Beginners' Guide From ArchWiki Tip: This guide is also available in multiple pages, rather than one large copy. copy. If you would rather follow it that way, please start here. here. This document will guide you through the process of installing Arch Linux using the Arch Arch Install Scripts (https://github.com /falconindy/arch-install-scripts)) . Before installing, you are /falconindy/arch-install-scripts advised to skim over the FAQ.
Summary Provides a highly detailed, explanatory guide to installing, configuring and using a full-featured Arch Linux system.
The community-maintained Arch wiki is an excellent resource and should be consulted for issues first. The IRC channel (irc://irc.freenode.net/#archlinux), (irc://irc.freenode.net/#ar chlinux), and the forums (https://bbs.archlinux.org/) (https://bbs.archlinux.org /) are also available if the answer Related cannot be found elsewhere. Also, be sure to check out the man pages for any command you are unfamiliar with; this can usually Category:Accessibility be invoked with man command . Installation Guide
Contents 1 Prepar Preparati ation on 1.1 Burn or write the latest installation installation medium 1.1.1 1.1.1 Installing Installing over the the network 1.1.2 1.1.2 Installing Installing on a virtual machine machine 1.2 Boot the the installation installation medium medium 1.2.1 Testing if you are booted into UEFI mode 1.2.2 1.2.2 Troublesho Troubleshooting oting boot problems problems 2 Instal Installat lation ion 2.1 Change the language language 2.2 Establish Establish an internet internet connection connection 2.2.1 2.2.1 Wired Wired 2.2.2 2.2.2 Wirel Wireless ess 2.2.3 xDSL (PPPoE), (PPPoE), analog modem or ISDN 2.2.4 2.2.4 Behind Behind a proxy server server 2.3 Prepare Prepare the storage storage drive drive 2.3.1 2.3.1 Exampl Example e 2.4 Mount the partit partitions ions 2.5 Select Select a mirror mirror 2.6 Install Install the base base system system 2.7 Generate Generate an fstab fstab 2.8 Chroot Chroot and configure configure the base system system 2.8.1 2.8.1 Locale Locale 2.8.2 2.8.2 Console Console font and keymap keymap 2.8.3 2.8.3 Time Time zone zone 2.8.4 2.8.4 Hardware Hardware clock clock 2.8.5 2.8.5 Kernel Kernel module modules s 2.8.6 2.8.6 Hostna Hostname me
Network Installation Guide Install from SSH General Recommendations General Troubleshooting
2.9 Configure Configure the the network network 2.9.1 2.9.1 Wired Wired 2.9.2 2.9.2 Wirel Wireless ess 2.9.3 xDSL (PPPoE), (PPPoE), analog modem or ISDN 2.10 Configure Configure pacman pacman 2.11 Create Create an initial initial ramdisk environme environment nt 2.12 Set the root password and add a regular user 2.13 Install Install and configure configure a bootloader bootloader 2.13.1 2.13.1 For BIOS motherboards motherboards 2.13.1.1 2.13.1.1 Syslinux Syslinux 2.13.1 2.13.1.2 .2 GRUB GRUB 2.13.2 2.13.2 For UEFI motherboards motherboards 2.13.2 2.13.2.1 .1 EFISTU EFISTUB B 2.13.2 2.13.2.2 .2 GRUB GRUB 2.14 Unmount Unmount the partitions partitions and reboot reboot 3 Ext Extra 3.1 Package management management 3.2 3.2 Soun Sound d 3.3 Graphical User Interface 3.3.1 3.3.1 Instal Installl X 3.3.2 3.3.2 Install Install a video driver driver 3.3.3 3.3.3 Install Install input driver drivers s 3.3.4 3.3.4 Configu Configure re X 3.3.5 3.3.5 Test X 3.3.5.1 3.3.5.1 Troublesho Troubleshooting oting 3.3.6 3.3.6 Fonts onts 3.3.7 Choose and install a graphical interface interface 4 Appe Append ndix ix
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 This guide pertains to the current release (2012.11.01), which can be obtained from the Download (http://archlinux.org/download/) page. 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. greatly. Generally, 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 on 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 ha ve 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. 2. 3. 4.
Create the virtual disk image that will host the operating system. Properly configure the virtual machine parameters. Boot the downloaded ISO image with a virtual CD drive. Continue with Boot the installation medium.
The following articles may be helpful: Arch Linux VirtualBox Guest Installing Arch Linux from VirtualBox VirtualBox Arch Linux Guest On Physical Drive Installing Arch Linux in VMware 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. 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. Testing if you are booted into UEFI mode
In case you have a UEFI motherboard, the CD/USB will launch UEFI Shell and display a message that startup.nsh script will be launched. Allow the shell to launch it, and exit the shell. Select "UEFI CD: Arch Linux" (or similar) from a list. Then, to check whether
you have booted into UEFI mode, load the efivars kernel module (before chrooting) and then check whether there are files in /sys/firmware/efi/vars/ : # modprobe efivars # before chrooting # ls -1 /sys/firmware/efi/vars/
Note: The kernel module efivars detects and populates the UEFI Runtime Variables at /sys/firmware/efi/vars . This module is not loaded automatically during the boot process, and until this module is loaded, and the kernel booted in UEFI mode, without noefi parameter, no files will exist in /sys/firmware/efi/vars . These variables are later modified by efibootmgr to add bootloader entry to UEFI boot menu. In BIOS mode, modprobe will not give any error about efivars module. The correct way to detect UEFI boot is to check for files in /sys/firmware/efi/vars . 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 (KMS). A possible workaround may be achieved by rebooting and pressing Tab 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 same filename.
