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.

## Minimum 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

The installation media and their GnuPG signatures can be acquired from the Download page. The single ISO image supports both 32bit and 64bit systems; this guide assumes you use the latest available version.

It is highly recommended to verify the image signature before use, especially when downloading from an HTTP mirror, as these are run by volunteers who could theoretically serve malicious images. On a system with GnuPG installed, do this by downloading the PGP signature (under Checksums) 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 key-id`.

Alternatively, run from an existing Arch Linux installation:

    $ pacman-key -v archlinux-<version>-dual.iso.sig

Now, choose one of the methods from the table below to #Boot the installation medium on the target machine(s). As the installation process retrieves packages from a remote repository, these methods require an internet connection; see Offline installation of packages when none is available.

Method | Articles | Conditions
--- | --- | ---
Write the image on flash media or optical disc, then boot from it. | USB flash installation media Optical disc drive#Burning | Installation on one, or a few machines at most Obtain a directly bootable system
Mount the image on a server machine and have clients boot it over the network. | PXE Diskless system | Client-server model Wired (1Gbit+) network connection
Mount the image in a running Linux system and install Arch from a chroot environment. | Install from existing Linux Install from SSH | Replace an existing system with reduced downtime Install on the local machine, or a remote one via VNC or SSH
Set up a virtual machine and install Arch as a guest system. | Category:Hypervisors Moving an existing install into (or out of) a virtual machine | Operating system compatible with virtualization software Obtain an isolated system for learning, testing or debugging

## Boot the installation medium

Point the current boot device to the media containing the Arch installation media. This is typically achieved by pressing a key during the POST phase, as indicated on the splash screen. Refer to your motherboard's manual for details.

When the Arch menu appears, select "Boot Arch Linux" and press `Enter` to enter the live environment where you will perform the actual installation. Various boot parameters (for example, `copytoram`) can be used by editing the boot entry (`tab` for syslinux and `e` for gummiboot). See README.bootparams for reference.

You will be logged in as the root user and presented with a Zsh shell prompt. Zsh provides advanced tab completion and other features as part of the grml config. For editing text files, the console editor nano is suggested.

### Booting into UEFI mode

Warning: While the choice to install in EFI mode is forward looking, early vendor UEFI implementations carried more bugs than their BIOS counterparts. It is advised to do a search relating your particular mainboard model before proceeding.

In case you have a UEFI motherboard with UEFI mode enabled, the CD/USB will automatically launch Arch Linux via Gummiboot and present the following menu:

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

To verify you are booted in UEFI mode, run:

    # efivar -l

Should efivar not list the UEFI variables properly, check if all requirements are met.

### Troubleshooting boot problems

- If you are using an Intel video chipset and the screen goes blank during the boot process, the problem is likely an issue with Kernel mode setting. A possible workaround may be achieved by rebooting and pressing `Tab` over the entry that you are trying to boot (i686 or x86_64). At the end of the string type `nomodeset` and press `Enter`. Alternatively, try `video=SVIDEO-1:d` which, if it works, will not disable kernel mode setting. You can also try `i915.modeset=0`. See the Intel article for more information.
- 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`.

## Keyboard layout

The default keyboard layout is set to US, the locale to `en_US.UTF-8`. To change the keyboard layout for (only) the installation process, run:

    # loadkeys layout

where layout is a two-letter country code. Use `localectl list-keymaps` to list all available keymaps.

If certain special characters appear as white squares or other symbols, you may wish to change the console font. See Fonts#Previewing and testing for details.

## Establish an internet connection

The dhcpcd network daemon starts automatically during boot on the live system, and 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. 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.

Tip: The system you are going to install in this guide makes no pre-assumptions regarding network access. For an easy start after the first boot, it may be helpful to stick to the method that got you connected with the live medium and copy relevant configuration to the new system before you #Chroot and configure the base system later.

### Static IP

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

Identify the name of your ethernet interface using `ip`.

    # ip link

See Network configuration#Device names for more information on how network interfaces are named.

Required settings are explained in Network configuration#Static IP address. Configure a static profile for dhcpcd in `/etc/dhcpcd.conf` with your settings.

Then, restart `dhcpcd.service`:

    # systemctl restart dhcpcd.service

You should now have a working network connection. If you do not, see the 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, but must be installed separately on the new system.

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. This is the case on most laptops.

If your computer has more than one Wi-Fi device, choose one and relay its interface name to wifi-menu. See Wireless network configuration#Getting some useful information.

