My configuration to install Arch Linux.

arch-installation.md

This guide is updated to date 2020-06-27

I use UEFI mode, LVM to manage the volumes and LUKS to encrypt the LVM volumes. Also I install the system with the Ethernet cable plugged in.

First commands before begin the "actual" work.

Check if my network interface is listed and enabled ip link

Check if I have an assigned ip ip addr

Check if I have internet connection ping archlinux.org

Update the system clock using timedatectl to ensure the system clock is accurate timedatectl set-ntp true

Check if the clock is ok timedatectl status

Install reflector to update the mirrorlist pacman -S reflector

Update the mirrorlist reflector --country Switzerland --country Estonia --country Finland --country Iceland --country Romania --country Bulgaria --country Netherlands --age 24 --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Update the repository Index pacman -Syyy

Disk selection and partition

See the disks availables fdisk -l or lsblk

Identify the disk you want to use. For concrete commands I will use /dev/sda as my disk.

Start the partitioner (with fdisk in my case)

Start the partitioner fdisk /dev/sda

Create the partitions

Show current partitions p

Create an empty partition table and create EFI partition

g (to create an empty GPT partition table)
n (and enter)
enter
enter
+500M (Size: 500 Megabytes)
t (and enter)
1 (For EFI)

Create boot partition

n (and enter)
enter
enter
+500M

Create LVM partition using the remaining space.

n (and enter)
enter
enter
enter
t (and enter)
enter
30 (Linux LVM)

Show current partitions again to check what we have done. p

If that is ok, then finalize partition changes. w

Format the partitions

fat for EFI, ext4 for boot, LVM with LUKS the rest (with ext4 for root and home partitions).

EFI mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1 (sda1 => device partition number one)

Boot mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2 (sda2 => device partition number two)

Set up encryption and LVM

After the following command you will be prompted to set the passphrase (the password) for that partition. Do not forget it!

cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda3 #(sda3 => device partition number three)
cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sda3 lvm

Set up LVM

 pvcreate --dataalignment 1m /dev/mapper/lvm
 
 # Create volume group called vgmain (you will use this name)
 vgcreate vgmain /dev/mapper/lvm
 
 # Logical volume of 50GB for the root partition
 lvcreate -L 50GB vgmain -n lv_root
 
 # Logical volume taking the 100% of the free space for the home partition
 lvcreate -l 100%FREE vgmain -n lv_home
 modprobe dm_mod
 vgscan
 vgchange -ay

Format the root partition mkfs.ext4 /dev/vgmain/lv_root

Mount the root partition mount /dev/vgmain/lv_root /mnt

Create the boot partition mount directory mkdir /mnt/boot

Mount the boot partition mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot

Format the home partition mkfs.ext4 /dev/vgmain/lv_home

Create the home partition mount point mkdir /mnt/home

Mount the home volume mount /dev/vgmain/lv_home /mnt/home

Create the /etc dirctory mkdir /mnt/etc

Create the /etc/fstab file. flag -U is to use UUIDs for source identifiers. genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Check the /etc/fstab file cat /mnt/etc/fstab

Install Arch Linux base packages

This will download and install around 500MB of packages from the mirrors we update with reflector before. pacstrap -i /mnt base

Access the in-progress Arch installation arch-chroot /mnt

Install a kernel, headers and firmware for common hardware I use the LTS version, if you use not lts, install the same things but remove the -lts from the packages. You can install both if you want too. pacman -S linux-lts linux-lts-headers linux-firmware

Install a text editor pacman -S nano

Install some packages useful to build software, network management and LVM pacman -S base-devel openssh networkmanager wpa_supplicant wireless_tools netctl dialog lvm2

Enable OpenSSH systemctl enable sshd

Enable NetworkManager systemctl enable NetworkManager

Edit file /etc/mkinitcpio.conf nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf On the "HOOKS" line, add "encrypt lvm2" in between "block" and "filesystems"

It should look similar to the following (don't copy this line in case they change it):

HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block encrypt lvm2 filesystems keyboard fsck)

Create the initial ramdisk for the LTS kernel. Some warnings here are ok. mkinitcpio -p linux-lts

Timezone

Set the time zone ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Buenos_Aires /etc/localtime

Run hwclock to generate /etc/adjtime hwclock --systohc

Localization

Edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed locales. Generate the locales:

nano /etc/locale.gen # Edit, save the file and exit.
locale-gen

Create the locale.conf file, and set the LANG variable accordingly:

nano /etc/locale.conf # LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Make the keyboard layout persistent (us is the default though):

nano /etc/vconsole.conf # KEYMAP=us

Network configuration

Create the hostname file: nano /etc/hostname

myhostname

Add matching entries to hosts: nano /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1	localhost
::1		localhost
127.0.1.1	myhostname.localdomain	myhostname

If the system has a permanent IP address, it should be used instead of 127.0.1.1.

Install Network Management software pacman -S iproute2

Users Management

Set the root password passwd

Create a user for yourself useradd -m -g users -G wheel <username>

Set your password passwd <username>

Install sudo pacman -S sudo

Allow users in the 'wheel' group to use sudo EDITOR=nano visudo Uncomment: %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

GRUB

Install packages for GRUB pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools

Edit /etc/default/grub nano /etc/default/grub

Uncomment:
GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y
Add cryptdevice=<PARTUUID>:vgmain to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line If using standard device naming, the option will look like this:

The entire line for me at this point is:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 cryptdevice=/dev/sda3:vgmain:allow-discards quiet"

Create the directory for EFI boot mkdir /boot/EFI

Mount the EFI partition mount /dev/sda1 /boot/EFI

Install GRUB grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck

Create the locale directory for GRUB mkdir /boot/grub/locale

Copy the locale file to locale directory cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo

Generate GRUB's config file grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Swapfile

Create swap file. 6GB based on It's FOSS - Swapfile

fallocate -l 6G /swapfile
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile

Back up the /etc/fstab file just in case cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak

Add the swap file to the /etc/fstab file echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | tee -a /etc/fstab

Check the /etc/fstab file to make sure it includes all the right partitions cat /etc/fstab

You should have a mountpoint for the root filesystem, boot partition, home partition, and swap file.

Last items

Install CPU Microde files (AMD CPU). I have AMD! pacman -S amd-ucode

If you have an Intel CPU then install CPU Microde files pacman -S intel-ucode

Install Xorg if you plan on having a GUI pacman -S xorg-server

I have a Nvidia GPU but if you have an Intel or AMD GPU then install 3D support for Intel or AMD graphics pacman -S mesa

Install Nvidia Driver packages if you have an Nvidia GPU. My option here pacman -S nvidia-lts nvidia-utils

If you didn't install the LTS kernel, then install just the nvidia and nvidia-utils, NOT the nvidia-lts.

If you're installing Arch inside a Virtualbox virtual machine, install these packages: pacman -S virtualbox-guest-utils xf86-video-vmware

Finalizing

Exit the chroot environment exit

Unmount everything (some errors are okay here) umount -a

Reboot the machine reboot

Post-installation

After the base install, I use my own dotfiles (WIP) to set up all my environment, tools and preferences. You can use it too, make your own or check the Arch Wiki for post installation recommendations.