Y
and
Enter
to use the
# nano /etc/locale.gen en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 de_DE.UTF-8 UTF-8
# locale-gen # export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
Remember,
LAlt+LShift
activates and deactivates the keymap.
Establish an internet connection The dhcpcd network daemon is started automatically at boot and it will attempt to start a wired connection, if available. Try pinging a website to see if it was successful. And since Google is always on... # 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: explained below.
unknown host
error, you will need to set up the network manually, as
Otherwise, 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. If your computer is connected to an Ethernet network, in most cases, you will have one interface, called eth0 . If you have additional network cards (apart from the one integrated on the motherboard, for example), their name will follow the sequence eth1 , eth2 , etc. You need to know these settings: Static IP address. Subnet mask. Gateway's IP address. Name servers' (DNS) IP addresses.
Domain name (unless you're on a local LAN, in which case you can make it up). Activate the connected Ethernet interface (e.g.
eth0
):
# ip link set eth0 up
Add the address: # ip addr add / dev
For example: # ip addr add 192.168.1.2/24 dev eth0
For more options, run
man ip
.
Add your gateway like this, substituting your own gateway's IP address: # ip route add default via
For example: # ip route add default via 192.168.1.1
Edit resolv.conf , substituting your name servers' IP addresses and your local domain name: # nano /etc/resolv.conf nameserver 61.23.173.5 nameserver 61.95.849.8 search example.com
Note: Currently, you may include a maximum of 3
nameserver
lines.
You should now have a working network connection. If you do not, check the detailed Configuring Network page. Wireless Follow this procedure if you need wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi) during the installation process. The wireless drivers and utilities are now available to you in the live environment of the installation media. A good knowledge of your wireless hardware will be of key importance to successful configuration. Note that the following quick-start procedure executed at this point in the installation will initialize your wireless hardware for use in the live environment of the installation media. These steps (or some other form of wireless management) must be repeated from the actual installed system after booting into it. Also note that these steps are optional if wireless connectivity is unnecessary at this
point in the installation; wireless functionality may always be established later. Note: The following examples use wlan0 for the interface and Remember to change these values according to your setup.
linksys
for the ESSID.
The basic procedure will be: (optional) Identify the wireless interface: # lspci | grep -i net
Or, if using a USB adapter: # lsusb
Ensure udev has loaded the driver, and that the driver has created a usable wireless kernel interface with iwconfig : Note: If you do not see output similar to this, then your wireless driver has not been loaded. If this is the case, you must load the driver yourself. Please see Wireless Setup for more detailed information. # iwconfig lo no wireless extensions. eth0 no wireless extensions. wlan0 unassociated ESSID:"" Mode:Managed Channel=0 Access Point: Not-Associate d Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Sensitivity=8/ 0 Retry limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:off Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0 Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
In this example,
wlan0
is the available wireless interface.
Bring the interface up with: # ip link set wlan0 up
A small percentage of wireless chipsets also require firmware, in addition to a corresponding driver. If the wireless chipset requires firmware, you are likely to receive this error when bringing the interface up: # ip link set wlan0 up SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
If unsure, invoke chipset.
dmesg
to query the kernel log for a firmware request from the wireless
Example output from an Intel chipset which requires and has requested firmware from the kernel at boot:
# dmesg | grep firmware firmware: requesting iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode
If there is no output, it may be concluded that the system's wireless chipset does not require firmware. Warning: Wireless chipset firmware packages (for cards which require them) are pre-installed under /usr/lib/firmware in the live environment (on CD/USB stick) but must be explicitly installed to your actual system to provide wireless functionality after you reboot into it! Package installation is covered later in this guide. Ensure installation of both your wireless module and firmware before rebooting! See Wireless Setup if you are unsure about the requirement of corresponding firmware installation for your particular chipset. Next, use network:
netcfg
(https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=netcfg)
's
wifi-menu
to connect to a
# wifi-menu wlan0
You should now have a working network connection. If you do not, check the detailed Wireless Setup page. xDSL (PPPoE), analog modem or ISDN If you have a router in bridge mode, run: # pppoe-setup
Type in the username that the ISP provided you with. Press Enter for "eth0". Press Enter for "no", so that it stays up continuously. Type server (since this is usually the case). Press 1 for a firewall. Type in the password that the ISP provided you with. Press Y at the end. To use these settings and connect to your ISP, run: # pppoe-start
You may also need to adjust your
resolv.conf :
# echo nameserver 8.8.8.8 > /etc/resolv.conf
If you have a dial-up or ISDN connection, 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. Click here for more information.