    # wifi-menu wlp3s0

See WPA2 Enterprise#netctl for networks which 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

Most wireless chipsets require firmware in addition to a corresponding driver. The kernel tries to identify and load both automatically. Follow the steps in Wireless network configuration#Check the driver status to verify the status of your wireless chipset firmware.

Finally, follow the steps in Wireless network configuration#Manual setup, keeping in mind that both iw and wpa_supplicant are already provided on the install media.

### 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.

### Behind a captive portal

The ELinks browser is included with the installation media, and can be used to access captive portal login forms.

## Ensure clock accuracy

Use systemd-timesyncd to ensure that your hardware clock is accurate. To start it:

    # timedatectl set-ntp true

To check the service status, use `timedatectl status`.

For more details, see Time.

## Prepare the storage devices

Warning:

- In general, partitioning or formatting will make existing data inaccessible and subject to being overwritten, i.e. destroyed, by subsequent operations. For this reason, all data that needs to be preserved must be backed up before proceeding.
- If dual-booting with an existing installation of Windows on a UEFI/GPT system, avoid reformatting the UEFI partition, as this includes the Windows .efi file required to boot it. Furthermore, Arch must follow the same firmware boot mode and partitioning combination as Windows. See Windows and Arch dual boot#Important information.

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

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 to 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. Results ending in `rom`, `loop` or `airoot` can be ignored.

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.

There are two types of partition table:

- MBR
- GPT

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

    # parted /dev/sdx print

### Partitioning tools

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.

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

Devices may also be partitioned before booting the installation media, for example through tools such as GParted (also provided as a live CD).

#### 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.

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.
- When using a UEFI motherboard, one EFI System Partition must be created

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 an identifier chosen among those listed by entering `help mkpart` as the closest match to the file system that you will use in #Create filesystems. The mkpart command does not actually create the file system: the `fs-type` parameter will simply be used by parted to set a 1-byte code that is used by boot loaders to "preview" what kind of data is found in the partition, and act accordingly if necessary. See also Wikipedia:Disk partitioning#PC partition types.

  Tip: Most Linux native file systems map to the same partition code (0x83), so it is perfectly safe to e.g. use `ext2` for an ext4-formatted partition.

- `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.

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

    (parted) mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 513MiB
    (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 ext4 513MiB 100%

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

    (parted) mkpart primary ext4 513MiB 20.5GiB
    (parted) mkpart primary ext4 20.5GiB 100%

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

    (parted) mkpart primary ext4 513MiB 20.5GiB
    (parted) mkpart primary linux-swap 20.5GiB 24.5GiB
    (parted) mkpart primary ext4 24.5GiB 100%

#### BIOS/MBR examples

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

    (parted) mkpart primary ext4 1MiB 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 ext4 1MiB 20GiB
    (parted) set 1 boot on
    (parted) mkpart primary ext4 20GiB 100%

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

    (parted) mkpart primary ext4 1MiB 100MiB
    (parted) set 1 boot on
    (parted) mkpart primary ext4 100MiB 20GiB
    (parted) mkpart primary linux-swap 20GiB 24GiB
    (parted) mkpart primary ext4 24GiB 100%

### File systems and swap

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

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:

    # mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdxY

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

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

Mount the root partition to the `/mnt` directory of the live system:

    # mount /dev/sdxY /mnt

Remaining partitions (except swap) may be mounted in any order, after creating the respective mount points. For example, when using a `/boot` partition:

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

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

## 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. Should you change your mirror list at a later stage, refresh all package lists with `pacman -Syyu`. See Mirrors for more information.

## Install the base system

The pacstrap script installs the base system. To build packages from the AUR or with ABS, the base-devel group is also required.

    # pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel

The `-i` switch ensures prompting before package installation. Other packages can later be installed with pacman.

See Pacman#Troubleshooting and Pacman-key#Troubleshooting in case of errors.

## Generate an fstab

UUIDs are used because they have certain advantages (see fstab#Identifying filesystems). If you prefer labels instead, replace the `-U` option with `-L`:

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

The `fstab` file should always be checked after generating it, and edited in case of errors. See fstab#Field definitions for syntax information.

## 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. Tools from the live installation, e.g. dialog, are not automatically installed; the following sections specify such cases.

### Regional settings

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

All entries in `locale.gen` are commented out (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

Create `/etc/locale.conf`, where `LANG` refers to the first column of an uncommented entry in `/etc/locale.gen`. `LANG` acts as the default value for the locale-related `LC_*` variables.

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

See Locale#Setting the locale for details.

