Installing ArchLinux 2025 to your computer

[dos2unix]

Why would you need to do it with "echo" when you have vim, nano, etc?

Because none of them are available in the arch installer.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Because none of them are available in the arch installer.

You were quoting a section of the official Arch Installation guide, if you use the arch-install script you don't need to use editing tools to configure anything you just select what you want and then install. You can even select extra packages to install when going through the script and once the installation is finished chroot into your installation. I'm confused by what you are trying to say?

 

[dos2unix]

You were quoting a section of the official Arch Installation guide, if you use the arch-install script you don't need to use editing tools to configure anything you just select what you want and then install. You can even select extra packages to install when going through the script and once the installation is finished chroot into your installation. I'm confused by what you are trying to say?

I also posted a link to the installation guide at the bottom. (From which the screen-shot was taken).
It tells you to edit these files. But there is no way to edit them.

You mentioned the archinstall script (which I used the last time I installed). But I didn't even know if it existed until about 6 months ago. I think maybe you were the one who first mentioned here, but it still isn't mentioned anywhere in the arch install wiki.

So then what do you do? How do you use archinstall if you don't know it exists? How do edit files without a text editor?

 

[f33dm3bits]

I also posted a link to the installation guide at the bottom. (From which the screen-shot was taken).
It tells you to edit these files. But there is no way to edit them.

So then what do you do? How do you use archinstall if you don't know it exists? How do edit files without a text editor?

I think I get you now, you were commenting on the official Arch Installation guide. Well the section you mentioned is 3.4 Localization, which comes after 3.2 Chroot. Meaning that you can install your own text editor to edit those files because you are already chrooted into your installation. Any person that knows Linux well enough will get this, Arch is also aimed advanced users and users who like to do it themselves.

About arch-install not being mentioned on the Official installation installation guide page, I think it has to do with that they think people should be able to install Arch first using the Official Installation guide before using the arch-install script and people that have been using Arch long enough know both.

archinstall - ArchWiki

 

[Mike-BTU]

And at the bottom of that page there's a link to https://archinstall.archlinux.page/installing/guided.html.

As for a text editor, I thought I read that nano and vim were among the base packages that came with Arch.

 

[dos2unix]

As for a text editor, I thought I read that nano and vim were among the base packages that came with Arch.

You can install pretty much anything you want. But the during the installer process, there is no editor.

 

[f33dm3bits]

You can install pretty much anything you want. But the during the installer process, there is no editor.

Which install process you talking about here, arch-install or official installation guide process?

 

[osprey]

You can install pretty much anything you want. But the during the installer process, there is no editor.

On GUI installations such as debian and fedora (and likely many other distros), as well as the GUI installer proceeding through its paces, there are virtual consoles that are available using the usual commands like ctrl+alt+F# where # is a number from 1 to 4 or perhaps more. One of those commands is for the console which the GUI is running from so that a user can leave it to visit a console, and then return to it as necessary.

These consoles can be used for numerous things like looking at the logs, perhaps configuring networking or even downloading. There's usually a basic text editor available like vi or nano which the user can use at certain points in time. One can use cat to create files or alter them. One needs to know what one is doing, but the facilities are there. I guess they're mainly for troubleshooting and amending and for more specialised installations users are undertaking.

Edit: just chatted with an arch user here and informed that arch also has access to the virtual consoles during installation.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

there are virtual consoles that are available using the usual commands like ctrl+alt+F# where # is a number from 1 to 4 or perhaps more.

Thanks for sharing, I totally missed this is possible because in expert (TUI) installer there is "Execute shell" installer option which does the same within TUI without going to text mode.

There's usually a basic text editor available like vi or nano which the user can use at certain points in time. One can use cat to create files or alter them. One needs to know what one is doing, but the facilities are there.

And for facilities which aren't there there is installer option "Choose installer software" (or smth like that) which lets you choose additional tools to be available during install process, e.g. in those virtual terminals.

---

Now this probably does not apply to arch installer but I'm glad to have learned what these options do, I always wondered what's their purpose and how to use..

 

[f33dm3bits]

I run Windows 11 btw!

 

[rado84]

I stopped reading after "it doesn't support EFI" bc that's BS. It supports both Legacy and efi, it just depends on how you boot the ISO. If you want efi, pump F11 at boot to open the computer's boot menu and select "UEFI: ArchLinux" or whatever the ISO has been named. If you select "USB", it will boot in Legacy mode.
Arch supports EFI for at least 5 years that I know of, probably even longer than that.

But my BIOS and storages all still support MBR, so I remained with a Legacy installation which boots faster than the stupid efi. Which means I'm using a system that was installed almost 2 years ago on a completely different hardware and then simply booted with the new HW cfg.

 

[lolcukuzi]

Degree of Difficulty/Level of Experience - Intermediate to Advanced.

Arch and I have a love/hate relationship. It was my favorite distro for a while, but I don't use it anymore. For one thing it doesn't support EFI, so it won't install on my two newest computers which don't support Legacy BIOS. Which is kind of ironic, because Arch prides itself on being the latest and greatest of everything. But I have rambled enough about EFI these last few days. Some people say Arch is easy to install. We will see if you agree after this article. This article assumes you already have the Arch install USB created. It also assumes you have a blank hard drive to install to. This is a basic install, I'm not covering advanced things like dual boot. So put your USB drive in and let's go.

