Arch Linux Installation Guide (Both Manual and Scripted)

This guide explains the Arch Linux installation process step-by-step for beginners. Every step is detailed, and repeated actions are fully explained to avoid confusion. Errors will be solved which I have faced with my Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU, few tips will be shared for smooth installation.

Index

1. Manual Installation Walkthrough

• Connecting to the Internet
• Partitioning the Disk
• Setting up LVM
• Formatting Partitions
• Mounting Partitions
• Installing Required Packages
• Setting Up Drivers for Video Card
• Special Configuration for Intel and AMD GPUs
• Configuring mkinitcpio and Kernel
• Setting Locale and GRUB

2. Scripted Installation Walkthrough (Using ArchInstall Script)

• Coming Soon!

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Manual Installation Walkthrough

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Connecting to the Internet

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	ip addr show	Shows current network interfaces	To verify the system recognizes network devices	Optional
2	iwctl --passphrase "**" station wlan0 connect Your_Wifi_Name	Connect to Wi-Fi using iwctl	To set up an internet connection in the live session	Mandatory
3	ip addr show	Shows current IP addresses	To verify if an IP address is assigned	Optional
4	ping google.com	Sends packets to check connectivity	To verify internet connection is working	Optional

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Partitioning the Disk

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	lsblk	Lists all available block devices	To identify storage devices and their partitions	Mandatory
2	fdisk /dev/nvme0n1	Opens fdisk to manage the selected device	To start partitioning the target disk	Mandatory
3	p	Prints the current partition table	To display existing partitions	Mandatory
4	g	Creates a new GPT partition table	To clear the old partition table and start fresh	Mandatory
5	p	Prints the updated partition table	To confirm a new GPT table has been created	Optional
6	n	Starts creating a new partition	To allocate space for system components	Mandatory
7	Defaults, +1G, Y	Allocates 1GB for the EFI system partition	To reserve space for the bootloader	Mandatory
8	n	Starts creating the next partition	To allocate additional space for the system	Mandatory
9	Defaults, +1G, Y	Allocates another 1GB for the boot partition	To dedicate space for the bootloader	Mandatory
10	p	Prints the updated partition table	To verify all created partitions	Optional

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Setting up LVM

Note: In Linux, Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is a device mapper framework that provides logical volume management for the Linux kernel.

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	n	Starts creating another partition	To allocate space for the LVM partition	Mandatory
2	Defaults, Y	Uses all remaining space for the LVM	To maximize storage usage for logical volumes	Mandatory
3	t	Changes the type of the new partition	To specify that this partition is for LVM	Mandatory
4	Partition Number, 44	Selects the partition and sets type to Linux LVM	To prepare the partition for LVM setup	Mandatory
5	w	Writes changes to the disk	To finalize the partition table	Mandatory
6	cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/nvme0n1p3	Encrypts the partition using LUKS	To secure the data on this partition	Optional
7	YES	Confirms the encryption process	Required by LUKS to proceed	Mandatory
8	Enter passphrase: ***	Sets a passphrase for encryption	To unlock the encrypted partition in the future	Mandatory
9	cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/nvme0n1p3 lvm*	Opens the encrypted partition	To unlock the encrypted partition for LVM setup	Mandatory
10	Enter passphrase: ***	Unlocks the encrypted partition	Required for LVM operations	Mandatory
11	pvcreate /dev/mapper/lvm*	Creates a physical volume for LVM	To initialize the encrypted partition for LVM	Mandatory
12	vgcreate volgroup0 /dev/mapper/lvm*	Creates a volume group named volgroup0	To organize physical volumes into a group	Mandatory
13	lvcreate -L 30GB volgroup0 -n lv_root	Creates a 30GB logical volume for root	To allocate space for the root filesystem	Mandatory
14	lvcreate -L 250GB volgroup0 -n lv_home	Creates a 250GB logical volume for home	To allocate space for user data	Mandatory
15	vgdisplay	Displays information about the volume group	To verify the volume group creation	Optional
16	lvdisplay	Displays information about logical volumes	To verify logical volume creation	Optional

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Mounting Partitions

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	modprobe dm_mod	Loads the kernel module for device mapper	To enable access to logical volumes	Mandatory
2	vgscan	Scans for volume groups	To detect the created volume group	Mandatory
3	vgchange -ay	Activates all volume groups	To make the volume group accessible	Mandatory
4	mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_root	Formats the root logical volume as ext4	To prepare the root partition for the filesystem	Mandatory
5	mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_home	Formats the home logical volume as ext4	To prepare the home partition for the filesystem	Mandatory
6	mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_root /mnt	Mounts the root logical volume	To prepare the root filesystem for installation	Mandatory
7	mkdir /mnt/boot	Creates a directory for the boot partition	To prepare the bootloader installation	Mandatory
8	mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/boot	Mounts the boot partition	To integrate the bootloader into the system	Mandatory
9	mkdir /mnt/home	Creates a directory for the home partition	To store user files in a separate logical volume	Mandatory
10	mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_home /mnt/home	Mounts the home logical volume	To complete the filesystem structure	Mandatory

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Installing Required Packages

