I Use Arch BTW: The Ultimate Arch Linux Installation Guide

So, you may have heard about the legendary meme “I USE ARCH BTW”. Why is this even a meme? Well, the reason actually hides behind the complexity of installing and setting up the operating system.

As a Linux user, I really like Arch Linux because of its customization and how I can run any desktop environment with any stack I want. Like, if I want only Plasma Wayland, I don’t need to install X11. Heck yeah, I can do it, and it will be fully de-bloated compared to other operating systems.

In this guide, I am not only going to show you how to install Arch Linux, but also explain the reasoning behind each command. So setup a VM and follow these steps!

Connecting to Wi-Fi

The Arch Linux disk image is completely vanilla. It does not come with any desktop environment or any GUI, so you need to download every package from the internet. To connect to the internet, we will use the iwctl utility.

Run the utility:

iwctl

Expected output:

Waiting for IWD network service...
[iwd]#

Now, connect to your Wi-Fi network (replace wlan0 with your Wi-Fi interface and YourWiFiSSID with your actual network name):

station wlan0 connect YourWiFiSSID

Expected prompt:

Type passphrase:

Enter your passphrase, hit Enter, and boom! Your internet is connected. You can exit the utility by typing exit.

Check if the internet is actually working by pinging Google:

ping -c 4 google.com

Expected output:

PING google.com (142.250.190.46) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 142.250.190.46: icmp_seq=1 ttl=115 time=12.4 ms
64 bytes from 142.250.190.46: icmp_seq=2 ttl=115 time=11.8 ms
64 bytes from 142.250.190.46: icmp_seq=3 ttl=115 time=14.1 ms
64 bytes from 142.250.190.46: icmp_seq=4 ttl=115 time=12.9 ms

--- google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 11.821/12.812/14.112/0.844 ms

Partitioning: The Dangerous Zone

This is a very crucial step and dangerous as well. Be extremely careful about how you partition your system. If you are dual-booting, doing this wrong may end up leaving your system in a soft-brick state.

Generally, we want to create three partitions:

1. Bootloader Partition (EFI): Usually 512MB, formatted as FAT32. It stores the bootloader.
2. Swap Partition: Used for virtual memory. The community standard is twice your RAM size (e.g., 32GB if you have 16GB of RAM).
3. Root Partition: Holds your actual operating system files. It takes up the rest of the storage.

Wait, what is a bootloader anyway?

The Bootloader

A bootloader is a program used to load the operating system. Think of it as an operating system starter. We will keep it simple: you do not need to understand exactly how a bootloader works under the hood to install Arch Linux. Common examples include GRUB, systemd-boot, Windows Boot Manager, and Limine. We will be using GRUB because it is one of the oldest, most reliable, and has the best theme support.

How to Create Partitions

First, we need to divide the space on our drive using cfdisk. But first, we need the device ID of your drive. How do we get that?

Run lsblk:

lsblk

Expected output:

NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0         7:0    0  73.9M  1 loop /run/archiso/airootfs
sda           8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk 
nvme0n1     259:0    0 953.9G  0 disk 

Identify your storage device ID by looking at the storage size. In this example, /dev/nvme0n1 is our NVMe SSD in slot 1 (where dev stands for device and nvme0n1 stands for slot 1).

Run cfdisk on your target drive:

cfdisk /dev/nvme0n1

Expected output: An interactive terminal interface.

Now you will see the interface. I want you to start resizing the free space. If you are dual-booting and coming from Windows, make sure you have shrunk your Windows partition to leave at least 100GB of free space. If you have not done this, stop here, reboot back into Windows, shrink your partition, and boot back into the installer.

Create three partitions in the free space:

1. Create a partition of 512MB (select primary, set type to “EFI System”).
2. Create a partition with twice your RAM size (e.g., 32GB if you have 16GB RAM) (set type to “Linux swap”).
3. Create a final partition with the rest of the available storage (set type to “Linux filesystem”).

Select Write, type yes to confirm, and then select Quit.

Formatting the Partitions

Now we need to format these partitions into specific file systems. Run lsblk again to check your new partition IDs:

lsblk

Expected output:

NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1     259:0    0 953.9G  0 disk 
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1    0   512M  0 part 
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2    0    32G  0 part 
└─nvme0n1p3 259:3    0 921.4G  0 part 

In this example:

• /dev/nvme0n1p1 is the EFI bootloader partition.
• /dev/nvme0n1p2 is the Swap partition.
• /dev/nvme0n1p3 is the Root partition.

