install.txt

View this installation guide online at
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_Guide

   This document is a guide for installing Arch Linux from the live system
   booted with the official installation image. Before installing, it
   would be advised to view the FAQ. For conventions used in this
   document, see Help:Reading. In particular, code examples may contain
   placeholders (formatted in italics) that must be replaced manually.

   For more detailed instructions, see the respective ArchWiki articles or
   the various programs' man pages, both linked from this guide. For
   interactive help, the IRC channel and the forums are also available.

   Arch Linux should run on any x86_64-compatible machine with a minimum
   of 512 MiB RAM. A basic installation should take less than 800 MiB of
   disk space. As the installation process needs to retrieve packages from
   a remote repository, this guide assumes a working internet connection
   is available.
   [ ]

Contents

     * 1 Pre-installation
          + 1.1 Verify signature
          + 1.2 Boot the live environment
          + 1.3 Set the keyboard layout
          + 1.4 Verify the boot mode
          + 1.5 Connect to the internet
          + 1.6 Update the system clock
          + 1.7 Partition the disks
               o 1.7.1 Example layouts
          + 1.8 Format the partitions
          + 1.9 Mount the file systems
     * 2 Installation
          + 2.1 Select the mirrors
          + 2.2 Install essential packages
     * 3 Configure the system
          + 3.1 Fstab
          + 3.2 Chroot
          + 3.3 Time zone
          + 3.4 Localization
          + 3.5 Network configuration
          + 3.6 Initramfs
          + 3.7 Root password
          + 3.8 Boot loader
     * 4 Reboot
     * 5 Post-installation

Pre-installation

   The installation media and their GnuPG signatures can be acquired from
   the Download page.

Verify signature

   It is recommended to verify the image signature before use, especially
   when downloading from an HTTP mirror, where downloads are generally
   prone to be intercepted to serve malicious images.

   On a system with GnuPG installed, do this by downloading the PGP
   signature (under Checksums) to the ISO directory, and verifying it
   with:
$ gpg --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --verify archlinux-version-x86_64.is
o.sig

   Alternatively, from an existing Arch Linux installation run:
$ pacman-key -v archlinux-version-x86_64.iso.sig

   Note:
     * The signature itself could be manipulated if it is downloaded from
       a mirror site, instead of from archlinux.org as above. In this
       case, ensure that the public key, which is used to decode the
       signature, is signed by another, trustworthy key. The gpg command
       will output the fingerprint of the public key.
     * Another method to verify the authenticity of the signature is to
       ensure that the public key's fingerprint is identical to the key
       fingerprint of the Arch Linux developer who signed the ISO-file.
       See Wikipedia:Public-key cryptography for more information on the
       public-key process to authenticate keys.

Boot the live environment

   The live environment can be booted from a USB flash drive, an optical
   disc or a network with PXE. For alternative means of installation, see
   Category:Installation process.
     * Pointing the current boot device to a drive containing the Arch
       installation media is typically achieved by pressing a key during
       the POST phase, as indicated on the splash screen. Refer to your
       motherboard's manual for details.
     * When the Arch menu appears, select Boot Arch Linux and press Enter
       to enter the installation environment.
     * See README.bootparams for a list of boot parameters, and
       packages.x86_64 for a list of included packages.
     * You will be logged in on the first virtual console as the root
       user, and presented with a Zsh shell prompt.

   To switch to a different console--for example, to view this guide with
   ELinks alongside the installation--use the Alt+arrow shortcut. To edit
   configuration files, nano, vi and vim are available.

Set the keyboard layout

   The default console keymap is US. Available layouts can be listed with:
# ls /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/**/*.map.gz

   To modify the layout, append a corresponding file name to loadkeys(1),
   omitting path and file extension. For example, to set a German keyboard
   layout:
# loadkeys de-latin1

   Console fonts are located in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ and can
   likewise be set with setfont(8).

Verify the boot mode

   If UEFI mode is enabled on an UEFI motherboard, Archiso will boot Arch
   Linux accordingly via systemd-boot. To verify this, list the efivars
   directory:
# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

   If the directory does not exist, the system may be booted in BIOS or
   CSM mode. Refer to your motherboard's manual for details.

Connect to the internet

   To set up a network connection, go through the following steps:
     * Ensure your network interface is listed and enabled, for example
       with ip-link(8):
# ip link
     * Connect to the network. Plug in the Ethernet cable or connect to
       the wireless LAN.
     * Configure your network connection:
          + Static IP address
          + Dynamic IP address: use DHCP.

                Note: The installation image enables dhcpcd
                (dhcpcd@interface.service) for wired network devices on
                boot.

     * The connection may be verified with ping:
# ping archlinux.org

Update the system clock

   Use timedatectl(1) to ensure the system clock is accurate:
# timedatectl set-ntp true

   To check the service status, use timedatectl status.

Partition the disks

   When recognized by the live system, disks are assigned to a block
   device such as /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1. To identify these devices, use
   lsblk or fdisk.
# fdisk -l

   Results ending in rom, loop or airoot may be ignored.

   The following partitions are required for a chosen device:
     * One partition for the root directory /.
     * If UEFI is enabled, an EFI system partition.

