Arch Linux Installation Guide 🧭

Note

ONLY UEFI

• Network Setup
• Disk Partitioning
• Base Installation
• Post-Install Setup
• Bonus-Tools

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START

For WiFi:

iwctl
device list
station wlan scan
station wlan0 get-networks
station wlan0 connect "WIFINAME"
station wlan0 show

For Ethernet:

No need (Should auto connect)

🛰️ Network Check

ping google.com

If not working

rm /etc/resolv.conf
echo "nameserver 1.1.1.1" > /etc/resolv.conf

Tip

If ping shows “temporary failure in name resolution”, it’s usually a DNS issue — fixing /etc/resolv.conf (as shown above) solves it.

💽 Create Partitions

cfdisk

Choose "GPT" from the table Make partitions -

1. Allocate atleast 300M for a partition (for boot).
2. Allocate atleast ~8G for second partition (for system).
3. Allocate atleast ~1G for third partition (for swap - optional but recommended). ALSO DO NOT FORGET to [WRITE] each one PARTITION BEFORE EXITING cfdisk

🔍 Checking Partitions

lsblk

You have to find the partition labels, For example -

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda      8:0    0   8.3G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   300M  0 part   <--- boot    (*)
├─sda2   8:2    0     1G  0 part   <--- swap    (%)
└─sda3   8:3    0     7G  0 part   <--- system  (&)
  ^^^^
  └└└└── these are paritions label 

⚙️ Make Ext4 File System

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX

for the system (&)

Make Fat32 File System

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sdX

for the boot (*)

Make Swap Partition

mkswap /dev/sdX

for the swap (%)

Check Paritions Label

blkid

Just to confirm if partitions formatted correctly or not, Find system as TYPE="ext4", Find boot as TYPE="vfat", Find swap as TYPE="swap".

Mount the Disk

mount /dev/sdX /mnt

for system

Create Boot Directory

mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi

for boot

Mount boot partition

mount /dev/sdX /mnt/boot/efi

mount boot partition to EFI dir

Enable Swap

swapon /dev/sdX

Checking Partitions

lsblk

Check again, And it should look something like this-

[root@archiso]
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda      8:0    0   8.3G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   300M  0 part /mnt/boot/efi   <--- nice!
├─sda2   8:2    0     1G  0 part [SWAP]          <--- nice!
└─sda3   8:3    0     7G  0 part /mnt            <--- and nice!

Install Linux Packages Through Pacstrap

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware sudo networkmanager nano grub efibootmgr

Installing essential packages in Arch Mount

Generate File System

genfstab /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab

Mount Arch Partition

arch-chroot /mnt

Tip

Once you’re inside the chroot, you’re effectively using your installed Arch system — commands now affect your new OS, not the live ISO.

Set time & Date

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/<continent>/<region> /etc/localtime

Example: ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Tokyo /etc/localtime

Sync time & date

hwclock --systohc

Uncommenting Language Pack Name

nano /etc/locale.gen

uncomment en_US.UTF-8 for English (Or Find your Region in It)

Set System Language

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

Same for here, Replace your Region with "en_US.UTF-8"

Refresh Locale

locale-gen

Entering Hostname in File

nano /etc/hostname

name the system/computer

Setting Root Password

passwd

Adding User

useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash <username>

Setting Password for User

passwd <username>

Configuring User Power for Sudo

EDITOR=nano visudo

Uncomment the first coming line starting from "%wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" and save, This is for anyone part of wheel group can run sudo commands

Enabling NetworkManager

systemctl enable NetworkManager

Installing Grub Boot-Loader to System

grub-install /dev/sda

Making Grub Config File

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

Exiting From Arch Mount

exit

to return to the live ISO environment

Unmounting the Drive

umount -R /mnt

Reboot

reboot

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After coming into Arch, Login by your Username and Password

sudo pacman -Syu

For updating System and Packages

sudo pacman -S <desktop-environment> <display-manager>

For GUI (Graphical User Interface)

Some of the Popular desktop-enviroments and display-managers

• xfce4 xfce4-goodies <-- lightweight with decent GUI

• lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter <-- recommended display manager for XFCE

• lxqt lxqt-qtplugin <-- lighter than XFCE, Qt-based

• lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter <-- recommended DM (or sddm optional)

• gnome <-- full-featured, modern but heavy

• gdm <-- official GNOME display manager

• plasma kde-applications <-- very customizable, modern, resource-heavy

• sddm <-- official KDE display manager

• cinnamon <-- good balance of features and usability

• lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter <-- works well with Cinnamon

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Install Some More Essential Packages

sudo pacman -S <terminal> <webbrowser>

Some of the Popular Terminals

• xfce4-terminal <-- default terminal for XFCE, lightweight and stable
• lxterminal <-- default for LXDE/LXQt, very light
• gnome-terminal <-- feature-rich, matches well with GNOME
• konsole <-- KDE’s terminal, very customizable
• xterm <-- basic X terminal, ultra-lightweight
• urxvt <-- ultra-light and fast, customizable via .Xresources
• alacritty <-- GPU-accelerated, very fast, modern (needs config)
• kitty <-- GPU-based, feature-rich with ligature support
• tilix <-- tiling terminal emulator with session saving
• terminator <-- split-screen terminal with lots of features

Some of the Popular Web Browsers

• firefox <-- default on many distros, open-source and privacy-respecting
• chromium <-- open-source base of Google Chrome, less proprietary
• librewolf <-- Firefox fork with enhanced privacy defaults (AUR)
• epiphany <-- GNOME Web browser, minimal and integrated
• falkon <-- KDE browser, light and Qt-based

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DO NOT FORGET to enable the DISPLAY MANAGER after installing

• sudo systemctl enable --now lightdm

for LightDM

• sudo systemctl enable --now gdm

for GDM

• sudo systemctl enable --now sddm

for SDDM

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Bonus tools which will help

• curl <-- Download files or fetch web data
• lsd <-- Modern 'ls' command with icons and better formatting
• ranger <-- Terminal file manager with VI-style navigation
• btop <-- Resource monitor (CPU, RAM, Disk, Network)
• tldr <-- Simplified man pages (shows practical examples)
• clamav <-- Scan files and folders for viruses
• buku <-- Command-line bookmark manager
• chafa <-- Convert images into terminal graphics

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🧑‍💻 Author

LUCKYS1NGHH
Written with ❤️ for learners installing Arch manually.

Finished