Prepare the storage drive Warning: Partitioning can destroy data. You are strongly cautioned and advised to backup any critical data before proceeding. Absolute beginners are encouraged to use a graphical partitioning tool. GParted (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php) is a good example, run from a "live" Linux distribution such as Parted Magic, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc. A drive should first be partitioned and the partitions should be formatted with a file system before rebooting. It's possible to set up a swap file at any point after installation, so there is no need to decide on swap size now. See Swap for details if you wish to set up a swap partition now (but note that it's much easier to resize a file than a partition). If you have already done so, proceed to Mount the partitions. Otherwise, see the following example. Example The Arch Linux install media includes the following partitioning tools: gdisk – supports only GPT partition tables. cfdisk – supports only MBR partition tables. parted – supports both. This example uses cfdisk , but it can easily be followed using gdisk , which will allow for GPT instead of MBR partitioning. Notes regarding UEFI boot: If you have a UEFI motherboard, you will need to create an extra UEFI System partition. It is recommended to always use GPT for UEFI boot, as some UEFI firmwares do not allow UEFI-MBR boot.
Notes regarding GPT partitioning: If you are not dual booting with Windows, then it is advisable to use GPT instead of MBR. Read GPT for a list of advantages. If you have a BIOS motherboard (or plan on booting in BIOS compatibility mode) and you want to setup GRUB on a GPT-partitioned drive, you will need to create a 2 MiB "BIOS Boot Partition". Syslinux doesn't need one. Some BIOS systems may have issues with GPT. See http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org /8035.html and http://rodsbooks.com/gdisk/bios.html for more info and possible workarounds.
Note: If you are installing to a USB flash key, see Installing Arch Linux on a USB key.
# cfdisk /dev/sda
The example system will contain a 15 GB root partition, and a home partition for the remaining space. It should be emphasized that partitioning is a personal choice and that this example is only for illustrative purposes. See Partitioning. Root: Choose New (or press – Enter for Bootable.
N)
–
Enter
for Primary – type in "15360" –
Enter
for Beginning
Home: Press the down arrow to move to the free space a rea. Choose New (or press N ) – Enter for Primary – Enter to use the rest of the drive (or you could type in the desired size). Here's how it should look like: Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB) ----------------------------------------------------------------------sda1 Boot Primary Linux 15360 sda2 Primary Linux 133000*
Double check and make sure that you are happy with the partition sizes as well a s the partition table layout before continuing. If you would like to start over, you can simply select Quit (or press saving changes and then restart cfdisk.
Q)
to exit without
If you are satisfied, choose Write (or press Shift+W ) to finalize and to write the partition table to the drive. Type "yes" and choose Quit (or press Q ) to exit cfdisk without making any more changes. Simply partitioning is not enough; the partitions also need a filesystem. To format the partitions with an ext4 filesystem: Warning: Double check and triple check that it's actually you want to format.
/dev/sda1
and
/dev/sda2
that
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1 # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
Mount the partitions Each partition is identified with a number suffix. For example, sda1 specifies the first partition of the first drive, while sda designates the entire drive. To display the current partition layout: # lsblk /dev/sda
Pay attention, because the mounting order is important. First, mount the root partition on different), it would be:
/mnt .
Following the example above (yours may be
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
Then mount the have any:
/home
partition and any other separate partition (
/boot , /var ,
etc), if you
# mkdir /mnt/home # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/home
In case you have a UEFI motherboard, mount the UEFI partition: # mkdir /mnt/boot/efi # mount /dev/sda X /mnt/boot/efi
Select a mirror Before installing, 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's worth getting it right. # nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist ## ## Arch Linux repository mirrorlist ## Sorted by mirror score from mirror status page ## Generated on 2012-MM-DD ## Server = http://mirror.example.xyz/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch ...
to copy a Server line. PageUp key to scroll up. Ctrl+U to paste it at the top of the list. Ctrl+X to exit, and when prompted to save changes, press same filename. Alt+6
Y
and
Enter
to use the
If you want, you can make it the only mirror available by getting rid of everything else (using Ctrl+K ), but it's usually a good idea to have a few more, in case the first one goes offline. Tip: Use the Mirrorlist Generator (http://www.archlinux.org/mirrorlist/) to get an updated list for your country. HTTP mirrors are faster than FTP, because of something called keepalive. With FTP, pacman has to send out a signal each time it downloads a package, resulting in a brief pause. For other ways to generate a mirror list, see Sorting mirrors and Reflector. Arch Linux MirrorStatus (https://archlinux.org/mirrors/status/) reports various aspects about the mirrors such as network problems with mirrors, data collection
problems, the last time mirrors have been synced, etc.
Note: Whenever in the future you change your list of mirrors, always remember to force pacman to refresh all package lists with pacman -Syy . This is considered to be good practice and will avoid possible headaches. See Mirrors for more information. If you're using an older installation medium, your mirrorlist might be outdated, which might lead to problems when updating Arch Linux (see F S#22510 (https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/22510) ). Therefore it is advised to obtain the latest mirror information as described above. Some issues have been reported in the Arch Linux forums (https://bbs.archlinux.org/) regarding network problems that prevent pacman from updating/synchronizing repositories (see [1] (https://bbs.archlinux.org /viewtopic.php?id=68944) and [2] (https://bbs.archlinux.org /viewtopic.php?id=65728) ). When installing Arch Linux natively, these issues have been resolved by replacing the default pacman file downloader with an alternative (see Improve Pacman Performance for more details). When installing Arch Linux as a guest OS in VirtualBox, this issue has also been addressed by using "Host interface" instead of "NAT" in the machine properties.
