ArchLinux installation guide

arch-linux-installation

# Boot into Live CD/USB
# Use UK keyboard
loadkeys uk

# Check partitions available
fdisk -l

# Use fdisk to format partitions
# o to overwrite the disk
# n to create new partition
# a to make partition bootable
fdisk /dev/sda

# Create 3 partitions
# 1. Boot partition 10G
# 2. Swap partition 500M
# 3. Home partition Remaining

# Check if partitions are correct, they should show
# /dev/sda1 Bootable 10G
# /dev/sda2 Swap 500M
# /dev/sda3 Linux Remaining
fdisk -l

# Format partition 1 and 3 to use ext4
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

# Initialise swap
mkswap /dev/sda2
swapon /dev/sda2

# Mount bootable drive
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

# Mount home drive
mkdir /mnt/home
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/home

# Run pacstrap to initialise ArchLinux
pacstrap /mnt base base-devel

# Generate fstab
genfstab -pU /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

# Change any Linux drive from realtime to noatime for SSD drives
vi /mnt/etc/fstab

# Change root into the new system
arch-chroot /mnt

# Link local time
ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime

# Sync clock
hwclock --systohc --utc

# Install software
pacman -S git vim linux-headers linux-lts linux-lts-headers grub-bios

# Uncomment en_GB.UTF-8
vim /etc/locale.gen

# Generate locale information, set language, and set keyboard layout
locale-gen
echo LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 >> /etc/locale.conf
echo KEYMAP=uk >> /etc/vconsole.conf

# Set root password
passwd

# Install GRUB (does not matter if it's i386 or x86_64)
grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda

# Exit and unmount new ArchLinux installation
exit
unmount -R /mnt

# Turn swap off before reboot
swapoff -a

# Restart computer. Should continue boot to GRUB when computer restarts
reboot