Let’s format the EFI/bootloader partition to FAT32. mkfs stands for make filesystem:

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1

Expected output:

mkfs.fat 4.2 (2021-01-31)

Now let’s format the Root partition where our operating system will live. We will format it as ext4 (if you want to use btrfs, just replace ext4 with btrfs in the command):

mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p3

Expected output:

mke2fs 1.47.0 (5-Feb-2024)
Discarding device blocks: done                            
Creating filesystem with 241515520 4k blocks and 60383232 inodes
Filesystem UUID: a7d2e46b-871d-4eb7-a4b5-5591fc726ff2
Superblock backups stored on blocks: 
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208, 
	4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968, 
	102400000, 214990848

Allocating group tables: done                            
Writing inode tables: done                            
Creating journal (262144 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

Finally, set up and format the Swap partition:

mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p2

Expected output:

Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 32 GiB (34359734272 bytes)
no label, UUID=bc98da5f-d421-42ab-8c9e-52f1b4028c2e

Mounting the Partitions

What the heck is a mount point? Chill dude, it is very simple. A partition exists physically on the hardware. How does the operating system access the hardware, and how do we control read/write permissions for different users?

We create a folder that links the hardware to the software. This is called a mount point. In simple terms, it is just a folder you open to access your partition. In Windows, mount points are assigned automatically as drive letters like C:, D:, or E:. Linux mounting is way superior because Windows is limited to 26 drive letters, while Linux can have infinite mount points since they are just folders!

We need to create the folders for our root and bootloader, and then mount them.

First, we mount our root partition (which is /dev/nvme0n1p3) to /mnt (this directory is already created in the live installer):

mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt

Now, create the directory for the bootloader mount point and mount the EFI partition (/dev/nvme0n1p1) there:

mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot/efi

Finally, enable the swap partition:

swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2

Installing the Base System

Now we come to the main step: installing the operating system inside our root folder. We do this using a very simple command called pacstrap.

Run pacstrap to install the base system along with essential packages:

pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware linux-headers sof-firmware base-devel grub git man-db efibootmgr nano networkmanager sudo intel-ucode

Expected output: A long list of packages being downloaded and installed.

Here is a breakdown of what these packages actually do:

• base, linux, linux-firmware, linux-headers: These provide the Linux kernel and minimal system utilities.
• sof-firmware: Provides firmware support for sound cards and audio output.
• base-devel: Contains basic compilation tools like the GCC compiler and Make.
• grub: The bootloader software.
• git: Version control (optional, but highly recommended).
• man-db: Contains manual pages so you can look up command options.
• efibootmgr: EFI Boot Manager, needed for GRUB to register itself with your motherboard.
• sudo: Gives you administrator access in a safe, controlled way.
• intel-ucode: CPU microcode updates for Intel processors. (If you are running an AMD CPU, replace this with amd-ucode).
• nano: A simple, user-friendly terminal-based text editor.

Generating the File System Table (fstab)

Don’t chase too much depth on this one. The fstab file tells your system which partitions to mount and how to mount them at boot.

Generate the fstab file:

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

This command looks at the current mounting configurations under /mnt and writes them into our newly installed operating system configuration.

Logging in (Chrooting) into the New System

Now we are going to log in to our new operating system:

arch-chroot /mnt

Expected output:

[root@archiso /]# 

You will notice that your prompt has changed to a pound/hashtag (#). You have successfully shifted yourself from the installer USB stick into your newly installed operating system!

Basic System Configurations

Time Zone

Set your timezone (replace Asia/Kolkata with your actual location):

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Kolkata /etc/localtime

Sync your hardware clock to the system time:

hwclock --systohc

Localization (Language and Keyboard)

Now we need to configure our language (locale). Open /etc/locale.gen using nano:

nano /etc/locale.gen

You will see a list of different languages with different encoding formats. If you use English, scroll down to en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and uncomment it by removing the # from the beginning of the line. Save it by pressing ctrl+o, hit Enter, and exit with ctrl+x.

Generate the locales:

locale-gen

Expected output:

Generating locales...
  en_US.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.

Create the locale configuration file:

nano /etc/locale.conf

Add this line:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Save and exit (ctrl+o, Enter, ctrl+x).

If you want to configure your keyboard layout, create /etc/vconsole.conf:

nano /etc/vconsole.conf

Add the layout you want:

KEYMAP=us

Save and exit (ctrl+o, Enter, ctrl+x).

Root Password

You do not want any random person messing with your system files. Set a root password:

passwd

Expected output:

New password: 
Retype new password: 
passwd: password updated successfully

Creating Your User Account

Now, let’s create a regular user account so we don’t have to run as root all the time. Replace nirusaki with your username:

useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash nirusaki
passwd nirusaki

Expected output:

New password: 
Retype new password: 
passwd: password updated successfully

This creates a user account with a home directory (-m) and adds them to the wheel group (-G wheel), which has access to administrator commands.

