Minimal Arch Linux Installation

Everything one needs to know to install Arch Linux in their machine successfully is given in the official guide. Installation guide

Initial Setup

Boot into the Live Arch Linux environment. The very first thing is to connect to a network. If wired connection is available, then skip the next step.

Connect to WiFi

# Check the status
ip link

# Start the `iwctl` session
iwctl

Do the following within the iwctl console.

# List all the sessions
station list

# scan the interface
station wlan0 scan

# check the interface status
station wlan0 show

# list all available networks
station wlan0 get-networks

# connect to the network
staton wlan0 connect <network_name>

# check the interface status to confirm if connected
station wlan0 show

Create temporary root password

Create a temporary password so that it can be accessed from another workstation using SSH.

passwd

The following steps can be done through a workstation using SSH ssh [email protected]

Partitioning the Disk

Before we partition the disk, we need to figure out the name of the targeted disk.

lsblk

For SSD, these are normally formatted as nvme0nX.

Partition the Disk

Our target is to create two partitions. One will be the /boot partition and the rest will be used as LVM.

fdisk - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fdisk

fdisk /dev/the_disk_to_be_partitioned

# example
fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

It will open it’s own interface where we can create new partitions.

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.40.4).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.


Command (m for help):

Delete older partitions, if any

Within fdisk instance, use d to delete all the partitions of a disk. To apply the changes use w.

Create new partitions

Again, within fdisk instance, use n to create new partition. It will ask for the following

partition number
first sector
last sector

# for boot partition
Command (m for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1):
First sector (34-1000215182, default 2048):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-1000215182, default 1000214527): +1G

Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 1 GiB.

# for LVM
Command (m for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2):
First sector (2099200-1000215182, default 2099200):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2099200-1000215182, default 1000214527):

Created a new partition 2 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 475.9 GiB.

Change partition type

Use t to set the partition. Use L within that to list all partition type.

For boot partition use EFI System (Normally it’s 1)
For LVM partition use Linux LVM

Once all the partitions are created, verify it before applying these changes using p. Save changes using w.

Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 476.94 GiB, 512110190592 bytes, 1000215216 sectors
Disk model: INTEL SSDPEKNU512GZ
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 9E41E094-1BA2-4A15-B416-24677046D121

Device           Start        End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1    2048    2099199   2097152     1G EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 2099200 1000214527 998115328 475.9G Linux LVM

Filesystem/RAID signature on partition 1 will be wiped.
Filesystem/RAID signature on partition 2 will be wiped.

List the blocks

root@archiso ~ # lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0         7:0    0 836.7M  1 loop /run/archiso/airootfs
sda           8:0    1  57.3G  0 disk
├─sda1        8:1    1  57.3G  0 part
│ └─ventoy  254:0    0   1.2G  1 dm
└─sda2        8:2    1    32M  0 part
nvme0n1     259:0    0 476.9G  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:3    0     1G  0 part
└─nvme0n1p2 259:4    0 475.9G  0 part

lsblk(8) - Linux manual page

https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/lsblk.8.html

The next step, normally, is to format the partition. But it’s highly recommended to encrypt the partitions first. But we can’t encrypt the boot partition, otherwise the Arch Linux won’t boot up. This is why we create two separate partitions. We can encrypt our LVM partition.

Encrypt the Partition

dm-crypt/Encrypting an entire system - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dm-crypt/Encrypting_an_entire_system

There are different scenarios of encrypting partitions. For our use case, we will stick with LVM on LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup).

cryptsetup luksFormat <partition>

# example
cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/nvme0n1p2

WARNING!
========
This will overwrite data on /dev/nvme0n1p2 irrevocably.

Are you sure? (Type 'yes' in capital letters): YES
Enter passphrase for /dev/nvme0n1p2:
Verify passphrase:
cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/nvme0n1p2  25.53s user 0.31s system 143% cpu 18.009 total

Open the container, and prepare the logical volumes.

# Open the container
cryptsetup open /dev/nvme0n1p2 cryptlvm

#Create a physical volume on top of the opened LUKS container
pvcreate /dev/mapper/cryptlvm

# The decrypted container is now available at `/dev/mapper/cryptlvm`
lsblk
NAME         MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
loop0          7:0    0 836.7M  1 loop  /run/archiso/airootfs
sda            8:0    1  57.3G  0 disk
├─sda1         8:1    1  57.3G  0 part
│ └─ventoy   254:0    0   1.2G  1 dm
└─sda2         8:2    1    32M  0 part
nvme0n1      259:0    0 476.9G  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1  259:5    0     1G  0 part
└─nvme0n1p2  259:6    0 475.9G  0 part
  └─cryptlvm 254:1    0 475.9G  0 crypt

Create logical volume groups and logical volumes.

