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Arch install

setup overview:

  • UEFI - GPT
  • bootloader: systemd-boot
  • initramfs: mkinitcpio
  • ESP mounted to /efi
  • ROOT fs ext4 or btrfs
  • Swap (partition or swapfile) of 8G
  • KMS

partitioning • formatting • chroot • post • graphics

Prerequisites

In UEFI firmware:

  • ⚠ set the hardware clock to UTC time
  • disable secure boot

Windows dual boot

Windows by default uses (and set) HW in local time
→ force UTC, in an admin console run

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation" /v RealTimeIsUniversal /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f

Re-check if HW is correctly set in UTC

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System_time#UTC_in_Microsoft_Windows

Disable Windows Fast startup

set reg [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power] "HiberbootEnabled" -> 0

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dual_boot_with_Windows#Fast_Startup_and_hibernation

Partitioning

Partition the disk using fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

  1. create a new GPT table
  2. create 1st partition of 512M (use 1G for dual boot) → ESP
  3. change ESP type to "EFI system"

for SWAP partition

  1. create 2nd partition of -8G (= remaining size for swap) → ROOT
  2. ROOT type should be set by default to "Linux filesystem"
  3. create 3rd part with the remaining space (8G) → SWAP
  4. change SWAP type to "Linux swap"

if using swapfile

  1. create 2nd partition of remaining size → ROOT
  2. ROOT type should be set by default to "Linux filesystem"

Write partition table to disk & exit fdisk

→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Partitioning

Formatting

  1. format ESP in FAT32
mkfs.fat -n ESP -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1
  1. format ROOT

ext4

mkfs.ext4 -L ARCH /dev/nvme0n1p2

btrfs

mkfs.btrfs -L ARCH -n 32k /dev/nvme0n1p2
  1. for SWAP partition (skip if using swapfile)
mkswap -L SWAP /dev/nvme0n1p3
swapon /dev/nvme0n1p3

→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/EFI_system_partition
→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/File_systems

Mounting FS

  1. mount ROOT
mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt

If btrfs mount with

mount -o compress=zstd /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt
  1. mount ESP to /efi
mount --mkdir /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/efi

continue with Arch wiki steps

  • mirrors check
  • pacstrap
  • fstab

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide#Installation

Fstab & btrfs

After generating fstab edit the root entry: remove discard=async and add nodiscard to the mount options
→ periodic trim will be used instead

chroot

initramfs

Disable fallback img generation (useless)

  • remove fallback from PRESETS=(…) line in all .preset files in /etc/mkinitcpio.d/
  • remove /boot/*-fallback.img

Re-generate initramfs → mkinitcpio -P

→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Mkinitcpio#Possibly_missing_firmware_for_module_XXXX

bootloader

Install systemd-boot with

bootctl install

write the loader config in /efi/loader/loader.conf

default arch.conf
timeout 4
console-mode keep # or max
editor no

→ https://man.archlinux.org/man/loader.conf.5#OPTIONS

write the Arch Linux entry in /efi/loader/entries/arch.conf

title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
options root=LABEL=ARCH rw quiet splash

copy boot file to ESP

cp -a /boot/vmlinuz-linux /efi/
cp -a /boot/initramfs-linux.img /efi/

⚠ be sure to read system maintenance

swapfile (as btrfs subvolume)

skip if using partition

btrfs subvolume create /swap
btrfs filesystem mkswapfile --size 8g --uuid clear /swap/swapfile
swapon /swap/swapfile

edit /etc/fstab

/swap/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0

→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Btrfs#Swap_file

POST install

Configure Pacman → https://github.com/doums/dot/blob/master/pacman/README.md

network

start/enable

  • systemd-networkd.service
  • systemd-resolved.service

run networkctl to get links status

→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Network_configuration
→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-networkd

wired setup

/etc/systemd/network/20-wired.network

[Match]
Name=eno1  # replace with the right link name

[Network]
DHCP=yes

wireless setup

/etc/systemd/network/25-wireless.network

[Match]
Name=wlan0 # replace with the right link name

[Network]
DHCP=yes
IgnoreCarrierLoss=3s

install iwd → iwctl

DNS

ln -sf /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf
sudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved.service

Copy conf/dns.conf from this repo into /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/

→ resolvectl status

Check DNS resolution

resolvectl query archlinux.org --cache=false

define hosts

/etc/hosts

127.0.0.1   localhost
::1         localhost

wait-online

When multiple network interfaces are present and only one is connected, systemd-networkd-wait-online.service will timeout after 2 minutes waiting for all interfaces to be up.
To override this, use a drop-in file. Copy systemd_unit/wait-online.conf into /etc/systemd/system/systemd-networkd-wait-online.service.d/ (create the directory)
Then systemctl daemon-reload

source: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-networkd#Multiple_interfaces_that_are_not_connected_all_the_time

⚠ system maintenance

To upgrade systemd-boot on package upgrade use a pacman hook

To automatically copy kernel, initramfs images from /boot into the ESP (/efi), after a system upgrade use a pacman hook

→ https://github.com/doums/dotfiles/tree/master/pacman

time & sync

→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System_time
→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-timesyncd

Check the current settings

timedatectl

The hardware clock (RTC time in the output) should match the current UTC time
Set the timezone

$ timedatectl list-timezones
# timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Paris

Enable time synchronization

# systemctl enable systemd-timesyncd.service
# systemctl start systemd-timesyncd.service
# timedatectl set-ntp true

user

change root shell

chsh -s /usr/bin/fish

create default user

useradd -Um -G wheel -s /usr/bin/fish pierre
passwd pierre

→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Users_and_groups#User_management

Setup sudo

TRIM

→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Solid_state_drive#Periodic_TRIM

# systemctl enable fstrim.timer
# systemctl start fstrim.timer

graphics

Install the needed packages

Intel NVIDIA
driver mesa nvidia-open
32bits lib32-mesa lib32-nvidia-utils
libs vulkan-intel nvidia-utils

KMS

Edit /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

Intel

MODULES=(i915)

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Intel_graphics#Early_KMS

NVIDIA

MODULES=(nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm)

⚠ remove kms from hooks array

Remove kms from the HOOKS array in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and regenerate the initramfs. This will prevent the initramfs from containing the nouveau module making sure the kernel cannot load it during early boot.

HOOKS=(… ~~kms~~ …)

Re-generate initramfs → mkinitcpio -P

NVIDIA DRM

Add nvidia_drm.modeset=1 to kernel parameters

Edit /efi/loader/entries/arch.conf

options root=LABEL=ARCH rw quiet splash nvidia_drm.modeset=1

TBD consider using nvidia_drm.fbdev=1

→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel_mode_setting#Early_KMS_start
→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA#Early_loading
→ https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA#DRM_kernel_mode_setting