Beginners' guide - ArchWiki

# Beginners' guide

Related articles

- Category:Accessibility
- Installation guide
- Diskless system
- Install from SSH
- General recommendations
- General troubleshooting

This document will guide you through the process of installing Arch Linux using the Arch Install Scripts. Before installing, you are advised to skim over the FAQ.

The community-maintained ArchWiki is the primary resource that should be consulted if issues arise. The IRC channel (irc://irc.freenode.net/#archlinux) and the forums are also excellent resources if an answer cannot be found elsewhere. In accordance with the Arch Way, you are encouraged to type `man command` to read the man page of any command you are unfamiliar with.

## System requirements

Arch Linux should run on any i686 compatible machine with a minimum of 256 MB RAM. A basic installation with all packages from the base group should take less than 800 MB of disk space. If you are working with limited space, this can be trimmed down considerably, but you will have to know what you are doing.

## Prepare the latest installation medium

Tip: The archboot ISO images can take several steps explained in this guide interactively. See Archboot for details.

The installation media can be acquired from Download page. The single ISO image supports both 32bit and 64bit. Always use the latest ISO image where possible.

Note:

Install images are signed and it is highly recommended to verify their signature before use. Download the PGP signature to the ISO directory, and run:

    $ gpg --verify archlinux-version-dual.iso.sig

If the public key is not found, import it with `gpg --recv-keys`. [1]

Alternatively, run from an existing Arch Linux installation:

    $ pacman-key -v archlinux-2015.01.01-dual.iso.sig

`md5` and `sha1` sums can be checked with md5sum and sha256sum respectively.

### USB and optical drives

See Optical disc drive#Burning (CD/DVD) or USB flash installation media (USB).

### Installing over the network

See PXE.

### Install from an existing Linux system

See Install from existing Linux. This is particularly useful when installing Arch remotely via VNC or SSH. See also Install from SSH.

### Installing on a virtual machine

Installing on a virtual machine is a good way to become familiar with Arch Linux and its installation procedure without leaving your current operating system and repartitioning the storage drive. It will also let you keep this Beginners' Guide open in your browser throughout the installation. Some users may find it beneficial to have an independent Arch Linux system on a virtual drive, for testing purposes.

See Category:Hypervisors for examples.

The exact procedure for preparing a virtual machine depends on the software, but will generally follow these steps:

1. Create the virtual disk image that will host the operating system.
2. Properly configure the virtual machine parameters.
3. Boot the downloaded ISO image with a virtual CD drive.
4. Continue with Boot the installation medium.

The following articles may be helpful:

- VirtualBox#Installation steps for Arch Linux guests
- VirtualBox#Install a native Arch Linux system from VirtualBox
- Virtualbox#Run a native Arch Linux installation inside VirtualBox
- Arch Linux as VMware guest
- Moving an existing install into (or out of) a virtual machine

## Boot the installation medium

Most modern systems allow you to select the boot device during the POST phase, usually by pressing the `F12` key while the BIOS splash screen is visible. Select the device which contains the Arch ISO. Alternatively, you may need to change the boot order in your computer's BIOS.

To do this, press a key (usually `Delete`, `F1`, `F2`, `F11`, `F12` or `Esc`) during the POST phase. This will take you into the BIOS settings screen where you can set the order in which the system searches for devices to boot from. Set the device which contains the Arch ISO as the first device from which boot is attempted. Select "Save & Exit" (or your BIOS's equivalent) and the computer should then complete its normal boot process.

When the Arch menu appears, select "Boot Arch Linux" and press `Enter` to enter the live environment where you will run the actual installation (if booting from a UEFI boot disk, the option may look more like "Arch Linux archiso x86_64 UEFI").

### Testing if you are booted into UEFI mode

In case you have a UEFI motherboard and UEFI Boot mode is enabled (and is preferred over BIOS/Legacy mode), the CD/USB will automatically launch Arch Linux via Gummiboot and you will get the following menu (white letters on black background), with the first item highlighted:

    Arch Linux archiso x86_64 UEFI USB
    UEFI Shell x86_64 v1
    UEFI Shell x86_64 v2
    EFI Default Loader

If you do not remember which menu you had at boot time, or if you want to make sure you booted into UEFI mode, run:

    # efivar -l

If efivar lists the UEFI variables properly, then you have booted in UEFI mode. If not check whether all the requirements listed in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface are met.

### Troubleshooting boot problems

- If the screen goes blank with an Intel video chipset, the problem may be due to KMS. See Intel#Blank screen during boot, when "Loading modules" and KMS#Disabling modesetting.
- If the screen does not go blank and the boot process gets stuck while trying to load the kernel, press `Tab` while hovering over the menu entry, type `acpi=off` at the end of the string and press `Enter`.