# Create a volume group
vgcreate quasar /dev/mapper/cryptlvm

# Rename volumne group (if needed)
vgrename /dev/quasar1 quasar

# Check free space in volume group
vgdisplay

# Create all your logical volumes
lvcreate -L 16G quasar -n swap
lvcreate -L 32G quasar -n root
lvcreate -L 200G quasar -n home
lvcreate -L 200G quasar -n data

lsblk
NAME              MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
loop0               7:0    0 836.7M  1 loop  /run/archiso/airootfs
sda                 8:0    1  57.3G  0 disk
├─sda1              8:1    1  57.3G  0 part
│ └─ventoy        254:0    0   1.2G  1 dm
└─sda2              8:2    1    32M  0 part
nvme0n1           259:0    0 476.9G  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1       259:5    0     1G  0 part
└─nvme0n1p2       259:6    0 475.9G  0 part
  └─cryptlvm      254:1    0 475.9G  0 crypt
    ├─quasar-swap 254:2    0    16G  0 lvm
    ├─quasar-root 254:3    0    32G  0 lvm
    ├─quasar-home 254:4    0   200G  0 lvm
    └─quasar-data 254:5    0   200G  0 lvm

Format the Partitions and Logical Volumes

# format boot partition
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/nvme0n1p1

# format file system on each logical volume
mkfs.ext4 /dev/quasar/root
mkfs.ext4 /dev/quasar/home
mkfs.ext4 /dev/quasar/data
mkswap /dev/quasar/swap

Verify the format of each volume

lsblk -f
NAME              FSTYPE      FSVER            LABEL       UUID                                   FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
loop0             squashfs    4.0                                                                       0   100% /run/archiso/airootfs
sda
├─sda1            exfat       1.0              Ventoy      4E21-0000
│ └─ventoy        iso9660     Joliet Extension ARCH_202503 2025-03-01-17-40-22-00
└─sda2            vfat        FAT16            VTOYEFI     223C-F3F8
nvme0n1
├─nvme0n1p1       vfat        FAT32                        BBC7-2267
└─nvme0n1p2       crypto_LUKS 2                            22833027-be4e-495d-b1e3-80b026c5a01e
  └─cryptlvm      LVM2_member LVM2 001                     CFrGAZ-Rs72-x3lV-uqkP-lkXh-eBJE-LnGDfy
    ├─quasar-swap swap        1                            ad29c156-86f9-47c4-a768-993192855600
    ├─quasar-root ext4        1.0                          80669c34-6213-4cc2-8ed1-13cd48373fb6
    ├─quasar-home ext4        1.0                          f466bffe-cdd8-4bf0-ac63-71152ac53ebf
    └─quasar-data ext4        1.0                          0c59092d-2d1c-4cf5-9004-f35457b5ec0c

# prepare boot partition
mount --mkdir /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
mount --mkdir /dev/quasar/root /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/quasar/home /mnt/home
mount --mkdir /dev/quasar/data /mnt/data

# enable swap
swapon /dev/quasar/swap

lsblk
NAME              MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
loop0               7:0    0 836.7M  1 loop  /run/archiso/airootfs
sda                 8:0    1  57.3G  0 disk
├─sda1              8:1    1  57.3G  0 part
│ └─ventoy        254:0    0   1.2G  1 dm
└─sda2              8:2    1    32M  0 part
nvme0n1           259:0    0 476.9G  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1       259:5    0     1G  0 part  /mnt/boot
└─nvme0n1p2       259:6    0 475.9G  0 part
  └─cryptlvm      254:1    0 475.9G  0 crypt
    ├─quasar-swap 254:2    0    16G  0 lvm   [SWAP]
    ├─quasar-root 254:3    0    32G  0 lvm   /mnt
    ├─quasar-home 254:4    0   200G  0 lvm   /mnt/home
    └─quasar-data 254:5    0   200G  0 lvm   /mnt/data

Install Essential Packages

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware

Configure the System

Fstab

fstab - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fstab

Generate fstab

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

Chroot

chroot - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Chroot

Change root into the new system

arch-chroot /mnt

Install necessary package

Install the following while chrooted into the new system

# install CPU microcode
pacman -Syu intel-ucode

# install lvm2 (Very important)
pacman -Syu lvm2

# install text editor
pacman -Syu vim
pacman -Syu nano

Time

System time - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System_time

# set the time zone
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Kolkata /etc/localtime

# generate /etc/adjtime
hwclock --systohc

Localization

# edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment `en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8`
locale-gen
cat /etc/locale.gen

# create locale.conf and add `LANG=en_US.UTF-8`
echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf

# create vconsole.confg and add `Nothing`
echo "KEYMAP=us" > /etc/vconsole.conf

Network configuration

# create the hostname file and add a name e.g. `quasar`
vim /etc/hostname
echo "quasar" > /etc/hostname

Network configuration - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Network_configuration

systemd-networkd - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-networkd

systemd-resolved - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-resolved

# enable systemd-networkd
systemctl enable systemd-networkd.service

# enable systemd-resolved
systemctl enable systemd-resolved.service

First figure out the name of the wireless interface using ip link.

Configure wireless adapter

vim /etc/systemd/network/25-wireless.network

Add the following to 25-wireless.network. The name is the interface name for the desired WiFi adapter.

