Arch Linux Installation

February 2, 2024

Recently I switched from Windows back to linux for various C++ and CUDA development purposes. For a distro, I chose Arch, which I ended up installing on both my desktop and laptop. Here is my manual installation procedure, and current setup with Gnome 45:

Arch Linux with Gnome 45

In this post I'll summarize what I learned through the Arch Wiki's Installation Guide and other sources, going from a barebones setup all the way to desktop environment. I will also detail my own personal selection of essential packages. Here we go!

Booting into Arch and preliminary configuration

  1. Download Arch from archlinux.org/download/ and create a bootable USB drive, either from the commanda line or using an etching tool such as Balena Etcher. Boot into BIOS by holding the appropriate key (e.g. F2 or del), and boot Arch from the USB drive.
  2. Verify that the boot mode is UEFI:
# cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size

The command should return 64. 3. Connect to the internet with iwd using iwctl:

[iwd]# device list
[iwd]# device <device> set-property Powered on
[iwd]# adapter <adapter> set-property Powered on
[iwd]# station <device> scan
[iwd]# station <device> get-networks
[iwd]# station <device> connect <SSID>

On the USB install medium, the DNS manager and DHCP client are preconfigured, but note that you will need to enable automatic

/etc/iwd/main.conf
---
[General]
EnableNetworkConfiguration=true