Why Arch Linux?
You may wonder why you should bother installing Arch Linux in the first place.
One major reason is that Arch is a rolling release.
The second major reason that Arch is so popular with Linux power users is its customizability.
Arch by itself doesn’t come with a desktop environment the way Ubuntu or Fedora do.
It doesn’t even have a GUI at all.
You have to choose all the software that you want in your Arch installation.
For many Arch aficionados, this cuts down on software bloat.
Interested in installing Arch Linux?
Use this step-by-step guide to download, install, configure, and use Arch Linux for the first time.
This means that Arch releases individual components when they’re ready.
The exception to this is the installation image, which releases monthly.
Arch maintains links to its installation image.
The best way of getting it is BitTorrent because that’s usually faster than a direct download.
If you’re installing Arch in a virtual machine, you could just use the image as it is.
Because the Arch installation process is so complex, it’s best to do it while you’re alert.
Or maybe a whole pot.
Download:Arch Linux
2.
If you don’t know how to do this, consult the documentation from the manufacturer.
The Arch installation environment is bare-bones: it’s completely in the console.
You’ll enter standard Linux commands to accomplish tasks that you would in another distro’s installation program.
Choose a Keyboard Layout
By default, the installation environment will use a US keyboard layout.
If you should probably use another layout, you’re able to find it under the/usr/share/kbd/keymapsdirectory.
Use the loadkeys command with the name of the layout you want to use:
4.
If you’re using a wired connection, it should work automatically.
The iwctl command is an interactive program that will show a list of available Wi-Fi networks in a menu.
it’s possible for you to then use the above ping command to test your connection.
Set Up Partitions
Next, you’ll need to set up your disk partitions.
By default, the installation environment comes with the fdisk utility.
In this example, we’ll set up a main partition and a swap partition.
The swap partition will hold data that is swapped out of main memory.
The gear name of the first hard drive in Linux is typically/dev/sda.
To run fdisk, throw in fdisk followed by the disk gear name.
For example:
The fdisk utility is a menu-driven program.
If you find this daunting, consider usingPartedMagicinstead.
After you set up your partitions, they’ll be named /dev/sdaN, where N is the partition number.
After that, you better format your partitions.
We’ll mount our root partition into /mnt:
6.
This file will determine how your partitions mount when the system boots.
When you start your Arch installation environment, you’re making changes to that.
A chroot will switch the root directory from the live environment to the disk partition you just created.
Use the arch-chroot command with the root directory:
arch-chroot /mnt
9.
Set the System Clock
It’s important that your machine keeps time accurately.
To do this, use the hwclock command.
This will set the system’s hardware clock to the local time.
If you’re setting up a dual boot machine with Windows, don’t set the hardware clock.
Configure Your Locale
You’ll also need to set up your machine to use the right language.
Like everything else, on Linux, you could configure this in a plain text file.
Simply open your editor to the file/etc/locale.gen.
All the available locales will be in the file, commented out.
After that, spin up the locale-gen command.
This will set up your machine to use the language you selected.
This is also a good time to set up the internet.
The NetworkManager program manages your connection connections.
Whatever you put in that file will become the hostname.
Set Up the Root Account
With your system set up, you’ll need to set the root password.
Use the “passwd” command to do this.
When you execute the command, it will prompt you to put in your chosen root password twice.
Set Up GRUB
GRUB is the most popular bootloaderfor Linux.
This utility lets you boot your new Arch Linux installation.
If you’re installing on a UEFI system, youll need to drop in the efibootmgr package as well.
