Installing Arch Linux in UEFI systems(windows)

This will be a very basic overview in what is to be done for installing Arch Linux. For more information check out

BitTorrent

The download option in the wiki page suggests we use BitTorrent for downloading the disc image file.

Step 2: The bootable USB

You will need a USB of size at least 2GB and 4GB or above should be very comfortable to use.

First open the BitTorrent application or the web based version and upload the magnet link or the torrent file to start downloading the disc image file.

Then to prepare the USB:

1. Launch the application to make the bootable USB like rufus.

2.In the device section select your USB and remember all the data in the drive will be lost after the process.

3.In boot selection, choose the disc image file that was downloaded through torrent.

4.In the target system select UEFI as we are using a UEFI system.

5.In the partition scheme make sure GPT is selected.

6.In file system select fat32 and 4096 bytes as cluster size.

7.When you click ready it will present you with 2 options, select the dd image file which is not the default option.

After the process is done the USB will not be readable to windows, so there is no need to panic if you cannot access the USB.

If you are using a dual boot make sure you have at least 30 GB of unallocated space.

I would recommend to turn off bitlocker settings as it could give rise to other challenges during the installation.

Then get into the UEFI Firmware settings of your system. One easy way is to:

1.Hold shift key while pressing to restart the computer

2.Go into Troubleshoot

3.Go into Advanced Settings

4.Select UEFI Firmware Settings

5.You will have to restart again but you will be in the required place.

Turn off secure boot state. It is usually in the security settings.

Select save changes and exit.

When you log back into your system ensure that secure boot state is off by going into system information.

Go back to UEFI Firmware settings by repeating the process.

In the boot priority section, give your USB device the highest priority. This is usually in the boot section. Then select save changes and exit.

Step 3: Preparing Arch Linux Installation

When all the above steps are done and the system restarts, you will be prompted with a few options. Select Arch Linux install medium and press 'Enter' to enter the installation environment. After this you will need to follow a series of steps.

1. Verifying you are in UEFI mode.

To do that type the command

cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size

You should get the result as 32 or 64. If you get no result then you may not be using UEFI mode.

2. Connecting to the internet:

If you are using an ethernet cable then you don't have to worry as you might already be connected to internet.

Use the command

ping -c 4 google.com

or another website to ping from to check if you're connected to the internet.

To connect to wi-fi, type in the command

ip link

This should show you all the internet devices you have. Your wi-fi should typically be wlan0 or something like wlp3s0, which is your device name.

Then type the command

iwctl

This should get you into an interactive command line interface.

You can explore the options by using the command

help

My device name was wlan0 so I'm using wlan0 in the command I'm going to show if yours is different make the appropriate changes.

To connect to the wifi use the command

station wlan0 connect "Network Name"

where "Network Name" is the name of your network.

If you want to know the name of your network before doing this you can try the command

station wlan0 get-networks

To get out of the environment simply use the command

exit

After you exit, you can verify your connection with

ping -c 4 google.com

If it doesn't work, try the command

ping -c 4 8.8.8.8

If the above also doesn't work, the problem may lie with your network.

However if the second option works for you, the fix would be to manually change the DNS server you're using.

To do that, run the command

nano /etc/systemd/resolved.conf

In this file if the DNS part is commented using a #, remove the # and replace it with a DNS server you desire. For eg: 8.8.8.8

ctrl + x to save and exit

Now try pinging a website such as google.com again to make sure you're properly connected to the internet.

3. Set the proper time

When you connect to the internet you should have the proper time. To check you can use the command

timedatectl

4. Create the partitions for Arch Linux

To check what partitions you have, use the command

lsblk

This will list the partitions you have. It will be in the format /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1 or something else. Mine was /dev/nvme0n1 so I'll be using the same in the commands below.

To make the partitions, use the command

fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

This should bring you to a separate command line interface.

It will give you an introduction on what to do.

Now we will create the partitions.

To create a partition, use the command

n

It will show you what you want to number your partition and the default option. Click enter as it will automatically take the default option if you don't enter any value. Let's say mine is 1.

It will show you what sector you want the partition to start from and the default option. Click enter.

Then it will ask you where you want the sectors to end: type

+1g

1g will allot 1 GB to the partition you just created.

Then create another partition in the same way, let's say mine is sector number 2 this time and finally instead of

+1g use +4g

This will allot 4 GB to the second partition you just created.

Create another partition and this time leave the last sector to default so it can have the remaining space. Let's say this partition is number 3.

partition 1 - EFI system partition

partition 2 - Linux SWAP partition

partition 3 - Linux root partition

5. Prepare the created partitions for Arch Linux installation

Here, we are going to format the memory in the chosen partitions and make them the appropriate file systems.

For the EFI partition:

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1

This converts the 1 GB partition into a fat32 file system.

For SWAP partition:

mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p2

This converts the 4 GB partition into something that can be used as virtual RAM.

For root partition:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p3

This converts the root partition into a file system that is called ext4.

6. Mounting the partitions

This is for setting a reference point to the partitions we just created.

For the EFI partition:

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

For the root partition:

mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt

For the swap partition:

swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2

Step 3: The Arch Linux Installation

1. Updating the mirrorlist (optional)

The mirrorlist is a list of mirror servers from which packages can be downloaded. Choosing the right mirror server could get you higher download speeds.

This step isn't required as the mirror list is automatically updated when connected to the internet but if you would like to manually do it, its in the file

/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

2. Installing base Linux kernel and firmware

To do this, use the command

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware

Step 4: Configuring Arch Linux system

1. generating fstab

The fstab is the file system table. It contains information on each of the file partitions and storage devices. It also contains information on how they should be mounted during boot.

To do it, use the command:

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

2. Chroot

Chroot is short for change root. It is used to directly interact with the Arch Linux partitions from the live environment in the USB.

To do it, use the command:

arch-chroot /mnt

3. Time

The timezone has 2 parts the region and the city. I am from India so my region is Asia and the city is Kolkata. Change yours appropriately to your needs.

The command:

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

We can also set the time in hardware clock as UTC.

To do that:

hwclock --systohc

4. Installing some important tools

The system you have installed is a very basic system, so it doesn't have a lot of stuff. I'm recommending two very basic tools as they can be handy.

i) nano:

This is a text editor file so you can make changes to configuration files.

pacman -S nano

ii) iwd:

This is called iNet wireless daemon. I recommend this so that you can connect to wi-fi once you reboot to your actual arch system.

pacman -S iwd

5. Localization

This is for setting the keyboard layout and language. Go to the file /etc/locale.conf by using

nano /etc/locale.conf

I want to use the english language that is the default in most devices so for doing that you have to uncomment(remove the #) for the line that says

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

As there are a lot of lines you can search using ctrl+F.

Then ctrl+X to save and exit.

Then use the command

locale-gen

This command generates the locale you just uncommented.

6. Host and password

To create the host name, we should do it in the /etc/hostname file. Use

nano /etc/hostname

Then type in what your hostname would be.

ctrl + X to save and exit.

To set the password of your root user, use the command

passwd

7. Getting out of chroot and rebooting the system

To get out of chroot simply use

exit

Then to reboot the system use

reboot

Remove the installation medium(USB) as the device turns off.

Step 5: Enjoy Arch Linux

Arch Linux is one of the most minimal systems. So you can customize it to your liking. You can also install other desktop environments if you feel like it.