Install Arch Linux using EFI and GRUB

install-arch-linux-using-efi-and-grub.md

Installing Arch linux with EFI

1. Change keyboard layout:

   • loadkeys no

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. Enable SSH:

   • systemctl start sshd

6. Change root password:

   • passwd

7. 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.neuf.no/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch (Norway)

8. 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
     • +300M
     • t
     • 1 (for EFI)
     • w

9. Create /root partition:

   • fdisk /dev/sda
     • n
     • 2
     • enter
     • +30G
     • w

10. Create /home partiton:

    • fdisk /dev/sda
      • n
      • 3
      • enter
      • enter
      • w

11. Create the filesystems:

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

12. Create the /root and /home directories:

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

13. Install Arch linux base packages:

    • pacstrap -i /mnt base

14. Generate the /etc/fstab file:

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

15. Chroot into installed system:

    • arch-chroot /mnt

16. Set the timezone:

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

17. Update the Hardware clock:

    • hwclock --systohc

18. Install boot manager and other needed packages:

    • pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools openssh os-prober mtools linux-headers linux-lts linux-lts-headers

19. Set locale:

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

20. Enable root login via SSH:

    • sed -i 's/#PermitRootLogin prohibit-password/PermitRootLogin yes/g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
    • systemctl enable sshd.service
    • passwd (for changing the root password)

21. Create EFI boot directory:

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

22. Install GRUB on EFI mode:

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

23. Setup locale for GRUB:

    • cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo

24. Write GRUB config:

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

25. Create swap file:

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

26. Exit, unount and reboot:

    • exit
    • umount -a
    • reboot

Thank you! I had followed the Arch Linux "Installation guide", and got stuck at installing a boot loader.

BTW, I haven't done so much manual installation since 4.1BSD on a VAX-11/780, 40+ years ago!

I suggest getting 'sshd' up and running ASAP, to allow copy/paste (I'm installing to a VMware virtual machine, accessible via the host-only network). I had to do 'pacman -S net-tools' (in the chroot environment), to get 'ifconfig' so I could see what the IP address was.

In reply to:

How does grub-install find a EFI directory in the 22 step?

and:

I needed to specify efi directory when grub-install like this
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck --efi-directory=/boot/EFI

It seems be a matter of "/boot/EFI" vs "/boot/efi". I'm using /boot/efi (lower-case, apparently the default), and didn't need the '--efi-directory'.
I prefer /boot/efi because there's an "EFI" subdir, and /boot/EFI/EFI can be confusing.