Arch Linux Installation Guide

Partitioning

1. Open cfdisk and create the following partitions:
   • Select GPT as the partition table.
2. Create partitions:
   • /dev/sda1 = 300M (EFI System Partition)
   • /dev/sda2 = 4G (Swap Partition)
   • /dev/sda3 = Remaining space (Root Partition)

Formatting Partitions

3. Format partitions:

   mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3
   mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1
   mkswap /dev/sda2

Mounting

4. Mount the partitions:

   mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
   mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi
   mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi
   swapon /dev/sda2

Installing Essential Packages

5. Install the base system:

   pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware sof-firmware base-devel grub efibootmgr nano networkmanager

Generate fstab

6. Generate the fstab file:

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

Chroot into the System

7. Change root into the new system:

   arch-chroot /mnt

System Configuration

Timezone

8. Set the timezone:

   ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Kolkata /etc/localtime
   hwclock --systohc

Locale

9. Configure the locale:

   nano /etc/locale.gen  # Uncomment en_US.UTF-8
   locale-gen
   echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf
   echo "KEYMAP=us" > /etc/vconsole.conf

Hostname & Network

10. Set hostname:

    echo "arch" > /etc/hostname

11. Enable NetworkManager:

    systemctl enable NetworkManager

Root Password & User Creation

12. Set root password:

    passwd

13. Create a user:

    useradd -m -g users -G wheel -s /bin/bash Ren
    passwd Ren

14. Grant sudo privileges:

    EDITOR=nano visudo  # Uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Bootloader Installation

15. Install and configure GRUB:

    grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB
    grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Finalizing Installation

16. Exit chroot and reboot:

    exit
    umount -a
    reboot

Installing KDE Plasma (Optional)

17. Install KDE Plasma:

    sudo pacman -S plasma sddm kde-applications
    sudo systemctl enable --now sddm