## Change the language

You are now presented with a shell prompt, automatically logged in as root. Your shell is Zsh; this will provide you advanced Tab completion, and other features as part of the grml config. For editing text files, the console editor nano is suggested. If you are not familiar with it, see nano#Usage. If you have (or plan on having) a dual boot setup with Windows, see Windows and Arch Dual Boot.

Tip: These are optional for the majority of users. Useful only if you plan on writing in your own language in any of the configuration files, if you use diacritical marks in the Wi-Fi password, or if you would like to receive system messages (e.g. possible errors) in your own language. Changes here only affect the installation process.

By default, the keyboard layout is set to `us`. If you have a non-US keyboard layout, run:

    # loadkeys layout

...where layout can be `fr`, `uk`, `dvorak`, `be-latin1`, etc. See this wikipedia article for a 2-letter country code list. Use the command `localectl list-keymaps` to list all available keymaps.

If some glyphs of your language's alphabet (e.g. accented and non Latin letters) show up as white squares or as other symbols, you may want to change the console font with one from `/usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/`. For example:

    # setfont lat9w-16

You can run the showconsolefont command to display the full contents of the loaded font. Note that the font name is case-sensitive, so type it exactly as you see it. See Fonts#Console fonts for more information.

By default, the language is set to English (US). If you would like to change the language for the install process (German, in this example), remove the `#` in front of the locale you want from `/etc/locale.gen`, along with English (US). Please choose the `UTF-8` entries:

    # nano /etc/locale.gen

    en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
    de_DE.UTF-8 UTF-8

    # locale-gen
    # export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8

## Establish an internet connection

Warning: As of v197, udev no longer assigns network interface names according to the wlanX and ethX naming scheme. If you are coming from a different distribution or are reinstalling Arch and not aware of the new interface naming style, please do not assume that your wireless interface is named wlan0, or that your wired interface is named eth0. You can use the command `ip link` to discover the names of your interfaces.

The dhcpcd network daemon starts automatically during boot and it will attempt to start a wired connection. Try to ping a server to see if a connection was established. For example, Google's webservers:

    # ping -c 3 www.google.com

    PING www.l.google.com (74.125.132.105) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from wb-in-f105.1e100.net (74.125.132.105): icmp_req=1 ttl=50 time=17.0 ms
    64 bytes from wb-in-f105.1e100.net (74.125.132.105): icmp_req=2 ttl=50 time=18.2 ms
    64 bytes from wb-in-f105.1e100.net (74.125.132.105): icmp_req=3 ttl=50 time=16.6 ms

    --- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
    3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 16.660/17.320/18.254/0.678 ms

If you get a `ping: unknown host` error, first check if there is an issue with your cable or wireless signal strength. If not, you will need to set up the network manually, as explained below. Once a connection is established move on to #Prepare the storage devices.

### Wired

Follow this procedure if you need to set up a wired connection via a static IP address.

Identify the name of your ethernet interface:

    # ip link

    1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT
        link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    2: enp2s0f0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT qlen 1000
        link/ether 00:11:25:31:69:20 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    3: wlp3s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP mode DORMANT qlen 1000
        link/ether 01:02:03:04:05:06 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

In this example, the ethernet interface is `enp2s0f0`. If you are unsure, your ethernet interface is likely to start with the letter "e", and unlikely to be "lo" or start with the letter "w".

See Network_configuration#Static_IP_address for required settings. Configure a static profile for dhcpcd in `/etc/dhcpcd.conf` with these settings:

    interface enp2s0f0
    static ip_address=192.168.0.10/24
    static routers=192.168.0.1
    static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1 8.8.8.8

Restart `dhcpcd.service`:

    # systemctl restart dhcpcd.service

You should now have a working network connection. If you do not, see Network configuration page.

### Wireless

Warning: Wireless chipset firmware packages (for cards which require them) are pre-installed under `/usr/lib/firmware` in the live environment (on CD/USB stick) but must be explicitly installed to your actual system to provide wireless functionality after you reboot into it! Package installation is covered later in this guide. Ensure installation of both your wireless module and firmware before rebooting! See Wireless network configuration if you are unsure about the requirement of corresponding firmware installation for your particular chipset.

Use netctl's wifi-menu to connect to a wireless network:

    # wifi-menu

This should bring you a menu of wifi networks if your computer has only one Wi-Fi device (mostly the case in laptops).

If your computer has more than one Wi-Fi device, you need to choose one and pass its interface name to wifi-menu. First, identify the name of the needed interface:

    # iw dev

    phy#0
            Interface wlp3s0
                    ifindex 3
                    wdev 0x1
                    addr 00:11:22:33:44:55
                    type managed

This example shows `wlp3s0` as the only available wireless interface, for simplicity. If you are unsure, wireless interfaces are likely to start with the letter "w", and unlikely to be "lo" or start with the letter "e".

Now try wifi-menu again by passing it the interface name:

    # wifi-menu wlp3s0

See the sample configuration in WPA2 Enterprise#netctl for networks that require both a username and password.

