path: root/linux/arch-install.md

### Arch Linux Installation Guide with optional LUKS (encryption) and/or LVM (Logical Volume Management)  
- - -
1. Change keyboard layout (only applicable if not using a US keyboard)
- Look for an appropriate keyboard layout  
`# localectl list-keymaps | grep US`  
- Set the console keyboard layout  
`# loadkeys en_US.UTF-8`  
- - -
2. Connect to the internet  
- Test internet connection  
`# ip a`  
- Type the following command, press "enter" and select wifi and enter password  
`# wifi-menu`  
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3. Sync system clock, mirrors and servers  
- Update the system clock  
`# timedatectl set-ntp true`  
- Update mirror list by installing reflector and running the following command  
`# pacman -Syy reflector`  
`# reflector -c <Country> -a 6 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist`  
- Update servers  
`# pacman -Syy`  
- - -
4. Partition the disks  
    4.1. Get information on boot mode and current blocks  
    - Verify the boot mode, the below command must show the directory without error otherwise the system is not booted in UEFI mode  
    `# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars`  
    > NOTE if no-UEFI (legacy) system we can skip `4.2.` but understand LVM requires it to function therefore must create a default linux filesystem in `4.3.` and also skip `4.5.`  
  
    - List block devices to get the disk name (where disk device is), usually "/dev/sda", "/dev/vda", "/dev/nve0n1" or "/dev/mmcblk0" etc..  
    `# lsblk`  
    > NOTE: From here onwards we'll assume the disk and it's partition's names are `sda`, `sda1` and `sda2` respectively and one must adjust it to their actually names on their system accordingly.  

    4.2. Create the EFI partition  
    - Create EFI partition using gdisk (partitioning tool)  
    `# gdisk /dev/sda`  
    - Type `n` for new and press "enter"  
    - Press "enter" on default Partition number  
    - Press "enter" on default First sector  
    - Put in `+300M` on Last sector (efi partition)  
    - `ef00` # Change the Current type code from Linux filesystem to EFI system partition and don't do anything else yet  

    4.3. Either create a default linux filesystem or LVM (recommended)  
    > NOTE: If your filesystem choice is BTRFS much later on, there is no need to create LVMs since it has it's own Subvolume feature. LVM (Logical Volume Management) is useful if we want a flexible disk storage that we either need to create separate partitions on, be able to resize them on the fly or to create snapshots.  
    - Continuing...  
      - For default filesystem press "enter" 4 times on all parameters (Partition number, First sector, Last sector and Current type)  
    - or  
      - Create LVM partition  
        - Type `n` for new again and press "enter"  
        - Press "enter" on default Partition number again  
        - Press "enter" on default First sector again  
        - Press "enter" on default Last sector this time  
        - `8e00` -- Change the Current type code from Linux filesystem to Linux LVM  
    - Save changes  
    - Type "w" to write changes and press "enter"  
    - Type "y" to confirm and press "enter"  
    - List block devices again to check the new partitions  
    `# lsblk`  

    4.4. (Optional) Encrypt our main partition (sda2) using LUKS  
    - Load dm-crypt and dm-mod kernal modules  
    `# modprobe dm_crypt`  
    `# modprobe dm_mod`  
    - Format the partition using cryptsetup  
    `# cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda2`  
    - or  
    - Format the partition and setup a stronger encryption with sha512 LUKS and added randomness  
    `# cryptsetup --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --hash sha512 --use-random --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/sda2`  
    - Confirm overwrite by typing in uppercase `YES` and press "enter"  
    - Type in new encryption passphrase  
    - Verify passphrase  
    - Open up partition to create a name for it, create LVMs and format them, example for a name could be `root`  
    `# cryptsetup open /dev/sda2 <name-of-partition>`  
    - Enter passphrase  

