Arch Linux Manual Installation With GRUB Bootloader Cheat Sheet

1. Downloading the installation image and creating a bootable USB device

Download Arch Linux ISO image here via torrent or direct link:
https://archlinux.org/download/
Use Rufus https://rufus.ie/en/ and select GPT and ISO mode for the image
Balena Etcher is another great tool
https://etcher.balena.io/
for creating bootable USB's

(Optional) On Linux you can use gnome-disk-utility or Ventoy

2. Before installing Arch Linux on bare metal it is recommended to remove previous filesystems and data, after backing up what the user needs

wipefs can be used to erase existing signatures on a device:

For regular SSD's/HDD's

sudo wipefs -a /dev/sda

For NVME SSD's

sudo wipefs -a /dev/nvme0n1

(Opional) Deleting everything with shred command properly while overwriting so no forensics recovery is possible, also helps fix bad blocks in some cases:

For regular SSD's/HDD's

sudo shred -f -v /dev/sda

For NVME SSD's

sudo shred -f -v /nvme0n1

Faster way to delete everything on SSD's/HDD's/NVME SSD's

sudo blkdiscard /dev/sda
sudo blkdiscard /dev/nvme0n1

3. Use cfdisk TUI to format and create paritions on SSD/HDD before installing Arch Linux:

For regular SSD's/HDD's

sudo cfdisk /dev/sda

For NVME SSD's

sudo cfdisk /dev/nvme0n1

When prompted by cfdisk, delete everything you see then Write>>Yes

4. Creating partitions using cfdisk:

From free space on the SSD/HDD create the following partitions using cfdisk' TUI (Terminal User Interface):

Required UEFI partition:

For regular SSD's/HDD's

/dev/sda1 512M Fat32(EFI)

For NVME SSD's

/dev/nvme01p1 512M Fat32(EFI)

The size of the EFI partition must be 512MB and type of the partition needs to be EFI.

(Optional) SWAP partition size can be around 8-10GB, but it is not required if you have 16GB/32GB or more RAM

For regular SSD's/HDD's:

/dev/sda2 8-10GB swap

For NVME SSD's:

/dev/nvme0n1p2 8-10GB swap

Required main partition for your main user /mnt, remaining size can be as large as you want it to be:

For regular SSD's/HDD's

/dev/sda3 1000GB ext4

For NVME SSD's

/dev/nvme0n1p3 1000GB ext4

Save changes in cfdisk, by using Write option in the cfdisk TUI and exit cfdisk.

5.Format partitions,create UEFI partition, mount point partition (main user partition) and swap partition

UEFI partition

For regular SSD's/HDD's

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda

For NVME SSD's

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/nvme0n1p1

SWAP partition 10-35 GB, depending on the amount of RAM

For regular SSD's/HDD's

mkswap /dev/sda2
swapon /dev/sda2

For NVME SSD's

mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p2
swapon /dev/nvme0n1p2

Primary partition

For regular SSD's/HDD's

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

For NVME SSD's

mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p3

6. Mounting the primary partition

For regular SSD's/HDD's

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

For NVME SSD's:

mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt

Check if everything worked by using lsblk command.

lsblk

7.Base Arch Linux installation

Check if internet works by using the ip link command.

Standard Arch Linux installation with standard Ethernet and Wi-Fi support,nano as text editor:

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-headers linux-firmware nano networkmanager

Generate fstab file:

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

(Optional choice) LTS(Long Term Support) Arch Linux installation with standard Ethernet and Wi-Fi support,nano as text editor:

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux-lts linux-lts-headers linux-firmware nano networkmanager

Generate fstab file:

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

8. Basic Arch Linux configuration with chroot

Log into your installation as chroot:

arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

Set locales:

nano /etc/locale.gen

(Example) For US locale find this line en_US.UTF-8 in locale.gen file and uncomment the line.

Generate locale:

locale-gen

Creating and adding a main user:

useradd -g users -G power,storage,wheel -m user

Creating passwords for root and main user:

Password for root:

passwd

Type in the root password.

Password for main user:

passwd user

Type in the user password.

9. Editing the sudoers file:

visudo

Or:

nano /etc/sudoers

Uncomment the settings in sudoers file and add the main user to sudo (user):

Lines to uncomment:

sudo=ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Add yourself to sudoers file under sudo, so it looks like this

user=ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

More secure way by uncommenting the following lines,without touching anything else in the sudoers file:

Defaults targetpw
ALL ALL=(ALL:ALL)

Save changes to the sudoers file:

For vi text editor:

:w! + Enter to exit and write changes :q + Enter to exit

For nano text editor:

Ctrl+O to save,Ctrl+ X to exit after making changes with nano text editor.

(Optional) Edit sudoers file with nano any time:

sudo nano /etc/sudoers

10. GRUB Bootloader Installation and configuration for UEFI boot

Install the following packages along with GRUB Bootloader for UEFI support:

pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools fuse3

Create an EFI boot directory on the EFI partition:

mkdir /boot/efi

Mount the FAT32 EFI partition:

For regular SSD's/HDD's

mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi

For NVME SSD's

mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /boot/efi

GRUB Bootloader Installation:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub --efi-directory=/boot/efi

Generating GRUB Bootloader configuration file:

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Additional measures for boot partition to not become unbootable

mkdir /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT
cp /boot/efi/EFI/GRUB/grubx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI

11. Exit chroot,unmount Arch Linux ISO and reboot:

exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot

12. Desktop Environment installation,enabling the network and sound, Xorg installation,Date/Time configuration

Ethernet

sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager.service

Ethernet + WiFi

sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager.service
sudo systemctl enable --now wpa_supplicant.service
sudo nmtui

Select the desired wireless connection,wired connections should be activated by default,connect to Wi-Fi using your password.

