Create bootable USB

From a linux system:

dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx status=progress && sync

From a windows box, use Rufus and select the dd option when prompted before the recording process.

Boot from USB and set prepare system

note that $keymap means a variable named "keymap". Substitute it for value suitable for you.

loadkeys $keymap
timedatectl set-ntp true

Connect to wifi

iwctl station wlan0 get-networks
iwctl station wlan0 connect $essid

Partition the disk with gdisk

Check available block devices names

cat /sys/class/block/sd{a,b,c}/device/model

As an example, we will create 2 partitions, one for (EFI) boot and one for a LUKS encrypted filesystem.

gdisk /dev/sda

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): o
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): Y

Command (? for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1): 
First sector (34-242187466, default = 2048) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: 
Last sector (2048-242187466, default = 242187466) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +512M
Current type is 'Linux filesystem'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): EF00
Changed type of partition to 'EFI System'

Command (? for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2): 
First sector (34-242187466, default = 1050624) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: 
Last sector (1050624-242187466, default = 242187466) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: 
Current type is 'Linux filesystem'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): 8309
Changed type of partition to 'Linux LUKS'

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 242187500 sectors, 115.5 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 9FB9AC2C-8F29-41AE-8D61-21EA9E0B4C2A
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 242187466
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048         1050623   512.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System
   2         1050624       242187466   115.0 GiB   8309  Linux LUKS

Command (? for help): w

Format, encrypt and mount partitions

As an example, we will format:

a boot partition (/dev/sda1);
swap and a root partitions mapped by LVM on LUKS (/dev/mapper/vg0-swap and /dev/mapper/vg0-root on encrypted /dev/sda2).

But here you should format amd mount your boot, root, home, var and other partitions as you need.

mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1

cryptsetup -v luksFormat /dev/sda2
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda2 luks

pvcreate /dev/mapper/luks
vgcreate vg0 /dev/mapper/luks
lvcreate -L 4G vg0 -n swap
lvcreate -l +100%FREE vg0 -n root

mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/vg0-root
mkswap /dev/mapper/vg0-swap

mount /dev/mapper/vg0-root /mnt
swapon /dev/mapper/vg0-swap

mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Install base system

Append and substitute any pacman packages you think it's basic for your need.

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel man-pages iwd vim openssh linux linux-firmware lvm2

Generate fstab

If needed, check partitions UUID and label with blkid.

genfstab -pU /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

cat /mnt/etc/fstab
# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>	<dir>	<type>	<options>	<dump>	<pass>
# /dev/mapper/vg0-root
UUID=44bc2285-0443-44d6-8208-e914638ee1b1	/         	ext4      	rw,noatime,data=ordered	0 1

# /dev/sda1
UUID=AEF3-11A1      	/boot     	vfat      	rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro	0 2

# /dev/mapper/vg0-swap
UUID=708a05f7-633c-4f0f-a16b-3abce7def965	none      	swap      	defaults  	0 0

If you have SSD change relatime on all non-boot partitions to noatime.

Generate Crypttab

Filesystems to be mounted after bootstrap (if you're encrypting /, it shouldn't be listed here, since it's dealt by initramfs int the bootloader entry configuration below. The following example asks for password to decrypt /dev/md/idata and create a new mapped device under /dev/mapper/idatadev.

echo "idatadev  /dev/md/idata" >> /mnt/etc/crypttab

chroot into new system and prepare it

Use amd-ucode or intel-ucode depending on your CPU. The microcodes are updated patches to deal with any issue the processor might have.

arch-chroot /mnt

ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Helsinki /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

echo $hostname > /etc/hostname

pacman -S amd-ucode
pacman -S dialog wpa_supplicant

passwd
visudo #uncomment line "%wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL"
useradd -m -G wheel $username
passwd $username

Set locales

Uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed localizations in /etc/locale.gen. Don't forget to substitute the variables below.

echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
echo KEYMAP=$keymap > /etc/vconsole.conf
locale-gen

Configure network interfaces

For an example, we're creating /etc/systemd/network/20-enp0s3.network to configure DHCP on a wired interface.

[Match]
Name=enp0s3

[Network]
DHCP=yes

systemctl enable systemd-networkd.service
systemctl enable systemd-resolved

Prepare boot and initramfs

We'll install the EFI systemd bootloader basic files:

bootctl --path=/boot install

Edit /etc/mkinitcpio.conf:

MODULES="ext4"
.
.
.
HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block keymap encrypt lvm2 resume filesystems keyboard fsck"

Configure bootloader

Create /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf (using amd-ucode.img for AMD CPU or intel-ucode.img for INTEL CPU).

For an example, we'll configure a system where the root filesystem is encrypted.

note: The partition PARTUUID refered in options line is the encrypted block device. Not the mapped root PARTUUID mentioned by /etc/fstab. Check it out from blkid or lsblk -o PATH,PARTUUID.

title	Arch Linux
linux	/vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /amd-ucode.img
initrd	/initramfs-linux.img
options cryptdevice=PARTUUID=<YOUR-PARTITION-UUID>:lvm:allow-discards resume=/dev/mapper/vg0-swap root=/dev/mapper/vg0-root rw quiet

Edit /boot/loader/loader.conf

timeout 0
default arch
editor 0

Finish installation and boot to new system

mkinitcpio -p linux
exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot

iuriatan/arch_install.md