Install the base system The base system is installed using the pacstrap (https://github.com/falconindy/archinstall-scripts/blob/master/pacstrap.in) script. The -i switch can be omitted if you wish to install every package from the base and base-devel groups without prompting. # pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel
Note: If pacman fails to verify your packages, check the system time with cal . If the system date is invalid (e.g. it shows year 2010), signing keys will be considered expired (or invalid), signature checks on packages will fail and installation will be interrupted. Make sure to correct the system time, either by doing so manually or with the ntp (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=ntp) client, and retry running the pacstrap command. Refer to Time page for more information on correcting system time. : Software packages from the [core] repo to provide the minimal base environment. base (https://www.archlinux.org/groups/i686/base/)
: Extra tools from [core] such as make , and automake . Most beginners should choose to install it, as it will likely be needed to expand the system. The base-devel group will be required to install software from the Arch User Repository. base-devel (https://www.archlinux.org/groups/i686/base-devel/)
This will give you a basic Arch system. Other packages can be installed later using pacman.
Generate an fstab
Generate an fstab file with the following command. UUIDs will be used because they have certain advantages (see fstab#Identifying filesystems). If you would prefer to use labels instead, replace the -U option with -L . Note: If you encounter errors running genfstab or later in the install process, do not run genfstab again; just edit the fstab file. # genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab # nano /mnt/etc/fstab
A few considerations: Replace "codepage=cp437" with "codepage=437" or else when you next reboot, any mounts with this option will fail and systemd will halt and drop into recovery mode. Please take the time to align the columns properly, using spaces and the Tab key, like in the examples from the fstab page. This way it's easier to read and also easier to spot a problem. Only the root ( / ) partition needs 1 for the last field. Everything else should have either 2 or 0 (see fstab#Field definitions). The data=ordered option can be removed, because it will be used a utomatically whether you specify it or not. No point in cluttering up your fstab. For machines with less than 384 MB RAM, the tmpfs entry should also be removed, because by default it uses half the available RAM.
Chroot and configure the base system Next, we chroot into our newly installed system: # arch-chroot /mnt
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. Locale Locales are used by glibc and other locale-aware programs or libraries for rendering text, correctly displaying regional monetary values, time and date formats, alphabetic idiosyncrasies, and other locale-specific standards. There are two files that need editing:
locale.gen
and
locale.conf .
The locale.gen file is empty by default (everything is commented out) and you need to remove the # in front of the line(s) you want. You may uncomment more lines than just English (US), as long as you choose their UTF-8 encoding: # nano /etc/locale.gen en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
de_DE.UTF-8 UTF-8
# locale-gen
This will run on every glibc upgrade, generating all the locales specified in /etc/locale.gen . The locale.conf file doesn't exist by default. Setting only will act as the default value for all other variables.
LANG
should be enough. It
# echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf # export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
Note: If you set some other language than English at the beginning of the install, the above commands would be something like: # echo LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf # export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
To use other LC_* variables, first run example can be found here. Warning: Using the everything.
LC_ALL
locale
to see the available options. An advanced
variable is strongly discouraged because it overrides
Console font and keymap If you set a keymap at the beginning of the install process, load it now, as well, because the environment has changed. For example: # loadkeys de-latin1 # setfont Lat2-Terminus16
To make them available after reboot, edit
vconsole.conf :
# nano /etc/vconsole.conf KEYMAP=de-latin1 FONT=Lat2-Terminus16 FONT_MAP=
– Please note that this setting is only valid for your TTYs, not any graphical window managers or Xorg. KEYMAP
– Available alternate console fonts reside in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ . The default (blank) is safe, but some foreign characters may show up as white squares or as other symbols. It's recommended that you change it to Lat2-Terminus16 , because according to /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/README.Lat2-Terminus16 , it claims to support "about 110 language sets". FONT
FONT_MAP
– Defines the console map to load at boot. Read
man setfont
. The default
(blank) is safe. See Console fonts and
man vconsole.conf
for more information.
Time zone Available time zones and subzones can be found in the directories. To view the available , check the directory
/usr/share/zoneinfo//
/usr/share/zoneinfo/
:
# ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/
Similarly, you can check the contents of directories belonging to a : # ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe
Create a symbolic link /etc/localtime to your zone file using this command:
/usr/share/zoneinfo//
# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo// /etc/localtime
Example: # ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Minsk /etc/localtime
Hardware clock Set the hardware clock mode uniformly between your operating systems. Otherwise, they may overwrite the hardware clock and cause time shifts. You can generate
/etc/adjtime
automatically by using one of the following commands:
UTC (recommended) Note: Using UTC for the hardware clock does not mean that software will display time in UTC. # hwclock --systohc --utc
localtime (discouraged; used by default in Windows) Warning: Using localtime may lead to several known and unfixable bugs. However, there are no plans to drop support for localtime. # hwclock --systohc --localtime
If you have (or planning on having) a dual boot setup with Windows:
Recommended: Set both Arch Linux and Windows to use UTC. A quick registry fix is needed. Also, be sure to prevent Windows from synchronizing the time on-line, because the hardware clock will default back to localtime. If you want such functionality (NTP sync), you should use ntpd on your Arch Linux installation instead. Not recommended: Set Arch Linux to localtime and disable any time-related services, like ntpd.service . This will let Windows take care of hardware clock corrections and you will need to remember to boot into Windows at least two times a year (in Spring and Autumn) when DST kicks in. So please don't ask on the forums why the clock is one hour behind or ahead if you usually go for days or weeks without booting into Windows. Kernel modules Tip: This is just an example, you do not need to set it. All needed modules are automatically loaded by udev, so you will rarely need to add something here. Only add modules that you know are missing. For kernel modules to load during boot, place a name based on the program that uses them.
