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Last active January 20, 2016 23:22
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My installation/setup for my Lenovo T450s. This is mainly, so I am able to recreate this setup without having to lookup everything again.
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archlinux_install_T450s.md

ArchLinux installation on Lenovo T450s

This installation provides the following settings:

  • disk-setup
    • unsecure boot-partion
    • LVM on LUKS (ArchWiki)
      • encrypted root-partition
      • encrypted home-partition
  • initial system setup
  • mkinitcpio hooks
  • gummiboot/systemd-boot (EFI has to be enabled)
  • basic setup
  • TRIM
  • Powermanagement (ArchWiki)

Live-CD/USB

The following actions are applied during the installation from the Arch Linux ISO. To get wifi running easily, wifi-menu should do the trick. Don't forget to load your keymap (loadkeys uk). The following also assumes, the disk/drive in question is /dev/sda. Change your commands accordingly!

Disk-setup

  1. Clear and check disk with badblocks. THIS ERASES THE DISK! Make sure, you select the right one.
live# badblocks -c 1024 -s -w -v -t random /dev/sda
  1. Create partitions on disk.
live# cgdisk /dev/sda

Make sure to select gpt for the table-format.

partition size fs type notes
1 100 MB vfat/EFI SYSTEM /boot
2 ~335.3GB - will be encrypted

Apply the filesystem for /boot

live# mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
  1. Setup the second partition to be encrypted and contain two virtual partitions.
# formatting partition
live# cryptsetup -c aes-xts-plain64 -y --use-random luksFormat /dev/sda2
# open luks-container and map it to 'luks'
live# crytpsetup luksOpen /dev/sda2 luks

Now setting up the relevant virtual group/partitions

# initialize luks-partition
live# pvcreate /dev/mapper/luks
# create virtual-group 'vgcrypt'
live# vgcreate vgcrypt /dev/mapper/luks
# creating root partition (150GB)
live# lvcreate --size 150G vgcrypt --name root
# creating home partition (rest ~185GB)
live# lvcreate -l +100%FREE vgcrypt --name home

Apply filesystems

live# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vgcrypt-root
live# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vgcrypt-home
  1. Mount those partitions for further installation.
live# mount /dev/mapper/vgcrypt-root /mnt
live# mkdir /mnt/boot
live# mkdir /mnt/home
live# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
live# mount /dev/mapper/vgcrypt-home /mnt/home

Base-Installation

  1. Default installation via pacstrap.
# wpa_supplicant is recommended to get wifi working...
live# pacstrap /mnt base base-devel wpa_supplicant # sudo vim-python3 bash-completion
  1. Generate fstab. Check the result afterwards, as it might be incorrect.
live# genfstab -pU /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab
live# cat /mnt/etc/fstab
#
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>      <dir>   <type>  <options>                                   <dump>  <pass>
/dev/vgcrypt/root    /       ext4    rw,discard,relatime,data=ordered            0       1
/dev/sda1            /boot   vfat    rw,discard,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022   0       0
/dev/vgcrypt/home    /home   ext4    rw,discard,relatime,data=ordered            0       2
  1. Chroot into the new system to adjust more stuff.
live# arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
  1. Set the clock
```Shell
# user your timezone :P
chroot# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime
chroot# hwclock --systohc --utc
```
  1. Set your hostname
```Shell
chroot# echo T450s > /etc/hostname
```
  1. Don't forget your locales (especially git seems to need them):
```Shell
chroot# echo 'en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8' > /etc/locale.gen
chroot# locale-gen
```

Some more, regarding this

```Shell
chroot# echo 'LANG=en_GB.UTF-8' > /etc/locale.conf
# this might prevent some issues during installation
chroot# export LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
chroot# echo 'KEYMAP=uk' > /etc/vconsole.conf
```
  1. Password!
```Shell
chroot# passwd
```

Optionally add a user now

```Shell
chroot# useradd -m -g users -G wheel -s /bin/bash USER
chroot# passwd USER
```

Adjust `/etc/sudoers` aswell

```Shell
chroot# sed -i "s/# \(%wheel ALL=(ALL)\)/\1/" /etc/sudoers
```
  1. Configure mktinitcpio to include the hooks keymap encrypt lvm2 before filesystems.
```Shell
chroot# grep ^HOOKS /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block keymap encrypt lvm2 filesystems keyboard fsck shutdown"
```

```Shell
chroot# mkinitcpio -p linux
```
  1. Setup the bootmanager (systemd-boot).
```Shell
chroot# bootctl install
```

Add the boot entry and set it as default

```Shell
# boot entry for the system (incl. backlight fix)
chroot# cat /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
options cryptdevice=/dev/sda2:vgcrypt:allow-discards root=/dev/vgcrypt/root rw acpi_backlight=vendor
# setting that boot entry as default (and one-and-only)
chroot# cat /boot/loader/loader.conf
#timeout 3
default arch
```

To see, if it installed correctly, compare to the following

```Shell
chroot# bootctl status
# /dev/sda1 might be substituted by something of /dev/disk/by-partuuid/...
System:
     Firmware: UEFI 2.31 (Lenovo 0.4368)
  Secure Boot: disabled
   Setup Mode: user

Loader:
      Product: systemd-boot 221
    Partition: /dev/sda1
         File: └─/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi

Boot Loader Binaries:
          ESP: /dev/sda1
         File: └─/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi (systemd-boot 221)
         File: └─/EFI/Boot/BOOTX64.EFI (systemd-boot 221)

Boot Loader Entries in EFI Variables:
        Title: Linux Boot Manager
           ID: 0x0013
       Status: active, boot-order
    Partition: /dev/sda1
         File: └─/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi
```
  1. Leave the chroot-environment.
```Shell
chroot# exit    # alternatively Ctrl+D
```

Leave

Leave the Live-CD/USB by unmounting everything and afterwards restarting the machine. If everything is done correctly, the oncoming steps should work without problemsTM.

live# umount -R /mnt
live# reboot

Setup

This part is partly subjective. So if you do not use those programs, install your equivalent or just ignore it.

**TODO continue **

TODO

  • packages:
    • wpa_actiond
    • ifplugd
  • how to force monospace in rendered md for <pre>?!

Technical Specifications

Category Value
Model Lenovo T450s 20BWS03F00
BIOS Lenovo JBET46WW (1.11)
CPU Intel i7-5600U (3200 MHz)
Graphics Intel Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics
Network Intel Ethernet Connection (3) I218-LM
Intel Wireless 7265
Drive INTEL_SSDSC2BF36 (360GB)
Memory 11895 MB (4GB + 8GB)

Sources:

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