   If you want to create any stacked block devices for LVM, system
   encryption or RAID, do it now.

Example layouts

   BIOS with MBR
   Mount point Partition Partition type Suggested size
   /mnt /dev/sdX1 Linux Remainder of the device
   [SWAP] /dev/sdX2 Linux swap More than 512 MiB
   UEFI with GPT
   Mount point Partition Partition type Suggested size
   /mnt/boot or /mnt/efi /dev/sdX1 EFI system partition 260-512 MiB
   /mnt /dev/sdX2 Linux x86-64 root (/) Remainder of the device
   [SWAP] /dev/sdX3 Linux swap More than 512 MiB

   See also Partitioning#Example layouts.
   Note:
     * Use fdisk or parted to modify partition tables, for example fdisk
       /dev/sdX.
     * Swap space can be set on a swap file for file systems supporting
       it.

Format the partitions

   Once the partitions have been created, each must be formatted with an
   appropriate file system. For example, if the root partition is on
   /dev/sdX1 and will contain the ext4 file system, run:
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX1

   If you created a partition for swap, initialize it with mkswap:
# mkswap /dev/sdX2
# swapon /dev/sdX2

   See File systems#Create a file system for details.

Mount the file systems

   Mount the file system on the root partition to /mnt, for example:
# mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt

   Create any remaining mount points (such as /mnt/efi) and mount their
   corresponding partitions.

   genfstab will later detect mounted file systems and swap space.

Installation

Select the mirrors

   Packages to be installed must be downloaded from mirror servers, which
   are defined in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist. On the live system, all
   mirrors are enabled, and sorted by their synchronization status and
   speed at the time the installation image was created.

   The higher a mirror is placed in the list, the more priority it is
   given when downloading a package. You may want to edit the file
   accordingly, and move the geographically closest mirrors to the top of
   the list, although other criteria should be taken into account.

   This file will later be copied to the new system by pacstrap, so it is
   worth getting right.

Install essential packages

   Use the pacstrap script to install the base package, Linux kernel and
   firmware for common hardware:
# pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware

   Tip: You can substitute linux for a kernel package of your choice. You
   can omit the installation of the kernel or the firmware package if you
   know what you are doing.

   The base package does not include all tools from the live installation,
   so installing other packages may be necessary for a fully functional
   base system. In particular, consider installing:
     * userspace utilities for the management of file systems that will be
       used on the system,
     * utilities for accessing RAID or LVM partitions,
     * specific firmware for other devices not included in linux-firmware,
     * software necessary for networking,
     * a text editor,
     * packages for accessing documentation in man and info pages: man-db,
       man-pages and texinfo.

   To install other packages or package groups, append the names to the
   pacstrap command above (space separated) or use pacman while chrooted
   into the new system. For comparison, packages available in the live
   system can be found in packages.x86_64.

Configure the system

Fstab

   Generate an fstab file (use -U or -L to define by UUID or labels,
   respectively):
# genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

   Check the resulting /mnt/etc/fstab file, and edit it in case of errors.

Chroot

   Change root into the new system:
# arch-chroot /mnt

Time zone

   Set the time zone:
# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime

   Run hwclock(8) to generate /etc/adjtime:
# hwclock --systohc

   This command assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC. See System
   time#Time standard for details.

Localization

   Uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed locales in
   /etc/locale.gen, and generate them with:
# locale-gen

   Create the locale.conf(5) file, and set the LANG variable accordingly:
/etc/locale.conf
LANG=en_US.UTF-8

   If you set the keyboard layout, make the changes persistent in
   vconsole.conf(5):
/etc/vconsole.conf
KEYMAP=de-latin1

Network configuration

   Create the hostname file:
/etc/hostname
myhostname

   Add matching entries to hosts(5):
/etc/hosts
127.0.0.1       localhost
::1             localhost
127.0.1.1       myhostname.localdomain  myhostname

   If the system has a permanent IP address, it should be used instead of
   127.0.1.1.

   Complete the network configuration for the newly installed environment,
   that includes installing packages such as iputils and your preferred
   network management software.

Initramfs

   Creating a new initramfs is usually not required, because mkinitcpio
   was run on installation of the kernel package with pacstrap.

   For LVM, system encryption or RAID, modify mkinitcpio.conf(5) and
   recreate the initramfs image:
# mkinitcpio -P

Root password

   Set the root password:
# passwd

Boot loader

   Choose and install a Linux-capable boot loader. If you have an Intel or
   AMD CPU, enable microcode updates in addition.

Reboot

   Exit the chroot environment by typing exit or pressing Ctrl+d.

   Optionally manually unmount all the partitions with umount -R /mnt:
   this allows noticing any "busy" partitions, and finding the cause with
   fuser(1).

   Finally, restart the machine by typing reboot: any partitions still
   mounted will be automatically unmounted by systemd. Remember to remove
   the installation media and then login into the new system with the root
   account.

Post-installation

   See General recommendations for system management directions and
   post-installation tutorials (like setting up a graphical user
   interface, sound or a touchpad).

   For a list of applications that may be of interest, see List of
   applications.