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Inside the ISO ​

1. Load Keyboard Layout (Default: usa) ​

TIP

If your keyboard layout isn’t USA, use loadkeys to switch it. For example, German keyboards use de. Laptops use latin1 because the layout is slightly different. For example, de-latin1.

shell
loadkeys de

2. List Your Drives ​

INFO

To see all connected drives (like hard drives or USB), run:

shell
lsblk
shell
lsblk -S

3. Wipe the Target Drive ​

WARNING

This erases all data on the drive. Back up anything important first.

shell
gdisk /dev/nvme0n1
shell
gdisk /dev/sda

Steps:

  1. Press x for expert mode.
  2. Press z to wipe the drive, confirming with y.

4. Create Partitions ​

INFO

Use cfdisk for an easy partition editor. Navigate with arrow keys and create partitions.

shell
cfdisk /dev/nvme0n1
shell
cfdisk /dev/sda

Create these partitions:

  • Boot Partition → 1 GiB (EFI)
  • Swap Partition → 4 GiB
  • System Partition → Remaining space

5. Format the Partitions ​

Format Boot Partition (FAT32): ​

shell
mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1
shell
mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1

Set Up Swap Partition: ​

shell
mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p2
swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2
shell
mkswap /dev/sda2
swapon /dev/sda2

Format System Partition (EXT4): ​

shell
mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/nvme0n1p3
shell
mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/sda3

6. Mount Your Partitions ​

Mount System Partition: ​

shell
mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt
shell
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

Mount Boot Partition: ​

shell
mount --mkdir /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
shell
mount --mkdir /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

7. Install Arch Linux ​

Package Info:

linux is the standard Arch kernel, while linux-zen offers desktop performance tweaks for better responsiveness. Install matching headers (linux-headers or linux-zen-headers) for DKMS support.

IMPORTANT

You will need to install intel-ucode for intel CPUs and amd-ucode for AMD CPUs for their microcode. These are important for stability, security and performance!

shell
pacstrap -K /mnt base base-devel linux linux-headers linux-firmware sof-firmware nano networkmanager grub efibootmgr intel-ucode bash-completion
shell
pacstrap -K /mnt base base-devel linux-zen linux-zen-headers linux-firmware sof-firmware nano networkmanager grub efibootmgr intel-ucode bash-completion
shell
pacstrap -K /mnt base base-devel linux-lts linux-lts-headers linux-firmware sof-firmware nano networkmanager grub efibootmgr intel-ucode bash-completion
shell
pacstrap -K /mnt base base-devel linux-hardened linux-hardened-headers linux-firmware sof-firmware nano networkmanager grub efibootmgr intel-ucode bash-completion

8. Generate the fstab File ​

INFO

Generate the fstab file, which tells the system which partitions to mount on boot.

shell
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

9. Enter the New System Environment ​

INFO

Change the root directory to your new installation for further setup:

shell
arch-chroot /mnt