dotfiles/arch-install-checklist.md

Arch installation checklist

This file contains simplified instructions for Arch Linux installation Following these should lead to a full installation of barebone Arch system, with grub bootloader and a priviledged sudoer user.

Note: Running the script can automated many of these points, if you are comming here after running the script, look for a line saying: Proceed from this line, if you're reading after chrooting

Set keyboard layout

Default layout will be US ls /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/**/*.map.gz <- list keymaps loadkeys de-latin1 <- modify layout

Verify boot mode

ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars <- if exist, system is UEFI, else legacy BIOS

Internet connection

Ethernet connection is automatic, WiFi: ip link <- check network interface works and is enabled iwctl <- authenticate to your WiFi network

ping archlinux.org <- test connection

System clock

timedatectl set-ntp true <- make sure the clock will be accurate timedatectl status <- check the status

Partition the disk

fdisk /dev/sdX <- make partitions

• EFI (if UEFI)
• Swap
• Root
• (Home)

Format the partitions and make filesystems

mkfs.ext4 /dev/root_partition mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/efi_system_partition mkswap /dev/swap_partition

Mount the file systems

mount /dev/root_partition /mnt mount /dev/efi_system_partition /mnt/boot swapon /dev/swap_partition

Install essentials

First select mirrors (/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist) pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware base-devel NetworkManager vim

Fstab

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Chroot

arch-chroot /mnt

Proceed from this line, if you're reading after chrooting

Set time zone

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/Ciry /etc/localtime <- specify timezone hwclock --systohc <- synchronize clock, to generate /etc/adjtime

Localization

Edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and ISO locales locale-gen <- Generate locales

Set LANG variable in locale.conf:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Set persistent keyboard layout in /etc/vconsole.conf (This will default to english, if not set)

KEYMAP=de-latin1

Network Config

Define hostname in /etc/hostname (name of computer) Add matching entries to /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1	localhost
::1			localhost
127.0.1.1	hostname.localdomain	hostname

Set root password or make other account

passwd <- Set root password

It's better to work with priviledged user rather than root account directly. To do this, we first have to install sudo and vim. (We did this with pacstrap) After that, we can edit the configuration by sudo EDITOR=vim visudo, in which we will uncomment the line %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL and save

After sudo is set up and wheel group is allowed to use it, we can make the user: useradd -G wheel,admin -d /path/to/home -m username - passwd username

After this, we can login as this user and make sure everything works as it shoud: sudo su username

Install bootloader

This will only cover grub, for other bootloaders, visit https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_boot_process#Boot_loader

Install grub package with pacman Note: To detect other operating systems too, you will also need os-prober package, also with NTFS systems, if windows isn't detected, try installing ntfs-3g and remounting

UEFI: efibootmgr package is also needed for UEFI systems grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=boot --bootloader-id=GRUB BIOS (Legacy): grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sdX, where sdX is the disk, not a partition

Note: --removable option can be used, which will allow booting if EFI variables are reset or you move to another PC

Generating grub configuration

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