You should now have a working wireless network connection. If you do not or even failed to identify the wireless interface, see #Without wifi-menu below or the detailed Wireless network configuration page.

#### Without wifi-menu

Bring the interface up with:

    # ip link set wlp3s0 up

To verify that the interface is up, inspect the output of the following command:

    # ip link show wlp3s0

    3: wlp3s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
        link/ether 00:11:22:33:44:55 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

The `UP` in `<BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP>` is what indicates the interface is up, not the later `state DOWN`.

Most wireless chipsets require firmware in addition to a corresponding driver. The kernel tries to identify and load both automatically. If you get output like `SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory`, this means you will need to manually load the firmware. If unsure, invoke dmesg to query the kernel log for a firmware request from the wireless chipset. For example, if you have an Intel chipset which requires and has requested firmware from the kernel at boot:

    # dmesg | grep firmware

    firmware: requesting iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode

If there is no output, it may be concluded that the system's wireless chipset does not require firmware.

Next, scan for available networks using `iw dev wlp3s0 scan | grep SSID`, then connect to a network with:

    # wpa_supplicant -B -i wlp3s0 -c <(wpa_passphrase "ssid" "psk")

You need to replace `ssid` with the name of your network and `psk` with your wireless password, leaving the quotes around the network name and password.

Finally, you have to give your interface an IP address. This can be set manually or using dhcp:

    # dhcpcd wlp3s0

If that does not work, issue the following commands:

    # echo 'ctrl_interface=DIR=/run/wpa_supplicant' > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
    # wpa_passphrase "ssid" "psk" >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
    # ip link set interface up
    # wpa_supplicant -B -D nl80211,wext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -i interface
    # dhcpcd -A interface

Setting the interface up at step 3 may not be needed, but does no harm in any case.

### Analog modem, ISDN, or PPPoE DSL

For xDSL, dial-up, and ISDN connections, see Direct Modem Connection.

### Behind a proxy server

If you are behind a proxy server, you will need to export the `http_proxy` and `ftp_proxy` environment variables. See Proxy settings for more information.

## Prepare the storage devices

In this step, the storage devices that will be used by the new system will be prepared. Read Partitioning for a more general overview.

Warning: Partitioning will destroy existing data. Before proceeding, you must backup all data that needs to be preserved.
Tip:

- Users intending to create stacked block devices for LVM, disk encryption or RAID, should keep those instructions into consideration when preparing the partitions.
- If intending to install to a USB flash key, see Installing Arch Linux on a USB key.

### Identify the devices

The first step is identify the devices where the new system will be installed. The following command will show all the available devices:

    # lsblk

This will list all devices connected to your system along with their partition schemes, including that used to host and boot live Arch installation media (e.g. a USB drive). Not all devices listed will therefore be viable or appropriate mediums for installation. To filter out inappropriate results, the command can optionally be amended as follows:

    # lsblk | grep -v "rom\|loop\|airoot"

Devices (e.g. hard disks) will be listed as `sdx`, where `x` is a lower-case letter starting from `a` for the first device (`sda`), `b` for the second device (`sdb`), and so on. Existing partitions on those devices will be listed as `sdxY`, where `Y` is a number starting from `1` for the first partition, `2` for the second, and so on. In the example below, only one device is available (`sda`), and that device uses only one partition (`sda1`):

    NAME            MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
    sda               8:0    0    80G  0 disk
    └─sda1            8:1    0    80G  0 part

The `sdxY` convention will be used in the examples provided below for partition tables, partitions, and file systems. As they are just examples, it is important to ensure that any necessary changes to device names, partition numbers, and/or partition sizes (etc.) are made. Do not just blindly copy and paste the commands.

If the existing partition scheme needs not be changed, skip to #Create filesystems, otherwise continue reading the following section.

### Partition table types

If you are installing alongside an existing installation (i.e. dual-booting), a partition table will already be in use. If the devices are not partitioned, or the current partitions table or scheme needs to be changed, you will first have to determine the partition tables (one for each device) in use or to be used.

Warning: If Arch and Windows are dual-booting from same device, then Arch must follow the same firmware boot mode and partitioning combination already used, or Windows will fail to boot. See Windows and Arch Dual Boot#Important information for more details.

There are two types of partition table:

- MBR: Intended for BIOS systems (also referred to as "msdos")
- GPT: Intended for UEFI systems

Any existing partition table can be identified with the following command for each device:

    # parted /dev/sdx print

### Partitioning tools

For each device to be partitioned, a proper tool must be chosen according to the partition table to be used. Several partitioning tools are provided by the Arch installation medium, including:

- parted: MBR and GPT
- fdisk, cfdisk, sfdisk: MBR and GPT
- gdisk, cgdisk, sgdisk: GPT

Warning: Using a partitioning tool that is incompatible with your partition table type will likely result in the destruction of that table, along with any existing partitions/data.
Tip: The devices may also be partitioned before booting the Arch installation media, possibly using alternative live systems with other partitioning tools. For example beginners might find it easier to use a graphical partitioning tool such as GParted, which is also provided as a live CD and works with both MBR and GPT partition tables.

