Arch Installation Notes

VM Notes

If using Proxmox:

Change VM Bios to OVMF (UEFI)
Boot the VM and hit Esc to edit BIOS
Disable Secure Boot
Change boot order to boot from the CD-ROM first

Disk Partitioning

Use cfdisk:

    cfdisk /dev/sda

Create 1G boot partition
Create 2G swap partition
Create the rest as root partition

Confirm with lsblk to see the partitions.

Format Partitions

Format the partitions with the following commands:

    mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1  # Boot partition
    mkswap /dev/sda2          # Swap partition
    mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3       # Root partition

Mount Partitions

Mount the root partition and enable swap:

    mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
    swapon /dev/sda2

Create mount points for boot and EFI:

    mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi
    mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi

Verify the mounts with lsblk.

Install Base System

Install the base system and essential packages:

    pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware vim networkmanager base-devel grub efibootmgr

Generate fstab

Generate /etc/fstab file:

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

Chroot into the System

Change root into the new system:

    arch-chroot /mnt

Set Time Zone

Set the time zone:

    ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/localtime
    hwclock --systohc

Localization

Edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment the desired locale:

    en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

Generate the locale:

    locale-gen

Set the locale in /etc/locale.conf:

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

Network Configuration

Set the hostname:

    echo "archbtw" > /etc/hostname

Create Users

Create password for root:

    passwd

Create a new user:

    useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash luke
    passwd luke

Configure Sudo

Edit the sudoers file:

    EDITOR=vim visudo

Uncomment the line:

    %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Enable Network Manager

Enable NetworkManager to start at boot:

    systemctl enable NetworkManager

Install Bootloader

Install Grub:

    grub-install /dev/sda
    grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfgq

Exit Chroot and Reboot

Exit the chroot environment:

    exit

Unmount the partitions:

    umount -a

Reboot the system:

    reboot

Post-Installation

Enable SSH:

    sude pacman -S openssh
    sude systemctl enable sshd

Install and enable Avahi:

    sudo pacman -S avahi nss-mdns
    sudo systemctl enable avahi-daemon.service

Enable mDNS by edditing /etc/nsswitch.conf and modifying the hosts line to look like this:

    hosts: mymachines mdns4_minimal[NOTFOUND=return] resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns mdns4

Arch Installation Notes installing arch btw