[Match]
Name=wlan1

[Link]
RequiredForOnline=routable

[Network]
DHCP=yes
IgnoreCarrierLoss=3s

Use iwd to connect to the internet

iwd - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Iwd

# install iwd
pacman -Syu iwd

# enable iwd service
systemctl enable iwd.service

Initramfs

Initial ramdisk - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_ramdisk

mkinitcpio - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Mkinitcpio

For LVM, system encryption or RAID, modify mkinitcpio.conf and recreate the initramfs image

dm-crypt/Encrypting an entire system - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dm-crypt/Encrypting_an_entire_system#Configuring_mkinitcpio

Modify the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and use the following hook.

HOOKS=(base systemd autodetect microcode modconf kms keyboard sd-vconsole block sd-encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck)

Regenerate initramfs

# Create a new initramfs
mkinitcpio -P

Root password

# Create new user
useradd hyperoot

# Add sudo privilages for new user
usermod -aG wheel hyperoot

# enable wheel by uncommenting the group
pacman -Syu sudo vim
visudo

# Setup sudo password
passwd

# Setup new user password
passwd hyperoot

Configure the Boot Loader

Arch boot process - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_boot_process

systemd-boot - ArchWiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-boot

bootctl(1) — Arch manual pages

https://man.archlinux.org/man/bootctl.1

When we change into the root directory, the mount doesn’t carry over, even though we mounted the boot partition.

lsblk
NAME              MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
loop0               7:0    0 836.7M  1 loop
sda                 8:0    1  57.3G  0 disk
├─sda1              8:1    1  57.3G  0 part
│ └─ventoy        254:0    0   1.2G  1 dm
└─sda2              8:2    1    32M  0 part
nvme0n1           259:0    0 476.9G  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1       259:5    0     1G  0 part
└─nvme0n1p2       259:6    0 475.9G  0 part
  └─cryptlvm      254:1    0 475.9G  0 crypt
    ├─quasar-swap 254:2    0    16G  0 lvm   [SWAP]
    ├─quasar-root 254:3    0    32G  0 lvm   /
    ├─quasar-home 254:4    0   200G  0 lvm   /home
    └─quasar-data 254:5    0   200G  0 lvm   /data

To address this, we need to mount it once more.

mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /boot

lsblk
NAME              MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
loop0               7:0    0 836.7M  1 loop
sda                 8:0    1  57.3G  0 disk
├─sda1              8:1    1  57.3G  0 part
│ └─ventoy        254:0    0   1.2G  1 dm
└─sda2              8:2    1    32M  0 part
nvme0n1           259:0    0 476.9G  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1       259:5    0     1G  0 part  /boot
└─nvme0n1p2       259:6    0 475.9G  0 part
  └─cryptlvm      254:1    0 475.9G  0 crypt
    ├─quasar-swap 254:2    0    16G  0 lvm   [SWAP]
    ├─quasar-root 254:3    0    32G  0 lvm   /
    ├─quasar-home 254:4    0   200G  0 lvm   /home
    └─quasar-data 254:5    0   200G  0 lvm   /data

We need to install systemd-boot.

bootctl --esp-path=/boot install

bootctl install
Created "/boot/EFI".
Created "/boot/EFI/systemd".
Created "/boot/EFI/BOOT".
Created "/boot/loader".
Created "/boot/loader/keys".
Created "/boot/loader/entries".
Created "/boot/EFI/Linux".
Copied "/usr/lib/systemd/boot/efi/systemd-bootx64.efi" to "/boot/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi".
Copied "/usr/lib/systemd/boot/efi/systemd-bootx64.efi" to "/boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI".
⚠️ Mount point '/boot' which backs the random seed file is world accessible, which is a security hole! ⚠️
⚠️ Random seed file '/boot/loader/.#bootctlrandom-seed6070994f7e4158c0' is world accessible, which is a security hole! ⚠️
Random seed file /boot/loader/random-seed successfully written (32 bytes).

List the contents of /boot

ls -l /boot
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root      4096 Apr 20 14:22 EFI
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root      4096 Apr 20 14:22 loader

Install the linux kernel

pacman -Syu linux

Generate the `initramfs`

mkinitcpio -P

Now there should a few more files in /boot.

ls -l /boot
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root      4096 Apr 20 14:22 EFI
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 135858147 Apr 20 14:28 initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  66963429 Apr 20 14:28 initramfs-linux.img
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root      4096 Apr 20 14:22 loader
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  15368704 Apr 20 14:27 vmlinuz-linux

Loader configure

Each entry within /boot/loader/entries represents an option for the boot menu. If there is a dual boot, we will have two conf files.

vim /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
options cryptdevice=UUID=device-UUID:cryptlvm root=/dev/MyVolGroup/root

The UUID is the ID of the entire LVM partition.

blkid
# look for the uuid for /dev/nvme0n1p2

title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img

options rd.luks.name=22833027-be4e-495d-b1e3-80b026c5a01e=quasar root=/dev/quasar/root rw

Modify the /etc/loader/loader.conf

vim /boot/loader/loader.conf

timeout 3
default arch.conf
console-mode max
editor no

Verify if the bootloader is properly configured.

bootctl --path=/boot status