
uncomment and edit MAKEFLAGS="-j $(nproc)"
uncomment and edit COMPRESSXZ=(xz -c -T $(nproc) -z -)
Download AUR Helper
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si
Modify intiramfs
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf
MODULES=(amdgpu)
...
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf kms keyboard keymap block filesystems fsck)
Install optional firmware for the default linux kernel to get rid of the annoying
‘WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module:’ message
yay -Syu mkinitcpio-firmware
Despite XFS supporting async discard since kernel 4.7, xfs still recommends “that you use the fstrim application to discard unused blocks rather than the discard mount option because the performance impact of this option is quite severe.”
Enable weekly TRIM service for SSD devices
systemctl enable fstrim.timer
Enable Logrotate
systemctl enable logrotate.timer
/etc/logrotate.conf
# uncomment this if you want your log files compressed
compress
compresscmd /usr/bin/zstd
compressext .zst
compressoptions -T0 --long
uncompresscmd /usr/bin/unzstd
Remove memory limit
mkdir -pv /etc/security/limits.d
/etc/security/limits.d/10-gcr.conf
* hard memlock unlimited
* soft memlock unlimited
* hard nofile 1048576
Run ulimit -l to check limits
Set max user watches
echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288 | tee /etc/sysctl.d/50-max_user_watches.conf && sysctl --system
Run cat /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches to check it’s working
Enable Nano syntax highlighting
/etc/nanorc
uncomment include "/usr/share/nano/*.nanorc"
Disabling automatic core dumps
/etc/sysctl.d/50-coredump.conf
kernel.core_pattern=/dev/null
Reducing shutdown timeout for “a stop job is running”
/etc/systemd/system.conf
uncomment DefaultTimeoutStartSec=30s
uncomment DefaultTimeoutStopSec=30s
Add additional tty virtual consoles (CTRL+ALT+F1 - CTRL+ALT+F11)
/etc/systemd/logind.conf
NAutoVTs=11
Forward journald to /dev/tty12 (CTRL+ALT+F12)
Create a drop-in directory
mkdir -pv /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d
create a config file in it
/etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/fw-tty12.conf
[Journal]
ForwardToConsole=yes
TTYPath=/dev/tty12
MaxLevelConsole=info
Change persistent journal size limit
Create a drop-in directory
mkdir -pv /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d
/etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/00-journal-size.conf
[Journal]
SystemMaxUse=50M
Swap
Revome swap file
swapon --show
swapoff /swapfile
/etc/fstab
remove /swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0
rm /swapfile
Install Zram-generator package
pacman -Syu zram-generator
Configure Zram
/etc/systemd/zram-generator.conf
# This config file enables a /dev/zram0 device with the default settings:
# — size — same as available RAM or 8GB, whichever is less
# — compression — most likely lzo-rle
#
# To disable, uninstall zram-generator-defaults or create empty
# /etc/systemd/zram-generator.conf file.
[zram0]
zram-size = min(ram, 8192)
Enable service
systemctl enable systemd-zram-setup@
Create a swap file
dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=8192 status=progress
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
swapon /swapfile
Edit the fstab configuration to add an entry for the swap file
/etc/fstab
/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0
Check the current swappiness value
sysctl vm.swappiness
To set the swappiness value permanently, edit a sysctl configuration file
/etc/sysctl.d/99-swappiness.conf
vm.swappiness=10
Hibernation into swap file
Identify swap device
findmnt -no UUID -T /swapfile
Identify swap file offset
filefrag -v /swapfile | awk '$1=="0:" {print substr($4, 1, length($4)-2)}'
Add the values to the systemd bootloader options
resume=UUID=eb22c14f-a1f2-4843-ae88-c8fee6113d9d resume_offset=3762176