#### Using parted in interactive mode

All the examples provided below make use of parted, as it can be used for both BIOS/MBR and UEFI/GPT. It will be launched in interactive mode, which simplifies the partitioning process and reduces unnecessary repetition by automatically applying all partitioning commands to the specified device.

In order to start operating on a device, execute:

    # parted /dev/sdx

You will notice that the command-line prompt changes from a hash (`#`) to `(parted)`: this also means that the new prompt is not a command to be manually entered when running the commands in the examples.

To see a list of the available commands, enter:

    (parted) help

When finished, or if wishing to implement a partition table or scheme for another device, exit from parted with:

    (parted) quit

After exiting, the command-line prompt will change back to `#`.

### Create new partition table

You need to (re)create the partition table of a device when it has never been partitioned before, or when you want to change the type of its partition table. Recreating the partition table of a device is also useful when the partition scheme needs to be restructured from scratch.

Warning:

- If dual-booting with an existing installation of Windows on a UEFI/GPT system, do not erase the partition table. Doing so will destroy all existing data on the device, including the UEFI partition with the Windows .efi file required to boot it.
- MBR is designed specifically for use with BIOS systems, and GPT is designed for UEFI. It is not recommended for less experienced users to break this convention as both have features and/or limitations that may be incompatible with your hardware (e.g. MBR cannot cope with devices larger than 2 TiB). [2] If for any reason you do not wish to follow this convention, see [3] and [4] for more information and possible workarounds.

Open each device whose partition table must be (re)created with:

    # parted /dev/sdx

To then create a new MBR/msdos partition table for BIOS systems, use the following command:

    (parted) mklabel msdos

To create a new GPT partition table for UEFI systems instead, use:

    (parted) mklabel gpt

### Partition schemes

You can decide the number and size of the partitions the devices should be split into, and which directories will be used to mount the partitions in the installed system (also known as mount points). The mapping from partitions to directories is the partition scheme, which must comply with the following requirements:

- At least a partition for the `/` (root) directory must be created.
- Depending on the motherboard's firmware interface, the chosen #Partition table types, and in some cases also the chosen boot loader, the following additional partitions must be created:
  - BIOS/MBR: no additional partition required.
  - BIOS/GPT:
    - If using syslinux: no additional partition required.
    - If using GRUB: one BIOS Boot Partition.
  - UEFI/GPT: one EFI System Partition.
  - UEFI/MBR: one EFI System Partition.

In the examples below it is assumed that a new and contiguous partitioning scheme is applied to a single device. Some optional partitions will also be created for the `/boot` and `/home` directories: see also Arch filesystem hierarchy for an explanation of the purpose of the various directories; if separate partitions for directories like `/boot` or `/home` are not created, these will simply be contained in the `/` partition. Also the creation of an optional partiton for swap space will be illustrated.

If not already open in a parted interactive session, open each device to be partitioned with:

    # parted /dev/sdx

The following command will be used to create partitions:

    (parted) mkpart part-type fs-type start end

- `part-type` is one of `primary`, `extended` or `logical`, and is meaningful only for MBR partition tables.
- `fs-type` is one of the supported file systems listed in the manual. The partition will be properly formatted in #Create filesystems.
- `start` is the beginning of the partition from the start of the device. It consists of a number followed by a unit, for example `1M` means start at 1MiB.
- `end` is the end of the partition from the start of the device (not from the `start` value). It has the same syntax as `start`, for example `100%` means end at the end of the device (use all the remaining space).

Warning: It is important that the partitions do not overlap each other: if you do not want to leave unused space in the device, make sure that each partition starts where the previous one ends.
Note: parted may issue a warning like:

    Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance.
    Ignore/Cancel?

In this case, read Partitioning#Partition alignment and follow GNU Parted#Alignment to fix it.

The following command will be used to flag the partition that contains the `/boot` directory as bootable:

    (parted) set partition boot on

- `partition` is the number of the partition to be flagged (see the output of the `print` command).

#### UEFI/GPT examples

In every instance, a special bootable EFI System Partition is required.

Warning: If dual-booting with an existing installation of Windows on a UEFI/GPT system, the existing UEFI partition must not be deleted. Doing so will destroy the .efi file required to boot Windows.