If you changed the default console keymap and font in #Keyboard layout, create `/etc/vconsole.conf` to make those changes persist in the installed system. It is important `KEYMAP` matches the value initially set with `loadkeys`, to ensure correct entry of the root password on reboot.

    # nano /etc/vconsole.conf

    KEYMAP=de-latin1
    FONT=lat9w-16

Settings in `vconsole.conf` only apply to virtual consoles, not Xorg. See Fonts#Console fonts for more information.

Available time zones and subzones are available in `/usr/share/zoneinfo/Zone/SubZone`. To list them, run:

    $ ls -l /usr/share/zoneinfo

To set the default zone, create a symbolic link `/etc/localtime` to the respective subzone file:

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

You may use tab expansion to complete available zones and subzones.

### Hardware clock

It is highly recommended that you set the hardware clock to UTC:

    # hwclock --systohc --utc

If other operating systems are installed on the machine, they must be configured accordingly. See Time standard for more details.

### 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

### Set the root password

Set the root password with:

    # passwd

### Install and configure a bootloader

See Boot loaders for available choices and configurations. Microcode updates for Intel CPUs must also be configured after installing the boot loader.

#### For BIOS motherboards

Here, installation with GRUB and MBR is demonstrated.

Install the grub package; to have GRUB search for other installed operating systems, install os-prober in addition:

    # pacman -S grub os-prober

Install the bootloader to the drive Arch was installed to (do not append a partition number, or `/dev/sdaX`):

    # grub-install --recheck /dev/sda

Generate `grub.cfg`:

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

As the grub package includes a sample `/boot/grub/grub.cfg`, ensure your intended changes were written to this file. See GRUB for more information.

#### For UEFI motherboards

Here, installation with bootctl is demonstrated. It is part of systemd, and as such already part of the base installation.

The target drive requires a GPT partition table, and an EFI System Partition of at least 512 MiB in size, gdisk type `EF00`, and formatted with FAT32. Mounting the EFI partition at `/boot` is strongly recommended as this is required to automatically update bootctl. If you have followed this guide from the beginning, you have already done all of these.

Install the dosfstools package to be able to manipulate the EFI partition after installation:

    # pacman -S dosfstools

Run the automated installation script, replacing `$esp` with the location of your EFI System Partition, usually `/boot`:

    # bootctl --path=$esp install

Bootctl 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 bootctl.

First, create `$esp/loader/entries/arch.conf` and add the following, replacing `/dev/sdaX` with your root partition (most likely `/dev/sda2` if `/dev/sda1` is the ESP):

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

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

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

    # nano $esp/loader/loader.conf

    timeout 3
    default arch

See systemd-boot for more information.

### Configure the network

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

For more in-depth information on network configuration, visit Network configuration and Wireless network configuration.

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

Now, select a daemon to handle the configuration and operation. Several are listed below; only select one of them for the new system.

#### Wired

dhcpcd

This is the default method in the install medium. See Dhcpcd#Running. Users requiring only a single wired network connection can enable the dhcpcd service for the interface:

    # systemctl enable dhcpcd@interface_name.service

If static IP settings are required, adjust the profile configuration as described in #Static IP.

systemd-networkd

The Arch default init system, systemd supports managing adapters for both DHCP and static IP setups. See systemd-networkd#Required services and setup.

netctl

netctl is a CLI-based tool for configuring and managing network connections through user-created profiles. Create a profile as shown in netctl#Example profiles, then enable it as described in netctl#Basic method.

#### Wireless

All of the tools listed in #Wired above can activate wireless connections. For wireless, however, dhcpcd and systemd-networkd require a separate configuration of the connection in the wireless backend, wpa_supplicant, first. If you anticipate to connect the machine to different wireless networks over time, a tool which provides its own connection management may be easier to handle. Aside from netctl introduced below, Wireless network configuration#Automatic setup lists other choices.

Note: If your wireless adapter requires a firmware, as described in the above Establish an internet connection section, install the package containing your 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.

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

See Netctl for general information, and Netctl#Example profiles for how to source and configure an example profile.

##### 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

As mkinitcpio was run on installation of linux with pacstrap, most users can use the defaults provided in `mkinitcpio.conf`. For special configurations, set the correct hooks in `/etc/mkinitcpio.conf` and re-generate the initramfs image.

## Unmount the partitions and reboot

Exit from the chroot environment:

    # exit

Partitions will be unmounted automatically by systemd on shutdown. You may however unmount manually as a safety measure:

    # umount -R /mnt

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