syxo / arch-setup

description on how to setup arch linux

arch installation

instructions on how to setup arch linux

• check internet connection (use wired to make it easy)

  ping -c 3 google.com

• update pacman database

  pacman -Syy

• install a reflector

  pacman -S reflector

• setup reflector

  reflector -c "US" -f 12 -l 10 -n 12 --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

• check for partitions

  fdisk -l

• repartition hard drive (erase all partitions make one that takes up the whole disk, make it the primary partition, then make it bootable. Write the changes.

  cfdisk (location of hard drive)

• Format the disk to ext4

  mkfs.ext4 (location of disk with partition number)

• format swap partition

  mkswap (location of swap with partition number)

  swapon (location of swap with partition number)

• mount disk to system

  mount (disk location with partition number) /mnt

• install base system

  pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel

• generate fstab file

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

• login to new system as root

  arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

• set location of system (uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8)

  nano /etc/locale.gen

• generate local

  locale-gen

• set /etc/locale.conf

  echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf

• set the clock (replace US and Mountain if you aren't in the mountain time zone)

  ln -sf /usr/share/zoneoinfo/US/Mountain /etc/localtime

  hwclock --systohc --utc

• give computer a name

  echo (computer name) > /etc/hostname

• edit host file add 127.0.1.1 to ipaddress, localhost.localdomain to hostmane.domain.ort, and pc name to hostname

  nano /etc/hosts

• enable network service

  systemctl enable dhcpcd

• set password for root

  passwd

• install the bootloader grub

  pacman -S grub

• install grub bootloader to hdd

  grub-install (location of hard drive)

• generate configuration file

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

• logout of the system

  exit

• unmount the system

  umount -R /mnt

• reboot take disk or usb out of the computer

  reboot

• log into root using the password you set

• create a new user

  useradd -m -g users -G wheel -s /bin/bash "username"

• assign a password to user

  passwd "username"

• add new user to sudo group (uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL)

  EDITOR=nano visudo

• logout of root

  exit

• login as new user

• install audio packages

  sudo pacman -S pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa

• install xorg server (leave the first option the default, the second one need to be 1 if you're using integrated graphics)

  sudo pacman xorg -S xorg xorg-xinit

• create file of initiation for GUI

  echo "(gui of choice)" > ~/.xinitrc

  sudo pacman -S gnome

---

xfce: "exec startxfce4" sudo pacman -S xfce4

gnome: "exec gnome-session" sudo pacman -S gnome

cinnamon: "exec cinnamon-session" sudo pacman -S cinnamon

mate: "exec mate-session" sudo pacman -S mate

unity: "exec unity" Unity installation is tricky - see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/...

openbox: "exec openbox-session" sudo pacman -S openbox

i3: "exec i3" sudo pacman -S i3

awesome: "exec awesome" sudo pacman -S awesome

deepin "exec startdde" sudo pacman -S deepin

LXDE "exec startlxde" sudo pacman -S lxde

---

• install aditional packages like a file manager, terminal inulater, web browser, and text editor

  sudo pacman -S konsole dolphin firefox kate

• start gui

  startx

troubleshooting

• if gnome-terminal doesn't work use this command

  localectl set-locale LANG="en_US.UTF-8"

  locale-gen

  reboot

---

• to enable network settings

  systemctl start NetworkManager.service

  systemctl enable NetworkManager.service

---

• to troubleshoot virtualbox

  sudo pacman -S virtualbox-host-modules-arch

  (install modules)

  sudo modprobe vboxdrv vboxnetadp vboxnetflt vboxpci

  reboot

---

• enable login manager(GDM comes preinstalled)

  systemctl enable gdm.service

  reboot

---

• finding other Operating systems on separate drives

  (install os-prober and run it as sudo then update grub with this command)

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

---

• if installing using wifi

  pacman -S wireless_tools wpa_supplicant wpa_actiond dialog networkmanager iw

  use wifi-menu

---

• making swap partition work at startup

  (check your swap partition using)

  sudo blkid

  (should show like this example)

  /dev/sdb2: UUID="f4aba544-b1b0-4c9f-b3c6-969a5326ce00" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="af606781-02"

  (copy the details to fstab file)

  sudo vim /etc/fstab

  (use the already set partition there as a reference)

  example: UUID=3c6e9aeb-b03d-4303-a7c7-a3b5e2b97fc5 none swap sw 0 0