*.conf
file in
/etc/modules-load.d/
, with a
# nano /etc/modules-load.d/virtio-net.conf # Load 'virtio-net.ko' at boot. virtio-net
If there are more modules to load per *.conf , the module names can be separated by newlines. A good example are the VirtualBox Guest Additions. Empty lines and lines starting with
#
or
;
are ignored.
Hostname Set the hostname to your liking (e.g. arch): # echo myhostname > /etc/hostname
Note: You no longer need to edit /etc/hosts . The nss-myhostname (https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=nss-myhostname) package will provide host name resolution, and is installed on all systems by default.
Configure the network You need to configure the network again, but this time for your newly installed environment. The procedure and prerequisites are very similar to the one described above, except we are going to make it persistent and automatically run at boot. Note: For more in-depth information on network configration, visit Configuring Network and Wireless Setup.
Wired Dynamic IP If you only use a single fixed wired network connection, you do not need a network management service and can simply enable the dhcpcd service: # systemctl enable
[email protected]
Alternatively, you can use netcfg (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=netcfg) 's net-auto-wired , which gracefully handles dynamic connections to new networks: # # # #
pacman -S ifplugd cd /etc/network.d ln -s examples/ethernet-dhcp . systemctl enable net-auto-wired.service
Static IP Install ifplugd net-auto-wired
(https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=ifplugd)
, which is required for
:
# pacman -S ifplugd
Copy a sample profile from
/etc/network.d/examples
to
/etc/network.d :
# cd /etc/network.d # cp examples/ethernet-static .
Edit the profile as needed: # nano ethernet-static
Enable the
net-auto-wired
service:
# systemctl enable net-auto-wired.service
Wireless You will need to install additional programs to be able to configure and manage wireless network profiles for netcfg. NetworkManager and Wicd are other popular alternatives. Install the required packages: # pacman -S wireless_tools wpa_supplicant wpa_actiond dialog
If your wireless adapter requires a firmware (as described in the above Establish an internet connection section and also here), install the package containing your firmware. For example:
# pacman -S zd1211-firmware
Connect to the network with wifi-menu (optionally checking the interface name with ip link , but usually it's wlan0 ), which will generate a profile file in /etc/network.d named after the SSID. There are also templates available in /etc/network.d/examples/ for manual configuration. # wifi-menu
Enable the net-auto-wireless service, which will connect to known networks and gracefully handle roaming and disconnects: # systemctl enable net-auto-wireless.service
Note: Netcfg also provides net-auto-wireless .
net-auto-wired
, which can be used in conjunction with
Make sure that the correct wireless interface (usually /etc/conf.d/netcfg :
wlan0 )
is set in
# nano /etc/conf.d/netcfg WIRELESS_INTERFACE="wlan0"
It is also possible to define a list of network profiles that should be automatically connected, using the AUTO_PROFILES variable in /etc/conf.d/netcfg . If AUTO_PROFILES is not set, all known wireless networks will be tried. xDSL (PPPoE), analog modem or ISDN For xDSL, dial-up and ISDN connections, see Direct Modem Connection.
Configure pacman Pacman is the Arch Linux package manager. It is highly recommended to study and learn how to use it. Read man pacman , have a look at the pacman article, or check out the Pacman Rosetta article for a comparison to other popular package managers. For repository selections and pacman options, edit
pacman.conf :
Note: When choosing repos, be sure to uncomment both the [repo_name] header lines, as well as the Include lines. Failure to do so will result in the selected repository being omitted! This is a very common error. # nano /etc/pacman.conf
Most people will want to use
[core]
,
[extra]
and
[community] .
If you installed Arch Linux x86_64, it's recommended that you enable the repository, as well (to be able to run both 32 bit and 64 bit applications):
[multilib]
[multilib] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
See Official Repositories for more information, including details about the purpose of each repository. For software unavailable directly through pacman, see Arch User Repository.
Create an initial ramdisk environment Tip: Most users can skip this step and use the defaults provided in mkinitcpio.conf . The initramfs image (from the /boot folder) has already been generated based on this file when the linux (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=linux) package (the Linux kernel) was installed earlier with pacstrap . Here you need to set the right hooks if the root is on a USB drive, if you use RAID, LVM, or if /usr is on a separate partition. Edit
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf
as needed and re-generate the initramfs image with:
# mkinitcpio -p linux
Set the root password and add a regular user Set the root password with: # passwd
Warning: Linux is a multi-user operating system. You should not perform everyday tasks using the root account. It is considered a very poor practice and could be extremely dangerous. The root account should only be used for administrative tasks. Then add a normal user account. For a more interactive way, you can use adduser . However, below is the non-interactive way. The user archie is just an example. # useradd -m -g users -s /bin/bash archie # passwd archie
If you wish to start over, use userdel . The -r option will remove the user's home directory and its content, along with the user's settings (the so-called "dot" files). # userdel -r archie
For more information, read Users and Groups.
