Installing-Arch-linux-with-EFI.md

Installing Arch linux with EFI

1. Change keyboard layout:

   • loadkeys pl

2. Verify boot mode:

   • ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars (If the directory exist your computer supports EFI)

3. Ping some site on the Internet to verify connection:

   • ping archlinux.org

4. Update system clock:

   • timedatectl set-ntp true
   • You can verify the status with timedatectl status

5. Create EFI partition:

   • fdisk -l to find the designation for the HDD. (Most likely /dev/sda)
   • fdisk /dev/sda
     • g (to create a new partition table)
     • n (to create a new partition)
     • 1
     • enter
     • +500M
     • t
     • 1 (for EFI)
     • w

6. Create /root partition:

   • fdisk /dev/sda
     • n
     • 2
     • enter
     • enter
     • w

7. Create the filesystems:

   • mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
   • mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

8. Mount the new root partition directories:

   • mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

9. Install Arch linux base packages:

   • pacstrap -i /mnt base

10. Generate the /etc/fstab file:

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

11. Chroot into installed system:

    • arch-chroot /mnt

12. Set the timezone:

    • ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Warsaw /etc/localtime

13. Update the Hardware clock:

    • hwclock --systohc

14. Install boot manager and other needed packages:

    • pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools linux-headers linux-lts linux-lts-headers linux-firmware nano rsync reflector

15. Run reflector

    • cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist{,.bak}
    • reflector -c "XX" -f 12 -l 10 -n 12 --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

16. Set locale:

    • sed -i 's/#en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/g' /etc/locale.gen (uncomment en_US.UTF-8)
    • sed -i 's/#pl_PL.UTF-8/pl_PL.UTF-8/g' /etc/locale.gen (uncomment pl_PL.UTF-8)
    • locale-gen

17. Set environment

    • echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.conf
    • echo "KEYMAP=de-latin1" >> /etc/vconsole.conf
    • echo "arch-linux" >> /etc/hostname

18. Create password for root user

    • passwd

19. Create EFI boot directory:

    • mkdir /boot/EFI
    • mount /dev/sda1 /boot/EFI

20. Install GRUB on EFI mode:

    • grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck

21. Set up locale for GRUB:

    • cp /usr/share/locale/pl/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/pl.mo

22. Write GRUB config:

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

23. Create swap file:

    • fallocate -l 4G /swapfile
    • chmod 600 /swapfile
    • mkswap /swapfile
    • echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | tee -a /etc/fstab

24. Exit, unmount and reboot:

    • exit
    • umount /mnt
    • reboot

25. Create an unpriviledged user:

    • useradd --create-home --shell /bin/bash --user-group username
    • passwd username
    • gpasswd -a username adm
    • gpasswd -a username log
    • gpasswd -a username sys
    • gpasswd -a username systemd-journal
    • gpasswd -a username wheel