If creating a new EFI System Partition, use the following commands (the recommended size is 512MiB):

    (parted) mkpart ESP fat32 1M 513M
    (parted) set 1 boot on

The remaining partition scheme is entirely up to you. For one other partition using 100% of remaining space:

    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 513M 100%

For separate `/` (20GiB) and `/home` (all remaining space) partitions:

    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 513M 20.5G
    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 20.5G 100%

And for separate `/` (20GiB), swap (4Gib), and `/home` (all remaining space) partitions:

    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 513M 20.5G
    (parted) mkpart primary linux-swap 20.5G 24.5G
    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 24.5G 100%

#### BIOS/MBR examples

For a minimum single primary partition using all available disk space, the following command would be used:

    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 1M 100%
    (parted) set 1 boot on

In the following instance, a 20Gib `/` partition will be created, followed by a `/home` partition using all the remaining space:

    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 1M 20G
    (parted) set 1 boot on
    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 20G 100%

In the final example below, separate `/boot` (100MiB), `/` (20Gib), swap (4GiB), and `/home` (all remaining space) partitions will be created:

    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 1M 100M
    (parted) set 1 boot on
    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 100M 20G
    (parted) mkpart primary linux-swap 20G 24G
    (parted) mkpart primary ext3 24G 100%

### Create filesystems

Once the partitions have been created, each must be formatted with an appropriate file system, except for swap partitions. All available partitions on the intended installation device can be listed with the following command:

    # lsblk /dev/sdx

With the exceptions noted below, it is recommended to use the `ext4` file system:

    # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdxY

Warning: If dual-booting with an existing installation of Windows on a UEFI/GPT system, do not re-format the UEFI partition. Doing so will destroy all existing data on that partition, including the Windows .efi file required to boot it.
Note:

- If a new UEFI system partition has been created on a UEFI/GPT system, it must be formatted with a `fat32` or `vfat32` file system. Failure to do so will result in an unbootable installation:

      # mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdxY

- If you plan to use GRUB on a BIOS/GPT system, please note that the BIOS Boot Partition has nothing to do with the `/boot` mountpoint. It will be used by GRUB directly. Do not create a filesystem on it, and do not mount it.

### Activate swap

If a swap partition has been created, it must be set up and activated with:

    # mkswap /dev/sdxY
    # swapon /dev/sdxY

### Mount the partitions

Note: Swap partitions must not be mounted here.

The `/` (root) partition must be mounted first: this is because any directories such as `/boot` or `/home` that have separate partitions will have to be created in the root file system. The `/mnt` directory of the live system will be used to mount the root partition, and consequently all the other partitions will stem from there. If the root partition's name is `sdxR`, do:

    # mount /dev/sdxR /mnt

Once the `/` partition has been mounted, any remaining partitions may be mounted in any order. The general procedure is to first create the mount point, and then mount the partition to it. If using a separate `/boot` partition:

    # mkdir -p /mnt/boot
    # mount /dev/sdxB /mnt/boot

Note: Using `/boot` is recommended also for mounting the EFI System Partition on UEFI/GPT system. See EFISTUB and related articles for alternatives.

If using a separate `/home` partition:

    # mkdir -p /mnt/home
    # mount /dev/sdxH /mnt/home

Once all the remaining partitions, if any, have been mounted, the devices are ready to install Arch.

## Select a mirror

You may want to edit the `mirrorlist` file and place your preferred mirror first. A copy of this file will be installed on your new system by pacstrap as well, so it is worth getting it right.

    # nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

    ##
    ## Arch Linux repository mirrorlist
    ## Sorted by mirror score from mirror status page
    ## Generated on YYYY-MM-DD
    ##

    Server = http://mirror.example.xyz/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
    ...

If you want, you can make it the only mirror available by deleting all other lines, but it is usually a good idea to have a few more, in case the first one goes offline.

Tip:

- Use the Mirrorlist Generator to get an updated list for your country. HTTP mirrors are faster than FTP, because of something called persistent HTTP connection: with FTP, pacman has to establish a new connection to server each time it requests to download next package, resulting in a brief pause. For other ways to generate a mirror list, see Sorting mirrors and Reflector.
- Arch Linux MirrorStatus reports various aspects about the mirrors such as network problems with mirrors, data collection problems, the last time mirrors have been synced, etc.

Note:

- Whenever in the future you change your mirrorlist, refresh all package lists with `pacman -Syyu`, to ensure that the package lists are updated consistently. See Mirrors for more information.
- If you are using an older installation medium, your mirrorlist might be outdated, which might lead to problems when updating Arch Linux (see FS#22510). Therefore it is advised to obtain the latest mirror information as described above.

## Install the base system

The base system is installed using the pacstrap script. The `-i` switch can be omitted if you wish to install every package from the base group without prompting. To build packages from the AUR or with ABS, you will also need the base-devel group.

    # pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel

Other packages can be installed later using pacman.

Note:

- If pacstrap hangs with `error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from mirror... : Connection time-out`, yet your mirrors are configured correctly, try setting a different name server.
- If in the middle of the installation of base packages you get a request to import a PGP key, agree to download the key to proceed. This is likely to happen if the Arch ISO you are using is out of date. If you are unable to add the PGP key successfully, try upgrading the package archlinux-keyring as follows: `pacman -S archlinux-keyring`

See Pacman#Troubleshooting and Pacman-key#Troubleshooting for more information.

