Beginners' Guide From ArchWiki Tip: This guide is also available in multiple pages rather than one large copy. If you would rather read it that way, please start here. This document will guide you through the process of installing Arch Linux using the Arch Install Scripts (https://github.com/falconindy/ 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 (https://bbs.archlinux.org/) 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. Note: Please check out #archlinux-newbie on Freenode Preparation Note: If you wish to install from an existing GNU/Linux distribution, please see this article. This can be useful particularly if you plan to install Arch via VNC or SSH remotely. Burn or write the latest installation medium The latest release of the installation media can be obtained from the Download (https://archlinux.org/download/) page. Note that the single ISO image supports both 32 and 64-bit architectures. A new ISO image is released about once every month and it is highly recommended to always use the latest ISO image. ▪ Burn the ISO image on a CD or DVD with your preferred software. Note: The quality of optical drives and the discs themselves varies greatly. Generally, using a slow burn speed is recommended for reliable burns. If you are experiencing unexpected behaviour from the disc, try burning at the lowest speed supported by your burner. ▪ Or you can write the ISO image to a USB stick. For detailed instructions, see USB Installation Media. Installing over the network Instead of writing the boot media to a disc or USB stick, you may alternatively boot the .iso image over the network. This works well when you already have a server set up. Please see this article for more information, and then continue to Boot the installation medium. 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. Examples of virtualization software are VirtualBox, VMware, QEMU, Xen, Varch, Parallels. 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: ▪ Arch Linux as VirtualBox guest ▪ Arch Linux as VirtualBox guest on a physical drive ▪ Arch Linux as VMware guest ▪ Moving an existing install into (or out of) a virtual machine Boot the installation medium First, you may have to change the boot order in your computer's BIOS. To do this, you have to press a key (usually Delete , F1 , F2 , F11 or F12 ) during the POST (Power On Self-Test) phase. Then, select "Boot Arch Linux" from the menu and press Enter in order to begin with the installation. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide Note: The memory requirement for a basic install is 64 MB of RAM. Note: Users seeking to perform the Arch Linux installation remotely via an SSH connection are encouraged to make a few tweaks at this point to enable SSH connections directly to the live CD environment. If interested, see the Install from SSH article. Once you have booted into the live environment, your shell is Zsh; this will provide you advanced Tab completion, and other features as part of the grml config (http://grml.org/zsh/) . 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 kernel (EFISTUB via Gummiboot Boot Manager). To test if you have booted into UEFI mode check if directory /sys/firmware/efi has been created: # ls -1 /sys/firmware/efi Note: For several kernels now, CONFIG_EFI_VARS has been compiled into the kernel. Thus efivars no longer exists as a module and doesn't need to be loaded manually. Troubleshooting boot problems ▪ If you're 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 e over the entry that you're 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. 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 . Installation You are now presented with a shell prompt, automatically logged in as root. Change the language 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. 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 , be-latin1 , etc. See here for a comprehensive list. The font should also be changed, because most languages use more glyphs than the 26 letter English alphabet. Otherwise some foreign characters may show up as white squares or as other symbols. Note that the name is case-sensitive, so please type it exactly as you see it: # setfont Lat2-Terminus16 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 (http://www.greendesktiny.com/support/knowledgebase_detail.php?ref=EUH-483) you want from /etc/locale.gen , along with English (US). Please choose the UTF-8 entry. Use Ctrl+X to exit, and when prompted to save changes, press Y and Enter to use the same filename. # nano /etc/locale.gen en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 de_DE.UTF-8 UTF-8 https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide # locale-gen # export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 Remember, LAlt+LShift activates and deactivates the keymap. Establish an internet connection Warning: 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 addr show to discover the names of your interfaces. Since the systemd-197 release udev has assigned predictable and stable network interface names that deviate from the legacy incremental naming scheme (e.g. wlan0 , wlan1 ). These interface names are guaranteed to be persistent across reboots, which solves the problem of the lack of predictability of network interface name assignment (see Predictable Network Interface Names (http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/PredictableNetworkInterfaceNames) ). 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 DNS servers: # 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 drive. Wired Follow this procedure if you need to set up a wired connection via a static IP address. First, disable the dhcpcd service which was started automatically at boot: # systemctl stop dhcpcd.service 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 .