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Arch does have one of nicer boot menus. For now, we will just choose the top option.

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Next, you will see the standard linux stuff being loaded into RAM.

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Finally we will get to a command prompt. There is no fancy GUI installer for Arch Linux. It's all done from the command line. But not to worry, once it's installed, the Xwindows GUI works fine. You want to type "archinstall" here. (without the quotes).

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Go ahead and press the [Enter] key on your keyboard.

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This is the main configuration screen. This is where you setup the installation options you want to use. For the most part, you will be using the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through this. Sometimes you will use the [Space] bay, and sometimes you will use the [Esc] key. Since the language selection is already hi-lited, leys go ahead and press [Enter] here.

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Just use the up and down arrow keys to pick your language you want to use, and then press [Enter]. The Number after the language tells you about how support there is for that language so far. Some languages are more supported than others.

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Next,use the down arrow to select Locales, depending on your keyboard and language you may have to adjust this, but since I am using a US-English keyboard, I can just go with the defaults here. Just press [Enter] and that will take you back to main configuration screen. Use trhe down arrow key to select Mirrors and press [Enter]

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A mirror is simply the server out on the internet that you connect to in order to get the packages you need to install everything. First we need to pick the region. This is the geographic location you are in. Go ahead and press [Enter]

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You will see a list of countries here, use your up and down arrow keys to find your country.

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If your country isn't in the list, just pick the closest country. Once you have it hi-lited, press the [Space] bar. You should see a little "x" in the brackets next to your selected country now. Press [Enter].

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Next we need to setup the disk layout. Use the down arrow to select "Disk Configuration", and press [Enter].


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Next you will see the parttioning screen. Go ahead and press [Enter] here.

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Unless you have some experience creating Linux partitions on a disk, I would just go with the "Use a best effort" option at the top.


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Most of you will only see one disk here. If you see more than one make sure you select the correct disk. WARNING: This will delete everything on the selected disk. Press the [Space] bar, and you should see a small "x" in the brackets next to your selected disk. Go ahead and press [Enter]

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It will then ask you what filesystem format you want to use. If you're not sure, just select "ext4". Press [Enter]

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It will show you how it is going to partition your disk. If this looks correct, just press [Enter]. This will take back to the main configuration screen once again. Use the down down arrow to select "Swap" and press [Enter]

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For now, we will just go with the default option. Use the down arrow key to select the next option "Bootloader" and press [Enter].

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For now, we will just use the default "Grub". You can press [Enter} here. That will take you back to the main configuration screen. Use the down arrow to select "Unified kernel images" and press [Enter]

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If you don't know what this is, just leave it disabled. Press Enter to get back to our configuration page. Use the down arrow to select "Hostname" and press [Enter]

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If you don't like the default hostname that Arch assigned to your computer you can change it here. When you're done, just press [Enter]. Use the down arrow key to select "Root password" and press [Enter].

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Enter the root password. Important: Remember this password. Write it down if necessary. This can be the same as your user password, but I would recommend that they are different for security reasons. Type in the password and press [Enter]

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You'll have to enter it again to make sure your make a mistake. Press [Enter]. Press the down arrow to select "User account" and press [Enter].

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On this screen we want to add a user. You can add more than one, but you should add at least one. This is usually yourself. The account that you use to login to the computer most of the time. Select "Add a user" and press [Enter]

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Type in your username and press [Enter]. (No spaces allowed)

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Type in your password and press [Enter]. It is recommended to use a different password than the root password above.
Important: Remember this password! You won't be able to login as this account if you lose or forget it.

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Type in your password again to make sure there wasn't a mistake. Press [Enter]

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Now if will ask you if this user should have superuser (administrator/root) privileges. Most of you will want to say yes here. If you created multiple accounts in the previous section, you probably don't want the other users to have superuser privileges.
Select "Yes" and press [Enter].

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This will show the details about the account. You can add more accounts if you like. For now, use the down arrow to select "Confirm and exit" then press [Enter]. Use the down arrow to select "Profile" and press [Enter].

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Next select the "Type" option and press [Enter].
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A profile is just the kind of installation you want this to be. This isn't a hard and fast rule. This is just basic guideline. Most of yu will wanto to select "Desktop" here and press [Enter].

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Now you get to pick which desktop environment you want to install. Arch doesn't really have a "default" desktop, so you can pick whichever you like. Cinnamon, Mate, KDE and Gnome are all popular. I'm going to choose KDE for this install. Use your up and down arrow to make your selection, one it is hi-lited, press the [Space] bar. You should see a smll "x" in the brackets next to your selection. Go ahead and press [Enter]. This will take us back to main configuration screen.

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By now, you should be getting the hang of which keys to press. So we will select "Graphics driver". If you have a discrete nvidia card, you want to use nouveau here. If you have a newer Radeon, use the andgpu. If it's an older Radeon use ati. If you're not sure what you have just press [Enter] and it will install allof them. This doesn't hurt anything. Linux knows which one to use. It just takes up slightly more room on your hard drive.

Next select your "Greeter". This is your login screen. Since sddm is the default, we will go with that.
This time instead of pressing [Enter], you can select "Back" and then press Enter. Well Linux.org says I have reached my limit on how many graphics can be contained in one message post (it's 40 in case you were wondering). So I'll have ton continue this below. I see some messages have been posted to this thread in the meantime, so you'll have to scroll down to find where we left off.

... continued in part 2.

Thank you