Arch Linux installation

For those who have contemplated installing the reputedly "dreaded" Arch Linux but have been discouraged by its perceived difficulty, the present guide offers a practical, step-by-step path from a blank drive to a clean, bootable system.

Reading the entire document before executing commands is strongly encouraged.

WARNING: the information herein should be verified whenever possible, as certain steps may evolve over time. Every effort will be made to keep the guide current.

Preinstallation considerations

Fast startup consideration

Fast startup is a Windows feature that reduces boot time by not completely shutting down the computer. Instead, it saves the system state (kernel and drivers) to a hibernation file (hiberfil.sys) and puts the drive into a "read-only" locked state.

Why does it matters for dual-boot?

If Fast Startup is enabled, Windows does not fully release its hold on your hard drives when you shut down. This causes two major problems when you boot into Linux:

Read-only Partitions: Linux will refuse to mount your Windows partitions with write access to prevent data corruption. You will see errors like "The NTFS partition is in an unsafe state".
WiFi/Bluetooth issues: sometimes Windows locks hardware drivers (like the WiFi card) in a specific state, making them fail to initialize correctly when you subsequently boot into Linux.

How to disable it

Boot into Windows.
Open Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options.
Click on "Choose what the power buttons do".
Click the shield icon that says "Change settings that are currently unavailable" (requires Admin rights).
Under "Shutdown settings", uncheck the box "Turn on fast startup (recommended)".
Click Save changes and fully restart your computer

Real time clock alignment for dual boot systems

Linux stores the hardware clock in UTC, whereas Windows records local time. To avoid clock drift, on Windows:

Create RealTimeIsUniversal as a DWORD of 32 bits with value 1 under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation.

SSH setup (remote installation)

Configuring OpenSSH in the live environment permits the entire installation to be driven from another computer via a secure shell.

systemctl status sshd.

If the process is not running, run it with systemctl start sshd.
passwd: set the root's password.
ip addr show: identify the installer's IP address.
Run ssh root@<installer IP> from the other device.

Console legibility

Setting a larger console font with setfont ter-132n improves readability on Full-HD displays; select a smaller size on lower-resolution panels.

UEFI verification

Presence of entries in /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/ confirms a UEFI boot.

Keyboard layout

List available layouts: localectl list-keymaps.
Filter with grep, e.g. localectl list-keymaps | grep la-latin1.
Load the layout: loadkeys <layout>.

Networking

Detecting interfaces

ip addr show lists active interfaces.

Wi-Fi connection (`iwd`)

Launch the "iwd" shell: iwctl.
Confirm the adapter appears with device list; troubleshoot via the Arch Wiki if absent.
Scan and enumerate networks.
```
station <device> scan
station <device> get-networks
station <device> connect "<SSID>"
```
Alternatively, using iwctl: iwctl --passphrase <passphrase> station <device> connect <SSID>

A wired connection simplifies installation.

Disk partitioning

Target layout

partition	suggested size	filesystem	purpose
`/efi`	500 MiB	FAT32	holds bootloaders and NVRAM entries for UEFI firmware.
`root`	$\geq 40 \text{GiB}$	ext4	operating system files.
`/home`	remaining space	ext4 (optional)	user data.

Creating partitions with `fdisk`

fdisk -l: list all disks.
fdisk /dev/<device>.
g: initialize a GPT table.

Create the EFI.

n       # New partition
1       # Partition number
<ENTER> # Accept default first sector
+500M
t 1     # Change type

Create the /.

n
2
     # Accept default first sector
+50G # Size

Create /home.
```
n
3
  # Accept defaults to use remaining space
```
No special type change is required; the default Linux filesystem code is correct.
w: write changes and quit.

Formatting partitions

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/<EFI>.
mkfs.ext4 /dev/<root>.
mkfs.ext4 /dev/<home>.

Mounting for installation

mount /dev/<root> /mnt.
mkdir -p /mnt/boot.
mount /dev/<EFI> /mnt/boot.
mkdir /mnt/home.
mount /dev/<home> /mnt/home.

Optimizing mirrors

cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak.
reflector --verbose --latest 10 --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.

Filesystem table

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

Bonus (filesystem table)

When a separate NTFS disk is used for general data storage, it can be incorporated as follows:

mkdir /mnt/files.
pacman -S ntfs-3g.
mount /dev/<disk partition> /mnt/files.

After mounting, the filesystem table must be regenerated.

The following entry illustrates a typical NTFS partition configuration in /etc/fstab:

UUID=64A6257CA625503A /home/braz/files ntfs-3g auto,exec,users,uid=1000,gid=1000,noatime 0 2

Base system installation

pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel linux linux-headers linux-firmware git sudo networkmanager.

Another kernel can be installed instead (like the Zen one) or even have more than one. This is useful if one breaks (which rarely happens). The packages for the Zen kernel are linux-zen and linux-zen-headers.

Depending on the configuration you have chosen (Linux, Zen, or both kernels), the settings in the "boot manager" section for systemd-boot may change.

Also install network-manager-applet if you are going to use WiFi.
arch-chroot /mnt.
Enable networkmanager: systemctl enable NetworkManager.

Microcode

pacman -S amd-ucode for AMD processors or intel-ucode for Intel processors.