## Generate an fstab

Generate an fstab file with the following command. UUIDs will be used because they have certain advantages (see fstab#Identifying filesystems). If you would prefer to use labels instead, replace the `-U` option with `-L`:

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

Warning: The `fstab` file should always be checked after generating it. If you encounter errors running genfstab or later in the install process, do not run genfstab again; just edit the `fstab` file.

The last field determines the order in which partitions are checked at start up: use `1` for the (non-Btrfs) root partition, which should be checked first; `2` for all other partitions you want checked at start up; and `0` means 'do not check' (see fstab#Field definitions). All Btrfs partitions should have `0` for this field. Normally, you will also want your swap partition to have `0`.

## Chroot and configure the base system

Next, chroot into your newly installed system:

    # arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

At this stage of the installation, you will configure the primary configuration files of your Arch Linux base system. These can either be created if they do not exist, or edited if you wish to change the defaults.

Closely following and understanding these steps is of key importance to ensure a properly configured system.

Warning: Do not assume that the tools you used from the ISO are automatically installed. For example, if you used wifi-menu to gain network access during the installation and want to continue so after the first boot, you will have to install dialog to use it. The following section specifies such cases, do follow it closely to avoid a hick-up in your fresh install.

### Locale

Locales define which language the system uses and other regional considerations like currency denomination, numerology and character sets. Possible values are listed in `/etc/locale.gen`, the active locale is defined in `locale.conf` files.

All entries in `locale.gen` are commented out (or preceded by `#`) by default. Uncomment `en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8`, as well as other needed localisations. `UTF-8` is highly recommended over other options.

    # nano /etc/locale.gen

    ...
    #en_SG ISO-8859-1
    en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
    #en_US ISO-8859-1
    ...

Before locales can be enabled, they must be generated:

    # locale-gen

The `/etc/locale.conf` file does not exist by default. Create it, where `LANG` refers to the first column of an uncommented entry in `/etc/locale.gen`:

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

Export the chosen locale:

    # export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Tip:

- Setting `en_US.UTF-8` as the system-wide locale allows to keep system logs in English for easier troubleshooting. Users can override this setting for their environment as described in Locale#Setting the locale.
- `LANG` acts as the default value for the locale-related `LC_*` variables. To use other locales for these variables, run locale to see the available options and add them to `locale.conf`. It is not recommended to set the `LC_ALL` variable. See Locale for details.

### Console font and keymap

If you changed the default console keymap and font in #Change the language, you will have to edit `/etc/vconsole.conf` accordingly (create it if it does not exist) to make those changes persist in the installed system, for example:

    # nano /etc/vconsole.conf

    KEYMAP=de-latin1
    FONT=lat9w-16

Warning: If you set `KEYMAP` to a different value than the one you initially set with loadkeys, and then you #Set the root password, you may have problems logging into the new system after rebooting, because some keys may be mapped differently between the two layouts.

Note that these settings are only valid for your virtual consoles, not in Xorg. See Fonts#Console fonts for more information.

### Time zone

Available time zones and subzones can be found in the `/usr/share/zoneinfo/Zone/SubZone` directories, and listed with the ls command. Create a symbolic link `/etc/localtime` to your subzone file `/usr/share/zoneinfo/Zone/SubZone`:

    # ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Zone/SubZone /etc/localtime

Tip: Use tab completion to show available zones and subzones.

Example:

    # ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Minsk /etc/localtime

If you get `ln: failed to create symbolic link '/etc/localtime': File exists`, check the existing file with `ls -l /etc/localtime` and add the `-f` option to the ln command to overwrite it.

### Hardware clock

If you have multiple operating systems installed in the same machine, they will all derive the current time from the same hardware clock, which must be set to either UTC or localtime. For this reason you must make sure that all the operating systems see the hardware clock as providing time in the same chosen standard, otherwise some of them will perform the time zone adjustement for the system clock, while others will not.

In particular, it is strongly recommended to set the hardware clock to UTC, in order to avoid conflicts between the installed operating systems. For example, if the hardware clock was set to localtime, more than one operating system may adjust it after a DST change, thus resulting in an overcorrection; more problems may arise when travelling between different time zones and using one of the operating systems to reset the system/hardware clock.

To set the hardware clock to UTC in Linux, run:

    # hwclock --systohc --utc

The hwclock command also generates the `/etc/adjtime` file.

Note: Using UTC for the hardware clock does not mean that software will display time in UTC. However, the system setup/BIOS interface will instead: this should be neither surprising nor treated as a bug.
Warning: Windows systems use localtime by default. Using localtime on Arch systems may lead to several known and unfixable bugs, but there are no plans to drop support for localtime. It is, though, recommended to set Windows to use UTC instead, and prevent it from synchronising time. See Time#UTC in Windows.