Check if internet works:

ping archlinux.org

13. Set date,region and time.

sudo timedatectl set-ntp true
sudo timedatectl list-timezones
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Zone/SubZone
sudo hwclock --systohc
sudo ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime

Hostname configuration

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname myhostname

14. Intel CPU firmware kernel support driver:

sudo pacman -S intel-ucode

AMD CPU firmware kernel support driver:

sudo pacman -S amd-ucode

15. Xorg installation,Wayland is provided by default with all the popular DE's(Plasma\GNOME):

sudo pacman -S xorg xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-apps xterm xorg-xrandr xdg-user-dirs

Run to get user directories:

xdg-user-dirs-update

16. Enable 32-bit support for Steam,Wine,Lutris

sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf

Uncomment these lines:

[multilib] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Update:

sudo pacman -Syu

17. Install audio support

sudo pacman -S alsa-firmware alsa-utils pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse

(Older) Install audio alsa/pulseaudio drivers and utilities:

sudo pacman -S alsa-firmware alsa-utils pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa

18. GNOME/KDE Plasma/XFCE/Desktop environments

XFCE

sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies gvfs

Display Managers:

sudo pacman -S sddm sddm-kcm
sudo systemctl enable --now sddm

Or

sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
sudo systemctl enable --now lightdm.service

19. GNOME

sudo pacman -S gnome gnome-extra

(Optional) GNOME extensions and tweaks

sudo pacman-S gnome-tweaks gnome-shell-extension-manager gnome-shell-extensions gnome-shell-extensions-extra

For missing backends on GNOME:

sudo pacman -S gnome-packagekit

Display Manager:

sudo pacman -S gdm libgdm
sudo systemctl enable --now gdm

Enable VRR (freesync/gsync) Support for GNOME

gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['variable-refresh-rate']"

Exit the current Wayland session, re-login and type to check, the output should be "variable-refresh-rate"

gsettings get org.gnome.mutter experimental-features

20. KDE PLasma, sddm display manager is packaged with Plasma package used by default:

sudo pacman -S plasma kde-applications

For missing backends on KDE Plasma:

sudo pacman -S packagekit-qt6

NB! X11 support for KDE Plasma is now only available when plasma-x11-session package is installed:

sudo pacman -S plasma-x11-session

Inconsistent brightness levels fix Plasma 6.3 and higher:

systemctl --user edit plasma-powerdevil.service

Add these lines, save Ctrl+O Ctrl+X and reboot:

[Service]
Environment=POWERDEVIL_NO_DDCUTIL=1

KDE Plasma Disable/purge/view status baloo search to reduce CPU usage,enable if you want to improve search after disabling:

balooctl6 status
balooctl6 disable
balooctl6 purge

Enable baloo back if you need it:

balooctl6 enable

Display Manager:

sudo pacman -S sddm sddm-kcm
sudo systemctl enable --now sddm

Extra Deepin

sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
sudo pacman -S deepin deepin-extra
sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

Add this line then Ctrl+O,Ctrl+X

greeter-session=lightdm-deepin-greeter
sudo systemctl enable --now lightdm

Extra Pantheon

sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-pantheon-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
sudo pacman -S pantheon
sudo systemctl enable --now lightdm

21.(Optional) Additional dependencies

**(Optional) for noveau drivers **

xf86-video-vesa mesa

22. Enable the GUI desktop to start at launch via the required display manager for yur desktop environment:

SDDM with customizable settings:

sudo pacman -S sddm sddm-kcm
sudo systemctl enable --now sddm

LIGHTDM with customizable settings:

sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
sudo systemctl enable --now lightdm

GDM with customizable settings:

sudo pacman -S gdm libgdm
sudo systemctl enable --now gdm

(Longer way) In case LIGHTDM is missing:

sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
sudo systemctl enable lightdm.service
sudo systemctl start lightdm.service

In case GDM is missing:

sudo pacman -S gdm libgdm
sudo systemctl enable gdm.service
sudo systemctl start gdm.service

In case SDDM is missing:

sudo pacman -S sddm sddm-kcm
sudo systemctl enable sddm
sudo systemctl start sddm

(Optional) Use this theme for better icons on all DE's:

sudo pacman -S papirus-icon-theme
sudo pacman -S noto-fonts noto-fonts-emoji
sudo pacman -S arc-gtk-theme

23. NVIDIA drivers and utilities installation:

For Nvidia Non-LTS (rolling)

sudo pacman -S nvidia nvidia-settings nvidia-utils lib32-nvidia-utils lib32-opencl-nvidia opencl-nvidia libvdpau lib32-libvdpau libxnvctrl vulkan-icd-loader lib32-vulkan-icd-loader vkd3d lib32-vkd3d opencl-headers opencl-clhpp vulkan-validation-layers lib32-vulkan-validation-layers