Basic instructions for installing Arch Linux using the builtin "archinstall" script.

archinstall_guide.md

Installing Arch Linux via the built in archinstall script

Note: This assumes that you have written the archlinux ISO to USB/Optical media and have booted into the live environment.

You should be at a CLI terminal that is showing the following prompt:

root@archiso ~ #

Start the archinstall script

archinstall

Note: This will bring you to a TUI (Terminal User Interface) menu that will help configure your installation.

Install Language

"English (100%)" (default, change if needed)

Keyboard Layout

"us" (default, change if needed)

Mirror Region

Using your arrow keys navigate the menu and press Tab to select "United States".

Locale Language (USE DEFAULTS)

Locale encoding (USE DEFAULTS)

Drive(s)

Note: This is assuming that you are installing Arch onto its own drive. If you are attempting to install Arch onto a shared drive with a Windows or other Linux install this guide does not cover required steps to make that work.

Select the correct drive to install Arch on to

Triple check your drive and select it with tab

Disk Layout

Select the following option:

Wipe all selected drives and use a best-effort default partition layout

Select the filesystem:

btrfs

Use BTRFS subvolumes with default structure?

yes (default)

Use BTRFS compression?

yes (default)

Bootloader

Note: For this guide we'll use the default option of "systemd-bootctl" if you require GRUB for dual-boot or other reasons. You'll need to reference the Arch Wiki for more help.

systemd-bootctl

Swap (USE DEFAULTS)

Hostname

Use whatever name you'd like your computer to be known as.

Root Password

Use None (default) here unless you find the need to have one.

User Account

Add a user

Create your desired username and password

Should "user" be superuser (sudo)?

yes

Note: You can add more users at this point if needed.

Profile

Choose a pre-programmed profile

desktop: Provides a selection of desktop environments and tiling window managers, e.g. gnome, kde, sway

Select your desired desktop environment

Note: In this example I selected xfce4. You will want to choose the DE that you want. Be aware that there might be some additional prompts for other environments.

xfce4

Select a graphics driver

Note: Make sure you select the appropriate driver for your GPU. If you have a Nvidia card, I would highly suggest using the proprietary drivers for now. The open-source drivers are good if you're not planning on playing Video Games.

Nvidia (proprietary)

Audio

Choose an audio server

pipewire (default)

Kernels (USE DEFAULTS)

Additional Packages

Use this if you have specific packages that need to be installed immediately. Else everything can just be installed once you finish installation.

Network Config

If you are using Ethernet you can just use the following:

Copy ISO network configuration to installation

If you are using Gnome or KDE (or just want a GUI app) you should probably use:

Use NetworkManager (necessary to configure internet graphically in GNOME and KDE)

Timezone

Using your arrow keys navigate the menu and press Tab to select a city that is in your time zone. For example for Mountain Time Zone you can choose America/Denver

Automatic Time Sync (NTP)

True (default)

Optional Repositories (USE DEFAULTS)

Installation Process

Start the Install

Select "Install" at the bottom of the menu and press Enter to start the installation.

Chroot into the newly installed environment

Select "yes (default)" if you have any specific steps you need to compelte before restarting. Note this will be just a CLI terminal interface still. Select No to move on.

If you selected yes, complete your actions and then use "exit" to go back to the live environment.

Reboot your system

Type in "reboot now" to reboot your computer.

Boot up process

Your computer should now boot into the systemd-bootctl bootloader. By default it will select the first option (Start Arch Linux) after 3 - 5 seconds.

Congrats! 🎉 you have installed Arch the easy way. You should be greeted by a login screen dependant on your selected Desktop Environment.