Arch Linux Installation with systemd-boot

Arch Linux installation with systemd-boot.

Bootable flash drive

Download the latest ISO at https://www.archlinux.org/download/ and create a bootable drive following this: replace sdX with your usb drive's disk number with: lsblk

dd if=/*path_to_arch*/arch_linux.iso of=/dev/sdX status=progress oflag=sync bs=4M 

First Steps

Check if you're system is running in UEFI mode with:

ls /sys/firmware/efi

If there is any content in this folder you are running in UEFI mode.

Check if there is an internet connection.

ping google.com

Tether your android phone into your machine and do the following:

❯ ip link
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: enp2s0f1: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 98:28:a6:14:36:83 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlp3s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP mode DORMANT group default qlen 100

Find the connection and connect with:

dhcpcd enp2s0f1*

Disk and partition

gdisk /dev/sda/

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): o
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): Y

Command (? for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1): 
First sector (34-242187466, default = 2048) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: 
Last sector (2048-242187466, default = 242187466) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +512M
Current type is 'Linux filesystem'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): EF00
Changed type of partition to 'EFI System'

Command (? for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2): 
First sector (34-242187466, default = 1050624) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: 
Last sector (1050624-242187466, default = 242187466) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: 
Current type is 'Linux filesystem'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): 
Changed type of partition to 'Linux filesystem'

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 242187500 sectors, 115.5 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 9FB9AC2C-8F29-41AE-8D61-21EA9E0B4C2A
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 242187466
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048         1050623   512.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System
   2         1050624       242187466   115.0 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem

Command (? for help): w

mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

Mount the partitions

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Generating synced and fast mirrorlist

pacman -Syy

pacman -S reflector

reflector --latest 10 --protocol http --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Install base system

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware vim

Generate fstab

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

Chroot into the new system

arch-chroot /mnt

Prepare system

timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Manila

uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 in /etc/locale.gen create /etc/locale.conf with content

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

and run locale-gen

Setup hostname and hosts

echo yourhostname > /etc/hostname create /etc/hosts with the following content:

127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.1.1 yourhostname.localdomain yourhostname

Change root password

passwd root

Install networkmanager

pacman -S networkmanager

systemctl enable networkmanager

Install and setup systemd-boot

bootctl --path=/boot$esp install

Your /boot should look like this

/boot
├── EFI
│   ├── Boot
│   │   └── BOOTX64.EFI
│   └── systemd
│       └── systemd-bootx64.efi
├── initramfs-linux-fallback.img
├── initramfs-linux.img
├── loader
│   ├── entries
│   │   └── arch.conf
│   └── loader.conf
└── vmlinuz-linux

take note of arch.conf and loader.conf edit/create if not existing /boot/loader/loader.conf

default arch
timeout 4
editor 0

/boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
options root=PARTUUID=*youruuid* rw

get your /dev/sda2 uuid with the command blkid -s PARTUUID -o value /dev/sda2(preload :read ! if on vim) note: dont forget the rw at the end. I've been bitten by this a lot of times :feelsbadman: exit reboot

AND YOU SHOULD BE GOOD TO GO!

References and many thanks to:

• https://ricostacruz.com/til/arch-linux-installation-summarized
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation_guide