Enabling Sudo for Your User

If you want to install programs or modify system settings later, you will need root access. Sudo gives you root access only for that specific command, which protects your system.

Open the sudo configuration file:

EDITOR=nano visudo

Scroll down until you find the following line and uncomment it by removing the # at the start:

%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Save and exit (ctrl+o, Enter, ctrl+x). Now, any user in the wheel group can run commands with sudo.

Enabling NetworkManager

Enable the NetworkManager system service so that your internet connects automatically when your computer boots:

systemctl enable NetworkManager

Expected output:

Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/NetworkManager.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/nm-dispatcher.service.

Bootloader & Drivers Installation

Installing the GRUB Bootloader

Now we install the bootloader to our EFI partition:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB

Expected output:

Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.

Next, generate the GRUB configuration file. This tells the bootloader what operating systems are installed and what settings to enable/disable:

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

Expected output:

Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-linux
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux.img
Found fallback initrd image(s) in /boot: initramfs-linux-fallback.img
done

Installing Graphics Drivers

If you are an NVIDIA user, install the open-source DKMS kernel modules and utilities:

pacman -S nvidia-open-dkms nvidia-utils nvidia-settings

If you are on an AMD GPU, install the open-source AMD drivers and Mesa stack:

pacman -S xf86-video-amdgpu mesa lib32-mesa vulkan-radeon lib32-vulkan-radeon

Audio and Bluetooth Drivers

For audio drivers, we will use PipeWire, which is the modern standard for Linux audio:

pacman -S pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-jack pipewire-pulse wireplumber

Note: Since PipeWire is a user service, you will enable it after logging into your user account for the first time by running: systemctl --user enable --now pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber

For Bluetooth drivers and manager utilities:

pacman -S bluez bluez-utils blueman
systemctl enable bluetooth

Expected output:

Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.bluez.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/bluetooth.target.wants/bluetooth.service -> /usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service.

Desktop Environments

Now for the most important part: the Desktop Environment (DE) or Window Manager. This is what actually gives you the graphical interface you interact with.

KDE Plasma

pacman -S plasma sddm konsole firefox
systemctl enable sddm

GNOME

pacman -S gnome gdm firefox
systemctl enable gdm

Adding Extra Goodies: AUR, Hyprland, XFCE, and Niri

If GNOME and KDE are too boring or heavy for you, you can install lightweight desktop environments or tiling window managers. But first, let’s enable the Arch User Repository (AUR), which is where all the cool community packages live.

Enabling the AUR with yay

To enable the AUR, we will use a helper tool called yay. We need to clone it from the repository and build it. Run this as your normal user (not root, and you’ll need to exit the chroot or run it once you’ve booted):

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

This will compile and install yay on your system. Now you can install any AUR package easily by running yay -S <package_name>.

Installing XFCE (The Lightweight King)

If your system is low-end or you just want absolute raw speed, XFCE is a super lightweight desktop environment that gets the job done:

sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
sudo systemctl enable lightdm

Installing Hyprland (The Dynamic Wayland Compositor)

If you want those beautiful animations, blur effects, and tiling windows, Hyprland is the go-to Wayland compositor right now. Install it along with a terminal emulator (kitty) and portal:

sudo pacman -S hyprland kitty xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland

Installing Niri with Noctalia Dots

Niri is a unique scrollable-tiling window manager for Wayland. It works horizontally, and it is incredibly satisfying to use.

First, install Niri:

sudo pacman -S niri xdg-desktop-portal-gnome

Now, let’s make it look gorgeous with Noctalia, a sleek and minimal desktop shell built with Quickshell. To get Noctalia and setup the aesthetic dots:

Install Noctalia Shell from the AUR using yay:

yay -S noctalia-shell-git

Grab some sick community Noctalia-themed dotfiles for Niri (like the popular Catppuccin theme setup):

git clone https://github.com/thenotaryaa/niridots.git ~/.config/niri
git clone https://github.com/noctalia-dev/noctalia.git ~/.config/noctalia

Boom! You now have a high-performance, scrollable, and beautifully themed tiling desktop environment.

Wrapping Up & Rebooting

You have now completely installed and set up Arch Linux! Time to reboot and enjoy your new system.

Exit the chroot environment:

exit

Unmount the partitions (and yes, it is umount, not unmount lol):

umount -a

Reboot:

reboot

If you ever get stuck or did not understand a step, you can always search for it on Google, check the legendary Arch Wiki, or ask an LLM.

Thanks for reading! Seeyaaaa!