# Installation This is a full Arch Linux installation guide, from live cd to a working OS. This installation includes steps for full disk encryption, and sets up the system with some basic tools and my zsh configuration. ## Partition, format and mount the disks This will depend on your setup, following are the commands I used for my specific setup as a reference, however you'll very like want a different disk structure, and you probably won't even have the drives in the same configuration as I do. Create partitions for the drives ```bash fdisk /dev/nvme0n1 # Create new GPT table and make 3 partitions # first for boot (1G), second for swap (16G), # third for btrfs (root + /home + data) (rest of the space) fdisk /dev/nvme0n2 # Create a single partition for btrfs data ``` Format partitions that shouldn't be encrypted ```bash mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1 fatlabel /dev/nvme0n1p1 EFI mkswap -L SWAP /dev/nvme0n1p2 ``` Format drives using LUKS for encryption and open them to mapper devices ```bash cryptsetup luksFormat --type luks2 --label ARCH_LUKS /dev/nvme0n1p3 cryptsetup luksFormat --type luks2 --label DATA /dev/nvme0n2p1 cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH_LUKS cryptroot cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/disk/by-label/DATA cryptdata ``` Create BTRFS filesystem on the encrypted drives ```bash mkfs.btrfs -f -L ARCH /dev/mapper/cryptroot mkfs.btrfs -f -L DATA /dev/mapper/cryptdata ``` Mount btrfs and create subvolumes ```bash # Cryptroot # - We set `noatime` to disable updating of the file access time # every time a file is read. This is done for performance improvements, # especially on SSDs, and we don't really need to know this information # anyway. # - We set `compress=zstd:1` to enable level 1 zstd compression (lowest), # which still provides quite fast read/write speeds, while saving some space. mount -o noatime,compress=zstd:1 /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@ # / (root) btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@home # /home btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@log # /var/log btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@cache # /var/cache btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@tmp # /tmp btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@data # /data btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@snapshots umount /mnt # cryptdata # - We use same options for mounting the root btrfs drive as # we did for cryptroot here, however we will use a bigger compression # rate for the individual subvolumes when mounting them. mount -o noatime,compress=zstd:1 /dev/mapper/cryptdata /mnt btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@data # /data2 btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@backups # /backups btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@snapshots umount /mnt ``` Mount the subvolumes and drives ```bash # cryptroot btrfs subvolumes mount -o defaults,noatime,compress=zstd:1,subvol=@ /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt mount -o defaults,noatime,compress=zstd:1,subvol=@home /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt/home --mkdir mount -o defaults,noatime,compress=zstd:2,subvol=@log /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt/var/log --mkdir mount -o defaults,noatime,compress=zstd:3,subvol=@cache /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt/var/cache --mkdir mount -o defaults,noatime,compress=no,subvol=@tmp /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt/tmp --mkdir mount -o defaults,noatime,compress=zstd:5,subvol=@data /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt/data --mkdir # cryptdata btrfs subvolumes mount -o defaults,noatime,compress=zstd:5,subvol=@data /dev/mapper/cryptdata /mnt/data2 --mkdir mount -o defaults,noatime,compress=zstd:10,subvol=@backups /dev/mapper/cryptdata /mnt/backups --mkdir # physical partitions mount /dev/disk/by-label/EFI /mnt/efi --mkdir mkdir /mnt/efi/arch-1 mount --bind /mnt/efi/arch-1 /mnt/boot --mkdir swapon /dev/disk/by-label/SWAP ``` ## Base installation ```bash reflector --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist --latest 10 --protocol https --sort rate pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware linux-headers amd-ucode # or intel-ucode genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab # Note: We'll need to edit fstab later on, to use UUIDs, and to set proper compression levels # as the generated options will just use zstd:1 everywhere, the final fstab is shown late. # during bootloader config arch-chroot /mnt ``` Configure essentials ```bash pacman -S git btrfs-progs neovim ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/CET /etc/localtime hwclock --systohc sed -i 's/^#en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/g' /etc/locale.gen echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf locale-gen echo "pc" > /etc/hostname passwd ``` ## Basic configuration Clone my dotfiles and run the install script ```bash git clone --recursive https://github.com/ItsDrike/dotfiles ~/dots cd ~/dots ./install_root.sh ``` Exit and reenter chroot, this time into zsh shell ```bash exit arch-chroot /mnt zsh ``` Create non-privileged user ```bash useradd itsdrike usermod -aG wheel itsdrike install -o itsdrike -g itsdrike -d /home/itsdrike passwd itsdrike chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh itsdrike su -l itsdrike # press q or esc in the default zsh options ``` Setup user account ```bash git clone --recursive https://github.com/ItsDrike/dotfiles ~/dots cd ~/dots ./install_user.sh ``` Exit (logout) the user and relogin, this time into configured zsh shell ```bash exit su -l itsdrike ``` Install astronvim ```bash git clone https://github.com/AstroNvim/AstroNvim ~/.config/nvim git clone https://github.com/ItsDrike/AstroNvimUser ~/.config/nvim/lua/user ``` ## Auto-mounting encrypted partitions We've created a LUKS encrypted partition to store our date into, however it would be very inconvenient to have to mount it ourselves on each boot. Instead, we'll probably want to set up a way to mount them automatically. Leaving only the root partition that we'll need to enter a password for on boot. ### Key files LUKS encryption has support for multiple keys to the same parition. We'll utilize this support and add 2nd key slot to all of the partitions that we wish to auto-mount. For this 2nd key slot, we will use a key file, as opposed to the regular user-entered text, so that we can store this key in the file system directly. We will later be using this stored key to auto-mount. The key file will contain random data that will be used as the key. Note that it is very important to have these key files themselves stored on an encrypted partition, in this case, we're storing them in /etc/secrets, and our root is encrypted. If you don't have encrypted root partition, it is unsafe to keep those files in there! Note that you don't actually need the key files, and if you wish, you can also be prompted to enter a password on each boot instead (for every partition). You should prefer this approach if your root partition isn't encrypted, although know that this can get pretty annoying with more than one encrypted device. If you wish to do this, you can skip this section. ```bash exit # Go back to root account mkdir -p /etc/secrets dd if=/dev/random bs=4096 count=1 of=/etc/secrets/keyFile-data.bin chmod -R 400 /etc/secrets chmod 700 /etc/secrets ``` The bs argument signifies a block size (in bits), so this will create 4096-bit keys. Now we can add this key into our LUKS encrypted data partition: ```bash cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/disk/by-label/DATA --new-keyfile /etc/secrets/keyFile-data.bin ``` ### /etc/crypttab Now that we have the key files ready, we can utilize /etc/crypttab, which is a file that systemd reads during boot (similarly to /etc/fstab), and contains instructions for auto-mounting devices. This is the `/etc/crypttab` file that I use: ```txt # Configuration for encrypted block devices. # See crypttab(5) for details. # NOTE: Do not list your root (/) partition here, it must be set up # beforehand by the initramfs (/etc/mkinitcpio.conf). # cryptdata LABEL=DATA /etc/secrets/keyFile-data.bin discard ``` If you want to be prompted for the password during boot instead of it being read from a file, you can use `none` instead of the file path. The `discard` option is specified to enable TRIM on SSDs, which should improve their lifespan. It is not necessary if you're using an HDD. ### /etc/fstab While the crypttab file opens the encrypted block devices and creates the mapper interfaces for them, to mount those to a concrete directory, we still use /etc/fstab. Below is the /etc/fstab that I use on my system: ```txt # Static information about the filesystems. # See fstab(5) for details. # # region: Physical partitions # /dev/nvme0n1p2 LABEL=SWAP UUID=d262a2e5-a1a3-42b1-ac83-18639f5e8f3d /dev/disk/by-label/SWAP none swap defaults 0 0 # /dev/nvme0n1p1 LABEL=EFI UUID=44E8-EB26 /dev/disk/by-label/EFI /efi vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0137,dmask=0027,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 2 # endregion # region: BTRFS subvolumes on /dev/disk/by-label/ARCH (decrypted from ARCH_LUKS) # /dev/mapper/cryptroot LABEL=ARCH UUID=bffc7a62-0c7e-4aa9-b10e-fd68bac477e0 /dev/mapper/cryptroot / btrfs rw,noatime,compress=zstd:1,ssd,space_cache=v2,subvol=/@ 0 1 /dev/mapper/cryptroot /home btrfs rw,noatime,compress=zstd:1,ssd,space_cache=v2,subvol=/@home 0 1 /dev/mapper/cryptroot /var/log btrfs rw,noatime,compress=zstd:2,ssd,space_cache=v2,subvol=/@log 0 1 /dev/mapper/cryptroot /var/cache btrfs rw,noatime,compress=zstd:3,ssd,space_cache=v2,subvol=/@cache 0 1 /dev/mapper/cryptroot /tmp btrfs rw,noatime,compress=no,ssd,space_cache=v2,subvol=/@tmp 0 1 /dev/mapper/cryptroot /data btrfs rw,noatime,compress=zstd:5,ssd,space_cache=v2,subvol=/@data 0 2 /dev/mapper/cryptroot /.btrfs btrfs rw,noatime,ssd,space_cache=v2 0 2 # btrfs root # /dev/mapper/cryptdata LABEL=DATA UUID=... /dev/mapper/cryptdata /data2 btrfs rw,noatime,compress=zstd:5,ssd,space_cache=v2,subvol=/@data 0 2 /dev/mapper/cryptdata /backups btrfs rw,noatime,compress=zstd:10,ssd,space_cache=v2,subvol=/@backups 0 2 /dev/mapper/cryptdata /.btrfs-data btrfs rw,noatime,ssd,space_cache=v2 0 2 # btrfs root # endregion # region: Bind mounts # Write kernel images to /efi/arch-1, not directly to efi system partition (esp), to avoid conflicts when dual booting /mnt/efi/arch-1 /boot none rw,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro,bind 0 0 # endregion ``` ## Bootloader This guide uses systemd-boot (if you want to use GRUB, just follow the arch wiki). ### Ask for LUKS password from initramfs Ask for encryption password of the root partition in early userspace (only relevant if you're using LUKS encryption), you'll also need to set cryptdevice kernel parameter, specifying the device that should be unlocked here, and the device mapping name. (shown later) ```bash # Find the line with HOOKS=(...) # Add `keyboard keymap` after `autodetect` (if these hooks are already there, # just keep them, but make sure they're after `autodetect`). # Lastly add `encrypt` before `filesystems`. nvim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf ``` This will configure `mkinitcpio` to build support for the keyboard input, and support for decrypting LUKS devices from within the initial ramdisk environment. If you wish, you can also follow the instructions below to auto-enable numlock: ```bash sudo -u itsdrike yay -S mkinitcpio-numlock # Go to HOOKS and add `numlock` after `keyboard` in: nvim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf ``` Now regenerate the initial ramdisk environment image: ```bash mkinitcpio -P ``` ### Configure systemd-boot Install systemd-boot to the EFI system partition (ESP) ```bash bootctl --esp-path=/efi install # This might report a warning about permissions for the /efi mount point, # these were addressed in the fstab file above (changed fmask and dmask), # if you copied those to your fstab, the permissions will be fixed after reboot ``` Add boot menu entries (Note that we're using LABEL= for cryptdevice, for which `udev` must be before the `encrypt` hook in mkinitcpio `HOOKS`. This should however be the case by default. If you wish, you can also use UUID= or just /dev/XYZ here) Create a new file - `/efi/loader/entries/arch-hyprland.conf`, with: ```bash title Arch Linux (Hyprland) sort-key 0 linux /arch-1/vmlinuz-linux initrd /arch-1/amd-ucode.img initrd /arch-1/initramfs-linux.img options cryptdevice=LABEL=ARCH_LUKS:cryptroot:allow-discards options root=/dev/mapper/cryptroot rootflags=subvol=/@ options rw loglevel=3 ``` And finally configure loader - `/efi/loader/loader.conf` (overwrite the contents): ```bash default arch-hyprland.conf timeout 4 console-mode auto editor yes auto-firmware yes beep no ``` **Reboot** ```bash exit # go back to live iso (exit chroot) reboot ``` ## Post-setup Enable Network Time Protocol (time synchronization) ```bash sudo timedatectl set-ntp true timedatectl status ``` Connect to a wifi network ```bash nmtui ``` ## Footnotes Note that this setup is based on my personal system, in which I dual boot multiple (2) arch instances, one running hyprland, the other running KDE (I mainly use the hyprland instance, the KDE one is purely there because it's X11 and supports my NVidia card, which Hyprland currenly doesn't). The config here only really mentions how to get the first (hyprland) installation ready, however if you wanted to set up both, it's essentially just doing the same thing again, with some minor changes like in the systemd-boot entry and some fstab/crypttab entries. I do plan on writing a continuation guide for how to set up the system for GUI (Hyprland) too eventually. Once it's done, I will mention it here.