Install and configure a bootloader For BIOS motherboards For BIOS systems, there are three bootloaders - Syslinux, GRUB, and LILO. Choose the
bootloader as per your convenience. Below only Syslinux and GRUB are explained. Syslinux is (currently) limited to loading only files from the partition where it was installed. Its configuration file is considered to be easier to understand. An example configuration can be found here (https://bbs.archlinux.org /viewtopic.php?pid=1109328#p1109328) . GRUB is more feature-rich and supports more complex scenarios. Its configuration file(s) is more similar to a scripting language, which may be difficult for beginners to manually write. It is recommended that they automatically generate one. Note: Some BIOS systems may have issues with GPT. See http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org /8035.html and http://rodsbooks.com/gdisk/bios.html for more info and possible workarounds. Syslinux
Install the syslinux (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=syslinux) package and then use the syslinux-install_update script to automatically install the files ( -i ), mark the partition active by setting the boot flag ( -a ), and install the MBR boot code ( -m ): Note: If you have partitioned the drive as GPT, install gptfdisk (https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=gptfdisk) package, as well ( pacman -S gptfdisk ), because it contains sgdisk , which will be used to set the GPT-specific boot flag. # pacman -S syslinux # syslinux-install_update -iam
Configure syslinux.cfg to point to the right root partition. This step is vital. If it points to the wrong partition, Arch Linux will not boot. Change /dev/sda3 to reflect your root partition (if you partitioned your drive as in the example, your root partition is sda1) . Do the same for the fallback entry. # nano /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg ... LABEL arch ... APPEND root=/dev/sda3 ro ...
For more information on configuring and using Syslinux, see Syslinux. GRUB
Install the
grub-bios
grub-install
(https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=grub-bios)
package and then run
:
Note: Change /dev/sda to reflect the drive you installed Arch on. Do not append a partition number (do not use sda X ). Note: For GPT-partitioned drives on BIOS motherboards, GRUB needs a 2 MiB "BIOS
Boot Partition". # pacman -S grub-bios # grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda # cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo
While using a manually created grub.cfg is absolutely fine, it's recommended that beginners automatically generate one: Tip: To automatically search for other operating systems on your computer, install os-prober (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=os-prober) ( pacman -S os-prober ) before running the next command. # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
For more information on configuring and using GRUB, see GRUB. For UEFI motherboards For UEFI boot, the drive needs to be GPT-partitioned, and a UEFI System Partition (512 MiB or higher, FAT32, type EF00 ) must be present and mounted on /boot/efi . If you have followed this guide from the beginning, you've already done all of these. While there are other UEFI bootloaders available, using EFISTUB is recommended. Below are instructions for setting up EFISTUB and GRUB. Note: Syslinux does not yet support UEFI. EFISTUB
The Linux kernel can act as its own bootloader using EFISTUB. This is the UEFI boot method recommended by developers and simpler compared to grub-efi-x86_64 . The below steps set up rEFInd (a fork of rEFIt) to provide a menu for EFISTUB kernels, as well as for booting other UEFI bootloaders. You can also use gummiboot instead of rEFInd. Both rEFInd and gummiboot can detect Windows UEFI bootloader in case of dual-boot. 1. Boot in UEFI mode and load # modprobe efivars
efivars
kernel module before chrooting:
# before chrooting
2. Mount the UEFISYS partition at initramfs files to /boot/efi .
/mnt/boot/efi ,
chroot and copy the kernel and
3. Every time the kernel and initramfs files are updated in /boot , they need to be updated in /boot/efi/EFI/arch . This can be automated either using systemd or using incron (for non-systemd setups). 4. At this point, you can jump to UEFI Bootloaders#Booting EFISTUB to choose a method of installing the boot loader. The following instructions will get you set up using a boot GUI called rEFInd. Install the following packages:
# pacman -S refind-efi efibootmgr
5. Install rEFInd to the UEFISYS partition (summarized from UEFI Bootloaders#Using rEFInd): # # # #
mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI/refind cp /usr/lib/refind/refindx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/refind/refindx64.efi cp /usr/lib/refind/config/refind.conf /boot/efi/EFI/refind/refind.conf cp -r /usr/share/refind/icons /boot/efi/EFI/refind/icons
6. Create a
refind_linux.conf
file with the kernel parameters to be used by rEFInd:
# nano /boot/efi/EFI/arch/refind_linux.conf "Boot to X" "Boot to console"
"root=/dev/sd aX ro rootfstype=e xt4 systemd.unit=g raphical.targ et" "root=/dev/sd aX ro rootfstype=e xt4 systemd.unit=m ulti-user.tar get"
Note: refind_linux.conf should be in the same directory as the kernel and initramfs files, not the directory refindx64.efi resides. 7. Add rEFInd to UEFI boot menu using efibootmgr. Warning: Using efibootmgr on Apple Macs may brick the firmware and may need reflash of the motherboard ROM. For Macs, use mactel-boot (https://aur.archlinux.org /packages/mactel-boot/) , or "bless" from within Mac OS X. # efibootmgr -c -g -d /dev/sdX -p Y -w -L "rEFInd" -l '\EFI\refind\refindx64.efi'
Note: In the above command, X and Y denote the drive and partition of the UEFISYS partition. For example, in /dev/sdc5 , X is "c" and Y is "5". 8. (Optional) As a fallback, in case efibootmgr created boot entry does not work, copy refindx64.efi to /boot/efi/EFI/boot/bootx64.efi as follows: # cp -r /boot/efi/EFI/refind/* /boot/efi/EFI/boot/ # mv /boot/efi/EFI/boot/refindx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/boot/bootx64.efi
GRUB
Note: In case you have a system with 32-bit EFI, like pre-2008 Macs, install grub-efi-i386 instead, and use --target=i386-efi . # pacman -S grub-efi-x86_64 efibootmgr # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=arch_grub --recheck # cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo
The next command creates a menu entry for GRUB in the UEFI boot menu. However, as of grub-efi-x86_64 (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=grub-efi-x86_64) version 2.00, grub-install tries to create a menu entry, so running efibootmgr may not be necessary. See UEFI#efibootmgr for more info.
# efibootmgr -c -g -d /dev/sdX -p Y -w -L "Arch Linux (GRUB)" -l '\EFI\arch_grub\grubx64.efi'
Next, while using a manually created grub.cfg is absolutely fine, it's recommended that beginners automatically generate one: Tip: To automatically search for other operating systems on your computer, install os-prober (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=os-prober) ( pacman -S os-prober ) before running the next command. # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
For more information on configuring and using GRUB, see GRUB.
Unmount the partitions and reboot Exit from the chroot environment: # exit
Since the partitions are mounted under them:
/mnt
, we use the following command to unmount
# umount /mnt/{boot,home,}
Reboot the computer: # reboot
Tip: Be sure to remove the installation media, otherwise you will boot back into it.
Extra Congratulations, and welcome to your new Arch Linux system! Your new Arch Linux base system is now a functional GNU/Linux environment ready for customization. From here, you may build this elegant set of tools into whatever you wish or require for your purposes. Most people are interested in a desktop system, complete with sound and graphics: this part of the guide provides a brief overview of the procedures to acquire these extras. Go ahead and login with your user account.
Package management Sudo can noticeably simplify administering your system. See pacman and FAQ#Package Management for answers regarding installing, updating, and managing packages.
Sound
ALSA usually works out-of-the-box. It just needs to be unmuted. Install alsa-utils (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=alsa-utils) (which contains alsamixer ) and follow these instructions. ALSA is included with the kernel and it is recommended to try it first. However, if it does not work, or if you are not satisfied with the quality, OSS is a viable alternative. If you have advanced audio requirements, take a look at Sound for an overview of various articles.
Graphical User Interface Install X The X Window System (commonly X11, or X) is a networking and display protocol which provides windowing on bitmap displays. It provides the standard toolkit and protocol to build graphical user interfaces (GUIs). To install the base Xorg packages: # pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-server-utils
Install mesa for 3D support: # pacman -S mesa
Install a video driver Note: If you installed Arch as a VirtualBox guest, you don't need to install a video driver. See Arch Linux guests for installing and setting up Guest Additions, and jump to the configuration part below. If you don't know which video chipset is available on your machine, run: $ lspci | grep VGA
For a complete list of open-source video drivers, search the package database: $ pacman -Ss xf86-video | less
The vesa driver is a generic mode-setting driver that will work with almost every GPU, but will not provide any 2D or 3D acceleration. If a better driver cannot be found or fails to load, Xorg will fall back to vesa. To install it: # pacman -S xf86-video-vesa
In order for video acceleration to work, and often to expose all the modes that the GPU can set, a proper video driver is required: Brand
Type
Driver
Multilib Package (for 32 bit
Documentation
applications on Arch x86_64) xf86-video-ati
Open source AMD/ATI Proprietary
lib32-ati-dri
(https://www.archlinux.org (https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=xf86-
/packages/?name=lib32-
video-ati)
ati-dri)
catalyst-dkms
lib32-catalyst-utils
(https://www.archlinux.org (https://www.archlinux.org /packages
/packages/?name=lib32-
/?name=catalyst-dkms)
catalyst-utils)
xf86-video-intel
lib32-intel-dri
(https://www.archlinux.org (https://www.archlinux.org
Intel
Open source
/packages/?name=xf86-
/packages/?name=lib32-
video-intel)
intel-dri)
ATI
AMD Catalyst
Intel
xf86-video-i740 (https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=xf86-
–
(legacy driver)
video-i740) xf86-video-nouveau (https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=xf86-
lib32-nouveau-dri
video-nouveau)
(https://www.archlinux.org
(+
Open source
/packages/?name=lib32-
nouveau-dri
(https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=nouveau-dri)
Nouveau
nouveau-dri)
for
3D support)
Nvidia
xf86-video-nv (https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=xf86-
–
(legacy driver)
video-nv) nvidia
Proprietary
(https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=nvidia)
lib32-nvidia-utils (https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=lib32-
NVIDIA
nvidia-utils)
xf86-video-sis (https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=xf86video-sis) xf86-video-sisimedia
SiS
Open source
(https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=xf86video-sisimedia) xf86-video-sisusb (https://www.archlinux.org /packages/?name=xf86video-sisusb)
Install input drivers
–
SiS
Udev should be capable of detecting your hardware without problems. The evdev driver (xf86-input-evdev (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=xf86-input-evdev) ) is the modern hot-plugging input driver for almost all devices, so in most cases, installing input drivers is not needed. At this point, evdev has already been installed as a dependency of the xorg-server (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=xorg-server) package. Laptop users (or users with a tactile screen) will need the xf86-input-synaptics (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=xf86-input-synaptics) package for the touchpad/touchscreen to work: # pacman -S xf86-input-synaptics
For instructions on fine tuning or troubleshooting touchpad issues, see the Touchpad Synaptics article. Configure X Warning: Proprietary drivers usually require a reboot after installation. See NVIDIA or AMD Catalyst for details. Xorg features auto-detection and therefore can function without an wish to manually configure X Server, please see the Xorg wiki page.