### Kernel modules

Needed kernel modules are automatically loaded by udev, so you will rarely need to load modules manually. See Kernel modules for details.

### Hostname

Set the hostname to your liking:

    # echo myhostname > /etc/hostname

Add the same hostname to `/etc/hosts`:

    #<ip-address> <hostname.domain.org> <hostname>
    127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost myhostname
    ::1   localhost.localdomain localhost myhostname

### Configure the network

You need to configure the network again, but this time for your newly installed environment. The procedure and prerequisites are very similar to the one described above, except we are going to make it persistent and automatically run at boot.

As a first step, identify the network interface name you want to configure the connection for with `ip link`.

Note:

- For more in-depth information on network configuration, visit Network configuration and Wireless network configuration.
- If you would like to use the old interface naming scheme (i.e. `ethX` and `wlanX`) you can accomplish this by creating an empty file at `/etc/udev/rules.d/80-net-setup-link.rules` which will mask the file of the same name located under `/usr/lib/udev/rules.d`.

#### Wired

##### Dynamic IP

Using dhcpcd

If you only use a single fixed wired network connection, you do not need a network management service and can simply enable the dhcpcd service for the interface:

    # systemctl enable dhcpcd@interface_name.service

Using netctl

Copy a sample profile from `/etc/netctl/examples` to `/etc/netctl`:

    # cd /etc/netctl
    # cp examples/ethernet-dhcp my_network

Edit the profile as needed (update `Interface` from `eth0` to the interface name of the system.

    # nano my_network

Enable the `my_network` profile:

    # netctl enable my_network

Note: You will get the message "Running in chroot, ignoring request.". This can be ignored for now.

Using netctl-ifplugd

Warning: You cannot use this method in conjunction with explicitly enabling profiles, such as `netctl enable profile`.

Alternatively, you can use `netctl-ifplugd`, which gracefully handles dynamic connections to new networks.

Install ifplugd, which is required for `netctl-ifplugd`:

    # pacman -S ifplugd

Then enable for interface that you want:

    # systemctl enable netctl-ifplugd@interface.service

Tip: netctl also provides `netctl-auto`, which can be used to handle wireless profiles in conjunction with `netctl-ifplugd`.

##### Static IP

Using netctl

Copy a sample profile from `/etc/netctl/examples` to `/etc/netctl`:

    # cd /etc/netctl
    # cp examples/ethernet-static my_network

Edit the profile as needed (modify `Interface`, `Address`, `Gateway` and `DNS`):

    # nano my_network

For the `Address` take care to include the correct netmask (the `/24` in the sample profile equates to a netmask of `255.255.255.0`) or the profile will fail to start. See also CIDR notation.

Enable above created profile to start it at every boot:

    # netctl enable my_network

Using systemd-networkd

See systemd-networkd.

#### Wireless

Note: If your wireless adapter requires a firmware (as described in the above Establish an internet connection section and also in the article Wireless network configuration#Device driver), install the package containing your firmware. Most of the time, the linux-firmware package will contain the needed firmware. Though for some devices, the required firmware might be in its own package. For example:

    # pacman -S zd1211-firmware

See Wireless network configuration#Installing driver/firmware for more info.

Install iw and wpa_supplicant which you will need to connect to a network:

    # pacman -S iw wpa_supplicant

##### Adding wireless networks

Using wifi-menu

Install dialog, which is required for wifi-menu:

    # pacman -S dialog

After finishing the rest of this installation and rebooting, you can connect to the network with `wifi-menu interface_name` (where `interface_name` is the interface of your wireless chipset).

    # wifi-menu interface_name

Warning: Do not use wifi-menu now, instead wait until you have finished this guide and have rebooted. It will not work now because a process spawned by this command will conflict with the one you have running outside of the chroot. Alternatively, you could just configure a network profile manually using the following templates so that you do not have to worry about using wifi-menu at all.

Using manual netctl profiles

Copy a network profile from `/etc/netctl/examples` to `/etc/netctl`:

    # cd /etc/netctl
    # cp examples/wireless-wpa my-network

Edit the profile as needed (modify `Interface`, `ESSID` and `Key`):

    # nano my-network

Enable above created profile to start it at every boot:

    # netctl enable my-network

##### Connect automatically to known networks

Warning: This method cannot be used with explicitely enabled profiles, i.e. through `netctl enable profile`.

Install wpa_actiond, which is required for `netctl-auto`:

    # pacman -S wpa_actiond

Enable the `netctl-auto` service, which will connect to known networks and gracefully handle roaming and disconnects:

    # systemctl enable netctl-auto@interface_name.service

Tip: netctl also provides `netctl-ifplugd`, which can be used to handle wired profiles in conjunction with `netctl-auto`.

