Install Arch Linux on a laptop

About the machine

Thinkpad neo 14 (Intel version)

• CPU: Intel Core i5-12500H
• RAM: 16 GB
• Storage: 512 GB SSD

Table of contents

• Prologue
• Pre-installation
  • Set the console keyboard layout
  • Verify the boot mode
  • Connect to the Internet
  • Update the system clock
  • Partition the disk(s)
    • /mnt/boot
    • [SWAP]
    • /mnt
    • Check and write
  • Format the partitions
  • Mount the file systems
• Installation
  • Select the mirrors
  • Install essential packages
• Configure the system
  • Fstab
  • Chroot
  • Time zone
  • Localization
  • Network configuration
  • Root password
  • Boot loader
• Reboot
• Epilogue

Prologue

To install Arch Linux, it is highly recommended to read Arch Linux's Installation Guide, then try to install Arch Linux manually or with an installer. The official archinstall is nice.

Personally, I prefer to install Arch Linux step by step as this is a more customizable way. In the following instruction, I'll start from the Set the console keyboard layout section of Arch Linux's Installation Guide.

Pre-installation

Set the console keyboard layout

I prefer to swap the left Control key and the Caps Lock key.

console:

    # mkdir -p /usr/local/share/kbd/keymaps
    # cp /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/i386/qwerty/us.map.gz /usr/local/share/kbd/keymaps/custom.map.gz
    # cd /usr/local/share/kbd/keymaps
    # gunzip custom.map.gz
    # vim custom.map.gz

/usr/local/share/kbd/keymaps/custom.map:

    ...
-   keycode  29 = Control
+   keycode  29 = Caps_Lock
    ...
-   keycode  58 = Caps_Lock
+   keycode  58 = Control

console:

    # touch /etc/vconsole.conf
    # vim /etc/vconsole.conf

/etc/vconsole.conf:

    KEYMAP=/usr/local/share/kbd/keymaps/custom.map

console:

    # systemctl restart systemd-vconsole-setup.service

Verify the boot mode

console:

    # ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

The following assumes that the system is booted in UEFI mode.

Connect to the Internet

Check network devices.

console:

    # ip link

The following assumes that the system connects to the Internet with Wi-Fi device wlan0.

There are many ways to search available Wi-Fis, and I personally prefer the following way.

console:

    # iwctl

iwd:

    [iwd]# station wlan0 get-networks

Now, connect to the Internet with wpa_supplicant. Note that iwctl and wpa_cli suffice in general.

console:

    # touch /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
    # vim /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf:

    ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=wheel
    update_config=1

    network={
        ssid="SSID"
        key_mgmt=WPA-EAP
        identity="identity"
        password="password"
    }

console:

    # wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
    # dhcpcd --background

Verify the connection with ping.

console:

    # ping archlinux.org

Update the system clock

Check the current time setting and set the time zone.

console:

    # timedatectl status
    # timedatectl set-timezone <Region>/<City>

Partition the disk(s)

To be clear, I use single-system machines, so I don't care about Dual boot with Windows.

Identify block devices with fdisk.

console:

    # fdisk -l

The following assumes that the system is going to be installed in /dev/nvme0n1.

console:

    # fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

fdisk:

    Command (m for help): p
    Command (m for help): g
    Command (m for help): p

For UEFI, 3 mount points are needed: /mnt/boot, [SWAP] and /mnt.

/mnt/boot

fdisk:

    Command (m for help): n
    Partition number (1-..., default 1):
    First sector (2048-...., default 2048):
    Last sector, ... (2048-..., default ...): +300M

    Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 300MiB.
    Partition #1 contains a vfat signature.

    Do you want to remove the signature? [Y]es/[N]o: y

    The signature will be removed by a write command.

[SWAP]

To be honest, I don't know much about swap, but I know that I have a large hard disk. 😆

So, I decide to make the swap partition as 1.5 times large as the RAM, that is 24 GB.

fdisk:

    Command (m for help): n
    Partition number (2-..., default 2):
    First sector (..., default ...):
    Last sector, ... (..., default: ...): +24G

/mnt

fdisk:

    Command (m for help): n
    Partition number (3-..., default 3):
    First sector (..., default ...):
    Last sector, ... (..., default ...):

Check and write

fdisk:

    Command (m for help): p
    Command (m for help): w

Format the partitions

Check the partitions with fdisk -l. The following assumes the below layout.

Layout (UEFI)

Mount point	Partition
/mnt/boot	/dev/nvme0n1p1
[SWAP]	/dev/nvme0n1p2
/mnt	/dev/nvme0n1p3

console:

    # mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1
    # mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p2
    # mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p3

Mount the file systems

console:

    # mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt
    # mount --mkdir /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot
    # swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2

Installation

Select the mirrors

A manual modification after executing reflector may be necessary.

console:

    # reflector --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist --protocol https --latest 20 --sort rate --country <Country 1>[,<Country 2>,...]
    # vim /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Install essential packages

Some of the following packages can be installed in the future, but I prefer to install them now.

console:

    # pacstrap -K /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware man-db man-pages reflector vim wpa_supplicant dhcpcd fish git openssh grub efibootmgr

Configure the system

Fstab

console:

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

Chroot

console:

    # arch-chroot /mnt

Time zone

`arch-chroot`ed console:

    # ln-sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/<Region>/<City> /etc/localtime
    # hwclock --systohc

Localization

Uncomment needed locales in /etc/locale.gen, then generate the locales. The following assumes that en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 has been uncommented.

`arch-chroot`ed console:

    # vim /etc/locale.gen
    # locale-gen

Set the LANG variable.

`arch-chroot`ed console:

    # touch /etc/locale.conf
    # vim /etc/locale.conf

/etc/locale.conf:

    LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Repeat Set the console keyboard layout in the arch-chrooted system if wanted.

Network configuration

The following assumes that the hostname is set as myhostname.

`arch-chroot`ed console:

    # touch /etc/hostname
    # vim /etc/hostname

/etc/hostname:

    myhostname

`arch-chroot`ed console:

    # vim /etc/hosts

/etc/hosts:

    127.0.0.1   localhost
    ::1         localhost
    127.0.1.1   myhostname

Root password

`arch-chroot`ed console:

    # passwd

Boot loader

I use grub and efibootmgr, which have been already installed in the Install essential packages step.

For machines that have an Intel CPU, install intel-ucode; for those that have an AMD CPU, install amd-ucode.

`arch-chroot`ed console:

    # pacman -S intel-ucode

Tip: For multi-system users, os-prober may be needed.

Install GRUB to the disk, then generate the main configuration file.

`arch-chroot`ed console:

    # mkdir /boot/grub
    # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
    # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Reboot

Remember to remove the installation medium (e.g. USB flash drives) before rebooting the computer.

`arch-chroot`ed console:

    # exit

console:

    # umount -R /mnt
    # reboot

Epilogue

Now, Arch Linux is installed on the laptop. I'll write a new blog post about setting up this machine.