How to Install Arch Linux

Arch Linux gives you a minimal, rolling-release base and the freedom to build exactly the system you want. The official installer image ships with archinstall, a guided script that covers most common setups in minutes. Below that sits the fully manual method, which every serious Arch user should understand at least once. Both methods are covered here, starting with the pre-boot checklist that applies to both.

Prerequisites and Pre-Boot Setup

Download the latest ISO from archlinux.org/download and verify the PGP signature before writing it to a USB drive. Use a drive of at least 1 GB.

# Verify the ISO signature (replace filename with actual ISO name)
gpg --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --verify archlinux-x86_64.iso.sig

# Write the ISO to a USB drive (replace /dev/sdX with your device)
dd bs=4M if=archlinux-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdX conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress

Boot from the USB. In your firmware (UEFI), disable Secure Boot for the install; it can be re-enabled later with a signed bootloader. Confirm you are in UEFI mode by checking that /sys/firmware/efi/efivars is populated.

ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

Connect to the Internet

A wired connection is detected automatically. For Wi-Fi, use iwctl.

iwctl
# Inside the iwctl prompt:
device list
station wlan0 scan
station wlan0 get-networks
station wlan0 connect "YourSSID"
exit

# Confirm connectivity
ping -c 3 archlinux.org

Method 1: Install with archinstall

archinstall is a Python-based guided installer included on every Arch ISO since 2021. It handles partitioning, locale, network, desktop environments, and bootloader configuration. It is the recommended path for most users who want a working system quickly.

archinstall

The interactive menu walks you through the following choices in order:

• Mirrors — select your region to pull the fastest servers.
• Locale / keyboard layout — set language and keyboard.
• Drive(s) — choose the target disk and a partitioning strategy. "Best-effort" creates a sensible GPT layout automatically. You can also define custom partitions here.
• Disk encryption — optional LUKS2 full-disk encryption with a passphrase.
• Bootloader — Grub or systemd-boot; systemd-boot is lighter and well-supported on UEFI.
• Swap — swapfile or none.
• Hostname, root password, user account.
• Profile — Desktop (GNOME, KDE Plasma, Sway, etc.), server, or minimal.
• Audio — PipeWire (recommended) or PulseAudio.
• Additional packages — type any extra packages, space-separated.
• Network configuration — NetworkManager is the right choice for desktops.

After confirming the summary screen, archinstall partitions the disk, installs the base system, and configures everything. When it finishes, reboot and remove the USB drive.

reboot

Method 2: Manual Installation

The manual method gives you full control over every decision. It also ensures you actually understand how an Arch system is constructed, which matters when something breaks at 2 AM.

Step 1: Partition the Disk

Use fdisk -l to identify your target disk, then partition it with gdisk or fdisk. A standard UEFI layout needs at least an EFI System Partition (ESP) and a root partition.

fdisk /dev/sda
# Inside fdisk:
# g  — create GPT table
# n  — new partition (EFI): +512M, type 1 (EFI System)
# n  — new partition (root): remaining space, type 20 (Linux filesystem)
# w  — write and exit

Step 2: Format and Mount

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

If you want Btrfs with subvolumes (useful for snapshots), replace the ext4 line with mkfs.btrfs /dev/sda2 and create @ and @home subvolumes before mounting.

Step 3: Install the Base System

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware

Add packages you know you need now: base-devel vim networkmanager man-db man-pages. A kernel for AMD CPUs benefits from amd-ucode; Intel needs intel-ucode. Microcode is important — include it.

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware base-devel vim networkmanager amd-ucode man-db

Step 4: Generate fstab

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
cat /mnt/etc/fstab   # verify it looks correct

Step 5: Chroot and Configure

arch-chroot /mnt

# Time zone (replace with your own)
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

# Locale
sed -i 's/#en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/' /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf

# Hostname
echo "myhostname" > /etc/hostname

# Set root password
passwd

# Create a regular user
useradd -mG wheel youruser
passwd youruser
# Uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL in sudoers:
VISUDO_EDITOR=vim visudo

Step 6: Install and Configure the Bootloader

systemd-boot is simple and requires no extra packages on UEFI systems.

bootctl install

# Create the boot entry (adjust root UUID and microcode as needed)
ROOT_UUID=$(blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/sda2)
cat > /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf << EOF
title   Arch Linux
linux   /vmlinuz-linux
initrd  /amd-ucode.img
initrd  /initramfs-linux.img
options root=UUID=${ROOT_UUID} rw quiet
EOF

# Set default entry and timeout
cat > /boot/loader/loader.conf << EOF
default arch.conf
timeout 3
editor  no
EOF

Step 7: Enable Essential Services and Reboot

systemctl enable NetworkManager
mkinitcpio -P   # regenerate initramfs
exit            # leave chroot
umount -R /mnt
reboot

Post-Install: Desktop and AUR

After the first boot, log in as your regular user. Install a desktop environment or window manager with pacman. Example with KDE Plasma and SDDM:

sudo pacman -Syu plasma sddm
sudo systemctl enable --now sddm

For AUR access, install paru or yay. These are AUR helpers built on top of pacman that handle PKGBUILD fetching and building automatically.

# Build paru from AUR (requires base-devel and git)
sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/paru.git
cd paru && makepkg -si

Verification

After rebooting into the installed system, confirm the key components are working.

# Confirm UEFI boot
bootctl status

# Check running services
systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running

# Verify network
ip link
ping -c 3 archlinux.org

# Check for microcode load
dmesg | grep microcode

Troubleshooting

• System won't boot after install: Boot back from the USB, mount your partitions, and arch-chroot /mnt. Check /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf — a wrong UUID is the most common cause.
• No internet after first boot: Run sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager. If you forgot to enable it before rebooting, this is the fix.
• archinstall fails partitioning: Make sure the disk is not mounted and has no active device-mapper layers. Run lsblk and wipefs -a /dev/sdX to clear stale signatures, then try again.
• Pacman keyring errors: Run sudo pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring from the live environment or chroot before continuing.
• initramfs panic / root not found: Regenerate initramfs with mkinitcpio -P from chroot and double-check the options root=UUID=... line in your boot entry matches blkid output.