My personal Arch Linux installation

Arch-x86_64 UEFI.md

🌱 Pre-Installation

0. Set the console keyboard layout

   Default is US (No need to loadkeys)

   Change console font & size:

   setfont ter-dXXb

   Fonts are stored in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/

 

1. Verify the boot mode

   To verify the boot mode, check the UEFI bitness:

   cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size

   It will return 64 for a 64-bit (x64) UEFI or 32 for a 32-bit (IA32) UEFI.

   If it returns No such file or directory, the system may be booted in BIOS (or CSM) mode.

 

2. Connect to the internet

   Ensure network interface:

   ip link

   For wireless connection:

   iwctl

   Verify connection:

   ping archlinux.org

 

3. Update the system clock

   timedatectl set-ntp true

   Check status:

   timedatectl status

 

4. Partition the disks (UEFI)

   Partitioning using cfdisk:

   • 300M for boot is enough as EFI System
   • 2G for swap as Linux swap
   • Remaining space for the root as Linux filesystem

 

5. Format the partitions

   mkfs.ext4 /dev/root_partition
   mkswap /dev/swap_partition

   Only format the ESP if you created now. In other words, if you are dual-booting, DO NOT format the EFI system partition.

   mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/efi_system_partition

 

6. Mount the file systems

   mount /dev/root_partition /mnt
   swapon /dev/swap_partition
   mount --mkdir /dev/efi_system_partition /mnt/boot

 

🏁 Installation

7. Select the mirrors

   Synchronize package databases:

   pacman -Syy

    

8. Install essential packages

   pacstrap -K /mnt base linux-lts linux-firmware linux-lts-headers intel-ucode

    

🎼 Configure the System

9. Fstab

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

    

10. Chroot

    arch-chroot /mnt

    Set font permanently:

    echo FONT=ter-dXXb >> /etc/vconsole.conf

    Install headless base packages (Display server agnostic):

    gvim vi nano sudo opendoas base-devel terminus-font git wget man-db man-pages
    networkmanager traceroute iproute2 openresolv bash-completion texinfo
    dialog dhcpcd wpa_supplicant ifplugd iw bind alsa-utils libinput
    bluez bluez-utils xdg-utils xdg-user-dirs gvfs gvfs-mtp android-udev
    grub efibootmgr dosfstools mtools ntfs-3g os-prober
    

     

11. Time zone

    ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/<Region>/<City> /etc/localtime

    In my case: ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Tehran /etc/localtime

    hwclock --systohc

     

12. Localization

    Uncomment relevant lines in /etc/locale.gen:

    en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
    en_US ISO-XXXX-X
    fa_IR UTF-8
    

    And save the file.

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

     

13. Network configuration

    echo <myhostname> > /etc/hostname

    Paste these lines in /etc/hosts:

    127.0.0.1    localhost
    ::1          localhost
    127.0.1.1    <myhostname>.localdomain    <myhostname>
    

     

14. Root password

    passwd

     

15. Add user(s)

    useradd -m -g users -G wheel <username>

    To give user the admin privileges, uncomment the line #%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL in the sudoers:

    EDITOR=nano visudo

    Set password for the user:

    passwd <username>

     

16. doas configuration

    Paste this line in /etc/doas.conf:

    permit :wheel
    
    

    The configuration file must end with a newline

    Change owner, group and permissions:

    chown -c root:root /etc/doas.conf
    chmod -c 0400 /etc/doas.conf

     

17. Bootloader

    grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB

    Make sure os-porber is not disabled in /etc/default/grub

    Make GRUB config file:

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

 

18. Reboot

    Regenerate kernel, exit chroot, unmount all and reboot:

    mkinitcpio -P
    exit
    umount -R /mnt
    reboot

     

🛠 POST tweaks

• Add DNS servers

  To configure the NetworkManager to use resolvconf, paste these lines inside /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/rc-manager.conf:

  [main]
  rc-manager=resolvconf

  Add DNS servers in /etc/resolvconf.conf like below:

  name_servers="8.8.8.8 1.1.1.1"

  Force resolvconf to update all its subscribers:

  sudo resolvconf -u

   

• Make network reachable

  sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager

  For Wi-Fi, activate connection with:

  nmtui

   

• Install yay (AUR helper)

  cd /opt
  sudo git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-bin.git
  sudo chown -R <username>:users ./yay-bin
  cd yay-bin
  makepkg -si

   

• Disable beep sound

  To unloade the pcspkr kernel module, paste line below in /etc/modprobe.d/nobeep.conf:

  blacklist pcspkr

  Regenrate kernel:

  sudo mkinitcpio -P

   

• Setup required directories

  sudo mkdir /opt/{softwares,sources}
  sudo chown -R <username>:users /opt/{softwares,sources}
  sudo mkdir /mnt/{windows,iso}

   

• Prompt Only the Password for TTY Login

  For more details configurations, refer to the Arch Wiki.

   

🖥️ Graphical Environments

📦 Common Resources

Apply these configurations and installations for either environment

• Fonts & Shared Apps

  ttf-dejavu ttf-firacode-nerd ttf-hack-nerd ttf-intone-nerd
  ttf-font-awesome ttf-ubuntu-nerd noto-fonts noto-fonts-emoji
  
  firefox alacritty fish zsh lf tmux zathura papers nemo gedit gedit-plugins aria2
  amberol vlc duf htop btop persepolis psensor lm_sensors ffmpegthumbnailer
  gnome-clocks zoxide bat ncdu tree tealdeer gparted meld eza locate vulkan-intel
  

  AUR packages:

  google-chrome visual-studio-code-bin cloudflare-warp-bin localsend-bin gtkhash zotero-bin
  

  Manual installations:

  Install st, Telegram, and TexLive after booting into a graphical session.

• Pacman Configuration

  Optimize Pacman by editing /etc/pacman.conf file. Uncomment the Color option for colored output and set ParallelDownloads to 2 for faster package downloads.

 

🔵 Option A: bspwm (X11)

1. Install X11 Display Server & Audio

   # Display server, input tools, and PulseAudio (Legacy/X11 audio)
   xorg xorg-xinit xorg-xrandr xorg-xsetroot xclip xbanish
   pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pulseaudio-bluetooth

2. Install bspwm (window manager) and essential tools

   bspwm sxhkd picom polybar nitrogen rofi dunst arandr mpd polkit-gnome
   

3. Dotfiles & Config-

   Copy configuration files from dotfiles to the appropriate locations:

   git clone https://github.com/ackreq/dotfiles.git
   cd dotfiles
   cp -r config/* ~/.config/
   cp -r .local/ ~/
   cp -r .* ~/
   
   # Make configs executable
   chmod +x ~/.config/bspwm/bspwm
   chmod +x ~/.config/sxhkd/*
   chmod +x ~/.config/polybar/nova/scripts/*

4. Configure Touchpad (X11 specific)

   Paste these line in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf:

   Section "InputClass"
       Identifier "Touchpad"
       Driver "libinput"
       Option "Tapping" "on"
       Option "NaturalScrolling" "true"
   EndSection
   

 

🟣 Option B: Niri (Wayland)

1. Install Niri (Wayland Compositor)

   Follow the official niri documentation for installation instructions.

2. Install Sound Server

   pipewire wireplumber pipewire-pulse pipewire-alsa

3. Choose a Desktop Shell

   Choose either DMS or Noctalia shell and install your preferred one.

4. Install Essential Wayland Tools

   fuzzel mutagen brightnessctl qt6ct qt5ct nwg-look adw-gtk-theme

   • For Qt6CT and Qt5CT set Color scheme to mutagen and for nwg-look set style to adw-gtk3-dark
   • Download your preferred icon pack and set it for GTK and Qt.

 

⁂ Done ⁂