xorg.conf .
If you still
Here you may set a keyboard layout if you do not use a standard US keyboard. Note: The XkbLayout key may differ from the keymap code you used with the loadkeys command. A list of many keyboard layouts and variants can be found in /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst (after the line beginning with ! layout ). For instance, the layout gb corresponds to "English (UK)", whereas for the console it was loadkeys uk . Test X Tip: These steps are optional. Test only if you're installing Arch Linux for the first time, or if you're installing on new and unfamiliar hardware. Note: If your input devices are not working during this test, install the needed driver from the xorg-drivers (https://www.archlinux.org/groups/i686/xorg-drivers/) group, and try again. For a complete list of available input drivers, invoke a pacman search (press Q to exit): $ pacman -Ss xf86-input | less
You only need xf86-input-keyboard (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=xf86-input-keyboard) or xf86-input-mouse (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=xf86-input-mouse) if you plan on disabling hot-plugging, otherwise, evdev will act as the input driver (recommended). Install the default environment: # pacman -S xorg-twm xorg-xclock xterm
If Xorg was installed before creating the non-root user, there will be a template .xinitrc file in your home directory that needs to be either deleted or commented out. Simply deleting it will cause X to run with the default environment installed above. $ rm ~/.xinitrc
Note: X must always be run on the same tty where the login occurred, to preserve the logind session. This is handled by the default /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc . To start the (test) Xorg session, run: $ startx
A few movable windows should show up, and your mouse should work. Once you are satisfied that X installation was a success, you may exit out of X by issuing the exit command into the prompts until you return to the console. $ exit
If the screen goes black, you may still attempt to switch to a different virtual console (e.g. Ctrl+Alt+F2 ), and blindly log in as root. You can do this by typing "root" (press Enter after typing it) and entering the root password (again, press Enter after typing it). You may also attempt to kill the X server with: # pkill X
If this does not work, reboot blindly with: # reboot
Troubleshooting
If a problem occurs, look for errors in Xorg.0.log . Be on the lookout for any lines beginning with (EE) which represent errors, and also (WW) which are warnings that could indicate other issues. $ grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log
If you are still having trouble after consulting the Xorg article and need assistance via the Arch Linux forums or the IRC channel, be sure to install and use wgetpaste (https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=wgetpaste) by providing the links from: # $ $ $
pacman -S wgetpaste wgetpaste wgetpaste
wgetpaste ~/.xinitrc /etc/X11/xorg.conf /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Note: Please provide all pertinent information (hardware, driver information, etc)
when asking for assistance. Fonts At this point, you may wish to install a set of TrueType fonts, as only unscalable bitmap fonts are included by default. DejaVu is a set of high quality, general-purpose fonts with good Unicode coverage: # pacman -S ttf-dejavu
Refer to Font Configuration for how to configure font rendering and Fonts for font suggestions and installation instructions. Choose and install a graphical interface The X Window System provides the basic framework for building a graphical user interface (GUI). Note: Choosing your DE or WM is a very subjective and personal decision. Choose the best environment for your needs. You can also build your own DE with just a WM and the applications of your choice. Window Managers (WM) control the placement and appearance of application windows in conjunction with the X Window System. Desktop Environments (DE) work atop and in conjunction with X, to provide a completely functional and dynamic GUI. A DE typically provides a window manager, icons, applets, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers, a suite of applications and abilities like drag and drop. Instead of starting X manually with xorg-xinit , see Display Manager for instructions on using a display manager, or see Start X at Login for using an existing virtual terminal as an equivalent to a display manager.
Appendix For a list of applications that may be of interest, see List of Applications. See General Recommendations for post-installation tutorials like setting up a touchpad or font rendering.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?title=Beginners%27_Guide& oldid=234501" Categories: About Arch Getting and installing Arch This page was last modified on 9 November 2012, at 03:40. Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 or later.
