Install Arch Linux using EFI and GRUB (dual-boot with Windows)

install-arch-linux-using-efi-and-grub-dual-boot-win.md

Installing Arch linux with EFI (dual-boot with Windows)

Just skip steps 22, 23 and 25 if dual-boot isn't your use case scenario

1. Change keyboard layout (if needed, default is 'us')

   • to see all avaliable layouts: ls /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/**/*.map.gz
   • loadkeys us

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. Go to https://archlinux.org/mirrorlist and find the closest mirror that supports HTTPS:

   • Add the mirrors on top of the /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist file.
   • Server = https://mirror.yandex.ru/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch (Russia)

6. Create EFI partition:

   • lsblk or fdisk -l to find the designation for the HDD. (Most likely /dev/sda)
   • fdisk /dev/sda
   • if partition(s) already exist, type d > enter
   • use p to list all partitions and other useful info
   • g (to create a new partition table)
   • n (to create a new partition)
   • 1
   • enter
   • +300M
   • t
   • 1 (for EFI)

7. Create /root partition:

   • n
   • 2
   • enter
   • +30G

8. Create /home partiton:

   • n
   • 3
   • enter
   • enter
   • w
     • (THIS WILL REMOVE EVERYTHING and write made changes! Make sure you selected the right drive before pressing w by pressing p, check the model number of your drive, it's size, etc. If you made a mistake, just press q and repeat the steps 6-8)

9. Create the filesystems:

   • mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
   • mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
   • mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

10. Create the /root and /home directories:

    • mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
    • mkdir /mnt/home
    • mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/home

11. Install Arch linux packages:

    • pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware (not a bad idea to include your editor of choice: vim, nano, emacs, etc)

12. Generate the /etc/fstab file:

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

13. Chroot into installed system:

    • arch-chroot /mnt

14. Change root password

    • passwd

15. Edit the hostname of your machine

    • "arch" > /etc/hostname (you can use anything instead of arch)

16. Set the timezone:

    • ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/ (to see possible timezones)
    • ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Moscow /etc/localtime

17. Update the Hardware clock:

    • hwclock --systohc --utc (make sure your Windows clock is set to UTC time for it to be synced with Arch)

18. Install boot manager and other needed packages:

    • pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools

19. Set locale:

    • vim /etc/locale.gen
    • uncomment en_US.UTF-8 and en_US ISO-8859-1 for US English
    • uncomment any other line you need, to enable your language
    • locale-gen
    • echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf && export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

20. Create EFI boot directory:

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

21. Install GRUB on EFI mode:

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

22. Mount Windows EFI partition:

    • lsblk to locate Windows 100M partition (for example, /dev/sdb1)
    • mkdir /win && mount /dev/sdb1 /win

23. Enable os-prober to detect Windows installation:

    • vim /etc/default/grub
    • uncomment line GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

24. Write GRUB config:

    • grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
    • efibootmgr -v make sure both Arch and Windows are in your boot options

25. Unmount Windows partition:

    • umount -R /win
    • rm -r /win

26. Create swap file (optional, but recommended):

    • fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
    • chmod 600 /swapfile
    • mkswap /swapfile
    • echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | tee -a /etc/fstab

27. Create a new user:

    • useradd -mg wheel user (where user is your username)
    • passwd user (can be equal to root password)
    • vim /etc/sudoers
    • uncomment either %wheel ALL=(ALL) or %wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL to execute sudo commands
    • add Defaults !tty-tickets to do a passwordless sudo within the timeout period

28. Configure Ethernet connection:

    • pacman -S networkmanager
    • systemctl enable NetworkManager to make it autostart

29. Exit, unmount and reboot:

    • exit
    • umount -a
    • reboot

30. Enjoy Arch Linux with dual-boot!