    4.5. Continuing with LVM  
    > NOTE: Only continue this step if using LVM, if encrypted use volume path `/dev/mapper/` aka "device mapper" instead of `/dev/sda2`
    - Create physical volumes (PV)  
    `# pvcreate /dev/sda2`  
    - or  
    `# pvcreate /dev/mapper/<name-of-partition>` # if encrypted  
    - Create the volume group (VG) with a `<volume-group-name>` called `vg1` or any other appropriate name on the encrypted volume path  
    > NOTE: From here onwards we'll also assume the `volume-group-name` is `vg1` and one must adjust it accordingly. Always make meaningful volume and volume group names.  
    <!-- -->  
    &emsp;&emsp;`# vgcreate vg1 /dev/sda2`  
    - or  
    `# vgcreate vg1 /dev/mapper/<name-of-partition>` # if encrypted  
    - Create logical volumes (LV) root, swap (optional) and home  
    `# lvcreate -L 40G vg1 -n root` # plan on having a lot of packages installed bump it up maybe to 60gb or 80gb etc..  
    `# lvcreate -L 4G vg1 -n swap` # can be any size between 2gb, 4gb or 8gb  
    `# lvcreate -l 100%FREE vg1 -n home` # give the remaining space to home  
```
  -L        =  absolute size  
  -l        =  left over space  
  100%FREE  =  percentage of free space  
  nG        =  partition size where n is number of and G is gigabytes  
  vg1       =  specify VG name  
  -n        =  name LV  
  <name>    =  name of LV  
```
- - -
5. Format the filesystem
- Check changes and see if everything is correct  
    `# lsblk`  
- Based on what system, UEFI or no-UEFI and if encrypted/LVM do one of these options:  
  - If no-UEFI (legacy) system  
    - Without encryption  
        - Format boot partition to EXT4 filesystem  
        `# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1`  
    > NOTE: Only have one root partition so just format it by itself  
    - With encryption  
        - Format boot partition to EXT4 filesystem  
        `# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1`
        - Format encrypted root partition to EXT4 filesystem  
        `# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/<name-of-partition>`  
  - If UEFI system  
    - Without encryption and LVM  
        - Format boot efi partition to FAT32 filesystem  
        `# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1`  
        - Format root partition to EXT4 filesystem  
        `# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2`  
    - Encryption and without LVM  
        - Format boot efi partition to FAT32 filesystem  
        `# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1`  
        - Format root partition to EXT4 filesystem  
        `# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/<name-of-partition>`  
    - LVM and with/without encryption  
        - Format boot efi partition to FAT32 filesystem  
        `# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1`  
        - Format root and home partition to EXT4 filesystem  
        `# mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg1/root`  
        `# mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg1/home`  
        - Only make swap file partition if it was previously made  
        `# mkswap /dev/vg1/swap`  
- - -
6. Mount the filesystems
 - Check partitions before mounting  
`# lsblk`  
- Make a boot directory in installation directory to mount `/dev/sda1`  
`# mkdir /mnt/boot`  
- Mount efi boot into installation directory  
`# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot`  
- Mount logical volume path of root into installation directory  
`# mount /dev/vg1/root /mnt`  
- Make a home directory in installation directory  
`# mkdir /mnt/home`  
- Mount logical volume path of home into installation directory  
`# mount /dev/vg1/home /mnt/home`  
- Only activate swap on installation directory if it was previously made  
`# swapon /dev/vg1/swap`  
- Check mountpoints are correct  
`# lsblk`  
- - -
7. Install base system  
- First find out what processor the system is using  
`# lscpu`  
- Install base packages  
`# pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware vim amd-ucode lvm2 man openssh tmux`  
> NOTE: If LTS (long-term support) is desired replace `linux` with `linux-lts`. Omit `linux-firmware` if installing in a VM (virtual machine) or container. Replace `vim` with desired text-editor, example `nano`. Replace `amd-ucode` with `intel-ucode` if we have an intel processor. Omit `lvm2` if not using LVM. The packages `man`, `openssh` and `tmux` are optional.  
 - - -
8. Move into installation  
- First generate the fstab file (where mount points are stored) use `-U` or `-L` to define by UUID or labels respectively  
 `# genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab`  
- See what is in the fstab file  
 `# cat /mnt/etc/fstab`  
- Move into the installation  
 `# arch-chroot /mnt`  
- - -
9. Configure new system  
- Localization of timezone, find nearest timezone  
 `# timedatectl list-timezones | grep <City>`  
- Setting correct live timezone  
 `# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/<Continent>/<City> /etc/localtime`  
- Synchronize hardware clock to system clock  
 `# hwclock --systohc`  
- Edit locale.gen file, replace vim with text-editor of choice  
 `# vim /etc/locale.gen`  
- Uncomment `en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8` and any other needed locales (LANG variable), save and exit  
- Generate the locales by running  
 `# locale-gen`  
- Also put the chosen locale into locale.conf  
 `# echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.conf`  
- If chosen a different keyboard layout in the beginning put it into vconsole.conf  
 `# echo KEYMAP=<keymap> >> /etc/vconsole.conf`  
- Hostname (machine's name)  
 `# vim /etc/hostname`  
- Put in desired hostname (name of computer), example: `archlinux`, save and exit  
- Edit host file (/etc/hosts) putting in previously mentioned hostname  
 `# echo "127.0.0.1 localhost" >> /etc/hosts`  
 `# echo "::1       localhost" >> /etc/hosts`  
 `# echo "127.0.1.1 <hostname>.localdomain <hostname>" >> /etc/hosts`  
- Give root user a new password  
 `# passwd`  
- Type in new password and retype it to verify  
- Install packages  
  `# pacman -S grub efibootmgr base-devel xdg-utils xdg-user-dirs linux-headers git less networkmanager network-manager-applet wpa_supplicant dialog mtools dosfstools nfs-utils inetutils dnsutils bluez bluez-utils cups hplip alsa-utils pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse pipewire-jack rsync reflector acpi acpi_call tlp virt-manager qemu qemu-arch-extra edk2-ovmf bridge-utils dnsmasq vde2 openbsd-netcat iptables-nft ipset firewalld sof-firmware nss-mdns acpid os-prober ntfs-3g xclip`  
- - -
10. Prepare boot loader
- If using a new keymap and/or LVM and/or encryption edit initcpio.conf file and insert the necessary information  
`# vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf`  
- Look for the "HOOKS" section and after "autodectect" insert `keymap` then after "block" insert `encrypt` and `lvm2`, save and exit.  
> NOTE: Only put in `keymap` if default US keyboard was changed, `encrypt` if encrypted and `lvm2` if using LVM  