#### Analog modem, ISDN or PPPoE DSL

For xDSL, dial-up and ISDN connections, see Direct Modem Connection.

### Create an initial ramdisk environment

Tip: Most users can skip this step and use the defaults provided in `mkinitcpio.conf`. The initramfs image (from the `/boot` folder) has already been generated based on this file when the linux package (the Linux kernel) was installed earlier with pacstrap.

Here you need to set the right hooks if the root is on a USB drive, if you use RAID, LVM, if using a multi-device Btrfs volumes as root, or if `/usr` is on a separate partition.

Edit `/etc/mkinitcpio.conf` as needed and re-generate the initramfs image with:

    # mkinitcpio -p linux

### Set the root password

Set the root password with:

    # passwd

### Install and configure a bootloader

#### For BIOS motherboards

For BIOS systems, several boot loaders are available, see Boot loaders for a complete list. Choose one as per your convenience. Possible choices include:

- Syslinux#Installation is (currently) limited to loading only files from the partition where it was installed. Its configuration file is considered to be easier to understand. An example configuration can be found in Syslinux#Examples.
- GRUB is more feature-rich and supports more complex scenarios. Its configuration file(s) is more similar to 'sh' scripting language, which may be difficult for beginners to manually write. It is recommended that they automatically generate one.

Here, installation with GRUB and MBR is demonstrated. Install the grub package and then run grub-install to install the bootloader:

    # pacman -S grub
    # grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda

Note:

- Change `/dev/sda` to reflect the drive you installed Arch on. Do not append a partition number (do not use `sdaX`).
- A sample `/boot/grub/grub.cfg` gets installed as part of the grub package, and subsequent `grub-*` commands may not over-write it. Ensure that your intended changes are in `grub.cfg`, rather than in `grub.cfg.new` or some such file.

Automatically generate `grub.cfg`:

Tip: To automatically search for other operating systems on your computer, install os-prober (`pacman -S os-prober`) before running the next command.

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

For more information on configuring and using GRUB, see GRUB.

#### For UEFI motherboards

For UEFI systems, several boot loaders are available, see Boot loaders for a complete list. Choose one as per your convenience. Possible choices include:

- gummiboot is a minimal UEFI Boot Manager which provides a menu for EFISTUB kernels and other UEFI applications. This is recommended for beginners, especially those wishing to dual-boot with other installed operating systems such as Windows 8.
- GRUB is a more complete bootloader, useful if you run into problems with Gummiboot.

Here, installation with gummiboot is demonstrated. First install dosfstools to manipulate the EFI System Partition post-installation, and efibootmgr to create a UEFI boot entry (used by bootmanager installation scripts):

    # pacman -S dosfstools efibootmgr

Note:

- For UEFI boot, the drive needs to be GPT-partitioned and an EFI System Partition (512 MiB or larger, gdisk type `EF00`, formatted with FAT32) must be present. In the following examples, this partition is assumed to be mounted at `/boot`. If you have followed this guide from the beginning, you have already done all of these.
- It is strongly recommended to have the EFI System Partition mounted at `/boot` as this is required to automatically update Gummiboot.

Install the gummiboot package and run the automated installation script, replacing `$esp` with the location of your EFI System Partiton, usually `/boot`:

    # pacman -S gummiboot
    # gummiboot --path=$esp install

Gummiboot will automatically be detected by firmware that requires that the bootable `bootx64.efi` stub be placed in `$esp/EFI/boot`, and will in turn automatically detect the presence of any other installed operating systems using .efi stubs. However, it will still be necessary to manually create a configuration file for Gummiboot.

First, create `$esp/loader/entries/arch.conf` and add the following, replacing `/dev/sdaX` with your root partition (e.g. `/dev/sda1`):

    # nano $esp/loader/entries/arch.conf

    title          Arch Linux
    linux          /vmlinuz-linux
    initrd         /initramfs-linux.img
    options        root=/dev/sdaX rw

Second, create `$esp/loader/loader.conf` and add the following, replacing the timeout value (in seconds) with your own choice:

    # nano $esp/loader/loader.conf

    default  arch
    timeout  5

See gummiboot for more information.

## Unmount the partitions and reboot

Exit from the chroot environment:

    # exit

Note: While partitions are unmounted automatically by systemd on shutdown, you may do so manually with `umount -R /mnt` as a safety measure. If the partition is "busy", you can find the cause with fuser.

Reboot the computer:

    # reboot

Remove the installation media, or you may boot back into it. You can log into your new installation as root, using the password you specified with passwd.

## Post-installation

Your new Arch Linux base system is now a functional GNU/Linux environment ready to be built into whatever you wish or require for your purposes. You are now strongly advised to read the General recommendations article, especially the first two sections. Its other sections provide links to post-installation tutorials like setting up a graphical user interface, sound or a touchpad.

For a list of applications that may be of interest, see List of applications.

Category:

- Getting and installing Arch