Locales and console

Uncomment en_US.UTF-8 in /etc/locale.gen, then run locale-gen.
Create /etc/locale.conf containing LANG=en_US.UTF-8.
Add KEYMAP=us in /etc/vconsole.conf.

User accounts

passwd: set the root password.
useradd -m -g users -G wheel <username>.

In certain administrative scenarios, an account may be created without assignment to any supplementary groups (useradd -m <username>); however, separate configuration within /etc/sudoers.d is required to grant the necessary privileges.
passwd <username>.
EDITOR=nvim visudo and uncomment "%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL".

When only the user account has been created, the required privileges must be granted by adding <username> ALL=(ALL) ALL to sudoers.d.

Boot manager

GRUB

pacman -S grub efibootmgr.

When the installation is performed alongside Windows, the package os-prober is installed as well.
Open the file /etc/default/grub, uncomment the line with "GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER" and set it to "false".

If the installation is not performed alongside Windows, this step may be omitted.
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck.
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

After completing these steps, exit the chroot environment with exit, unmount all filesystems (umount -a or umount -lR /mnt), and reboot the system with reboot.

The installation medium should be removed before the system restarts.

systemd-boot (alternative to GRUB)

bootctl install.
Configure the loader.

Edit /boot/loader/loader.conf and replace its content with:
```
default  arch.conf
timeout  3
console-mode max
editor   no
```
blkid -s PARTUUID -o value <root partition>: finding the correct PARTUUID.

This is important for the next step.

Create Arch Linux entry.

Create /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf.

Important: determine if the system runs on an Intel or AMD processor to load the correct microcode.

title   Arch Linux
# Uncomment the line matching your kernel:
# linux   /vmlinuz-linux
# linux   /vmlinuz-linux-zen
# Uncomment the line matching your processor:
# initrd  /intel-ucode.img
# initrd  /amd-ucode.img
# Uncomment the line matching your kernel:
# initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
# initrd  /initramfs-linux-zen.img
options root=PARTUUID=YOUR_ROOT_PARTUUID rw

Replace YOUR_ROOT_PARTUUID with the actual alphanumerical string from blkid.

Minimal post installation

Time zone

timedatectl list-timezones: list available time-zone identifiers.

A specific entry may be located with grep, for example: timedatectl list-timezones | grep Bogota.
timedatectl set-timezone <time zone>: the desired time zone is applied (e.g., America/Bogota).
timedatectl set-ntp true.

Hostname

hostnamectl set-hostname <hostname>.

GPU drivers

For the GPU drivers use pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils nvidia-settings for Nvidia, mesa libva-mesa-driver for AMD (add vulkan-radeon if you have a modern card) or Intel of GMA 4500 up to Coffee Lake architectures, intel-media-driver for Intel of Broadwell and newer architectures.

pacman -S virtualbox-guest-utils for VirtualBox.

Audio stack

pacman -S pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse pipewire-jack wireplumber.
- pipewire: the core PipeWire daemon (audio/video routing engine that replaces PulseAudio/JACK in modern Linux setups).
- pipewire-alsa: ALSA compatibility layer so apps that output via ALSA can route audio through PipeWire.
- pipewire-pulse: PulseAudio compatibility server so PulseAudio apps (most desktop apps) work transparently with PipeWire.
- pipewire-jack: JACK compatibility layer so pro-audio/JACK apps can work with PipeWire without a separate JACK server.
- wireplumber: the PipeWire session/policy manager (handles automatic device routing, default devices, Bluetooth profile switching, etc.).
systemctl --user enable --now pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber.

Bluetooth

pacman -S bluez bluez-utils blueman.
- bluez: the Linux Bluetooth protocol stack (the core system component for Bluetooth).
- bluez-utils: user-space tools like bluetoothctl and utilities needed to manage devices/pairing.
- blueman: a GTK Bluetooth manager (tray app + GUI) that makes pairing and switching devices easier.
systemctl enable bluetooth.service.

AUR helper (yay)

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

Display manager

pacman -S ly.
systemctl disable getty@tty2.service.
systemctl enable ly@tty2.service.

The config file is /etc/ly/config.ini.

OS keyring

In a full Desktop Environment like GNOME or KDE, a "keyring" (a secure vault for passwords and credentials) is set up automatically. However, in a minimal setup (like Hyprland, Sway, or i3), this bridge is missing. Without it, applications like VS Code, Git, or web browsers will ask for your credentials every single time you open them.

We use gnome-keyring to act as this vault and integrate it with the login process so it unlocks automatically when you enter your system password.

Install the keyring and a GUI manager (seahorse) to inspect keys later if needed: pacman -S gnome-keyring seahorse.

Configure PAM to unlock the keyring on login. Since we are using ly, edit /etc/pam.d/ly::

#%PAM-1.0
.
.
.
# Add this line AFTER "auth include system-login"
auth    optional pam_gnome_keyring.so
.
.
.
# Add this line at the END of the session section
session optional pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start

Finally, ensure the daemon starts with your window manager: gnome-keyring-daemon --start --components=secrets.

A minimal Arch installation has now been completed. The subsequent task involves selecting either a desktop environment or a window manager. Installing any desktop environment should present no difficulties, because the corresponding packages include all components required for a complete user experience.