   Example:
```
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect keymap modconf block encrypt lvm2 filesystems keyboard fsck)
```
- Generate the initramfs (initial RAM file system) image, replace linux with linux-lts if that was chosen  
`# mkinitcpio -p linux`  
- Install GRUB (boot loader)  
`# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB`  
> NOTE: If above command doesn't work try this rather   

&emsp;&emsp;`# Grub-install - - target=x86_64-efi - - bootloader-id=grub - - efi-directory=/boot/efi`  
- Display block ID (UUID) for "/dev/sda2" and copy it to system clipboard using the command below or omit everything after `blkid` and write it down somewhere else  
`# blkid | grep -oP '/dev/sda2: UUID="\K[^"]+' | xclip -sel clip`  
- Edit GRUB file  
`# vim /etc/default/grub`  
- Go down to `GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""` and insert the following information inbetween the apostrophes:  
`cryptdevice=UUID=</dev/sda2's-UUID>:<name-of-partition> root=/dev/volume-group-name/root`  
  Example:  
```
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="cryptdevice=UUID=f233c213-37e8-4f60-b0bd-a6689ea0cb6c:cryptlvm root=/dev/vg1/root"  
```
- Save and exit  
- Generate configuration file for grub  
`# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg`  
- - -
11. Enable services  
- Enable Network, Bluetooth and Printer services for when the machine is booted  
`# systemctl enable NetworkManager`  
`# systemctl enable bluetooth`  
`# systemctl enable cups.service`  
- - -
12. Create new user with sudo privileges  
- Create a new user  
`# useradd -mG wheel <username>`  
```
useradd  =  add a user
-m       =  associate a home directory
G        =  specify a group
wheel    =  group name
```
- Password for new user  
`# passwd <username>`  
- Type in new password and retype it to verify  
- Enable sudo privileges for any user of the `wheel` group, replace vim with editor of choice  
`# EDITOR=vim visudo`  
- Look for and uncomment `# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL`, save and exit  
  Example:  
```
%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
```
- - -
13. Reboot new system
- Exit installation and return to the installer  
`# exit`  
- Unmount the partitions  
`# umount -a`  
- Reboot  
`# reboot`  
- Grub boot loader should load, press "enter" to boot the OS  
- If encrypted enter passphrase  
- Login as user with `<username>`, press "enter" and type in the user's password  
- Check for IP  
`$ ip a`  
- Login into wifi  
`$ nmtui`  
- Go to `Activate a connection`, select network to connect to, enter password and quit  

#### Optional Installations  
Install a DE (Desktop Environment)/WM (Window Manager)
- Install yay package manager  
`$ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git`  
`$ cd yay`  
`$ makepkg -si PKGBUILD`  
`$ cd`  
`$ rm -rf yay`  


 - Install graphics card drivers  
    - If intel card:  
  `$ sudo pacman -S x86-video-intel`  
    - If amd card:  
  `$ sudo pacman -S x86-video-amdgpu`  
    - If nvidia card:  
    NOTE: First check up on archwiki to see what is supported and methods: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA  
  `$ sudo pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils nvidia-settings`  

Package List:
  ` grub efibootmgr base-devel xdg-utils xdg-user-dirs linux-headers git less networkmanager network-manager-applet wpa_supplicant dialog mtools dosfstools nfs-utils inetutils dnsutils bluez bluez-utils cups hplip alsa-utils pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse pipewire-jack rsync reflector acpi acpi_call tlp virt-manager qemu qemu-arch-extra edk2-ovmf bridge-utils dnsmasq vde2 openbsd-netcat iptables-nft ipset firewalld sof-firmware nss-mdns acpid os-prober ntfs-3g xclip`