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	pacstrap -i /mnt base	Installs base system packages	To install the essential packages for the system	Mandatory
2	y	Confirms installation	To proceed with installing the base packages	Mandatory
3	genfstab -U -P /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab	Generates fstab file for mounting partitions	Required for mounting partitions at boot time	Mandatory
4	cat /mnt/etc/fstab	Views the generated fstab file	To confirm the fstab file is created correctly	Optional
5	arch-chroot /mnt	Chroots into the installation environment	To access the installed system from the live environment	Mandatory
6	passwd	Sets the root password	To secure the root user account	Mandatory
7	useradd -m -g users -G wheel userName	Creates a new user account	To create a regular user with sudo privileges	Mandatory
8	passwd userName	Sets the password for the newly created user	To secure the user account	Mandatory
9	pacman -S base-devel dosfstools grub efibootmgr gnome gnome-tweaks lvm2 mtools nano networkmanager openssh os-prober sudo	Installs additional necessary packages	To install required packages for functionality like GRUB, network management, and others	Mandatory
10	y	Confirms installation	To proceed with installing the packages	Mandatory
11	pacman -S linux linux-headers linux-lts linux-lts-headers	Installs Linux kernel and headers	To install the main Linux kernel and a backup (optional)	Mandatory
12	y	Confirms installation	To proceed with installing the Linux kernel	Mandatory
13	pacman -S linux-firmware	Installs firmware packages	Optional for proprietary hardware support	Optional
14	y	Confirms installation	To proceed with installing firmware packages	Optional

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Setting Up Drivers for Video Card

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	lspci	Lists PCI devices	To identify your GPU	Mandatory
2	pacman -S mesa	Installs drivers for Intel/AMD GPUs	To set up drivers for Intel or AMD GPUs	Mandatory for Intel/AMD GPUs
3	y	Confirms installation	To proceed with installing the GPU drivers	Mandatory
4	pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils nvidia-lts	Installs Nvidia drivers for gaming	For Nvidia GPUs, needed for gaming and better performance	Mandatory for Nvidia GPUs
5	y	Confirms installation	To proceed with installing Nvidia drivers	Mandatory
6	pacman -S nouveau	Installs open-source Nvidia driver	For Nvidia GPUs if you prefer open-source drivers	Optional
7	y	Confirms installation	To proceed with installing Nouveau drivers	Optional

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Special Configuration for Intel and AMD GPUs

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	pacman -S intel-media-driver	Installs Intel hardware decoding drivers	For Intel GPUs, enabling hardware decoding	Optional for Intel GPUs
2	y	Confirms installation	To proceed with installing the Intel driver	Mandatory
3	pacman -S libva-mesa-driver	Installs AMD drivers for hardware decoding	For AMD GPUs, enabling hardware decoding	Optional for AMD GPUs
4	y	Confirms installation	To proceed with installing the AMD driver	Mandatory

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Configuring mkinitcpio and Kernel

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf	Opens the mkinitcpio configuration file	To edit boot settings for the system	Mandatory
2	Add encrypt lvm2 between block and filesystem	Updates mkinitcpio to enable LVM and encryption support	To set up disk encryption and LVM	Mandatory
3	save and exit	Saves the file changes	To save and apply the changes	Mandatory
4	mkinitcpio -p linux	Generates the initial ramdisk for the Linux kernel	To create the initial ramdisk	Mandatory
5	mkinitcpio -p linux-lts	Generates the initial ramdisk for the LTS kernel	To create the initial ramdisk for backup kernel	Mandatory for backup kernel
6	done for both kernels	Finalizes ramdisk creation	Ensures ramdisks are created for both kernels	Mandatory

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Setting Locale and GRUB

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	nano /etc/locale.gen	Opens locale configuration file	To set the system language	Mandatory
2	Uncomment en_US.UTF-8	Activates English locale	To set English as the system language	Mandatory
3	locale-gen	Generates locale files	To create the locale files	Mandatory
4	nano /etc/default/grub	Opens the GRUB configuration file	To configure GRUB for booting	Mandatory
5	Add cryptdevice=/dev/nvme0n1p3:volgroup0 to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT before quiet word	Specifies encrypted partition for booting	To enable booting from encrypted LVM partition	Mandatory
6	exit	Exits the file editor	To save and exit	Mandatory

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Setting Up EFI and Installing GRUB

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	mkdir /boot/EFI	Creates the EFI directory	To prepare for GRUB installation	Mandatory
2	mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /boot/EFI	Mounts the EFI partition	To mount the EFI partition for GRUB installation	Mandatory
3	grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck	Installs GRUB bootloader	To install GRUB to manage booting	Mandatory
4	cp /usr/share/locale/en@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo	Copies GRUB locale files	To set GRUB's locale settings	Mandatory
5	grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg	Generates GRUB configuration file	To create the GRUB configuration file	Mandatory
6	systemctl enable gdm	Enables GDM display manager	To start the graphical login manager on boot	Mandatory
7	systemctl enable NetworkManager	Enables NetworkManager service	To ensure network management starts at boot	Mandatory

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Final Steps

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	exit	Exits chroot environment	To exit the installation environment	Mandatory
2	umount -a	Unmounts all mounted partitions	To unmount everything before reboot	Mandatory
3	reboot	Reboots the system	To restart the system with the installed Arch Linux	Mandatory
4	check you have successfully booted	Verifies boot success	To ensure the system boots properly	Mandatory

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Post-Boot Configuration

Step	Command	Explanation	Why Doing This	Optional/Mandatory
1	Check Wi-Fi functionality and reconnect	Ensure your Wi-Fi is working and connected	To make sure you have an active internet connection	Mandatory
2	Go to Settings -> Region and Languages -> Language	Change language to English if necessary	To set the preferred system language	Optional

 
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Congratulations! You have successfully installed Arch Linux. Enjoy your fully customized and functional Arch system!