ArchLinux

Getting Started with Arch Linux: A Beginner’s Guide to Mastering the Basics

Introduction

Welcome, brave explorer! 🚀
You’re about to install Arch Linux — the operating system famous for being “hard,” but also the one that makes you feel like a real pro once you succeed.

Don’t panic. This guide is written for absolute beginners. Copy the commands, read the notes, and you’ll be fine.

Grab some coffee ☕ and let’s go!

Step 1: Prepare Your USB

Download Arch Linux from here.
You’ll need a USB stick (2 GB or more).

On Linux, run:

sudo dd bs=4M if=path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdX status=progress oflag=sync

👉 Replace sdX with your USB drive (like sdb).
⚠️ Warning: If you pick the wrong disk, you’ll erase it! Double-check with:

fdisk -l

Step 2: Keyboard

If your keyboard types wrong characters (like y = z), fix it:

localectl list-keymaps
loadkeys us

👉 For U.S. keyboards use us (default). For others, replace with your layout code.

Step 3: Internet

With Ethernet cable, you’re online already.
With Wi-Fi, type:

iwctl

Inside iwctl:

device list
station wlan0 scan
station wlan0 get-networks
station wlan0 connect your-wifi-name
exit

Now test the connection:

ping archlinux.org

If you see replies — congrats, you’re online 🎉
Press Ctrl + C to stop ping (otherwise it runs forever).

Step 4: Partition the Disk with MBR

We’ll make one big partition for simplicity. 🍰

Start fdisk:

fdisk /dev/sdX

👉 Replace sdX with your drive (like sda). Check with fdisk -l if unsure.

Now inside fdisk:

Type o → new MBR partition table
Type n → new partition
Choose Primary
Press Enter twice → use the whole disk
Type w → write changes and quit

Done! You have one partition ready.

Step 5: Format the Partition

Prepare the partition with the ext4 filesystem:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX1

👉 Replace X1 with your partition (like sda1).
Check again with:

fdisk -l

Step 6: Mount the Partition

Mount it so Arch knows where to install:

mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt

Step 7: Install the Base System

Now install the core system:

pacstrap -K /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware gvim nano man

👉 What these do:

base → essential system
base-devel → tools for building software
linux → Linux kernel (the brain)
linux-firmware → drivers for your hardware
gvim → Vim editor (for pros)
nano → Nano editor (for beginners)
man → manual pages (help system)

Step 8: fstab (Disk Table)

This tells Arch where your partitions are.

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

Check with:

blkid | grep sdX

Example output:

/dev/sda1: UUID="0a8efcfd-4bad-406a-a13b-93112fc4bc45" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="bbb7fc8b-01"

👉 Make sure the UUID in /mnt/etc/fstab matches your partition.

Open with Nano:

nano /mnt/etc/fstab

Example:

# /dev/sda1
UUID=0a8efcfd-4bad-406a-a13b-93112fc4bc45   /   ext4   rw,relatime   0 1

Step 9: Enter the New System

Switch into your new Arch installation:

arch-chroot /mnt

Step 10: Set the Time Zone

Tell your system where you live 🌍:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime

Example for New York, USA:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/localtime

Now sync the hardware clock:

hwclock --systohc

Step 11: Localization (Language)

Edit the locales file:

nano /etc/locale.gen

Uncomment (remove #) in front of:

en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

Generate locales and set default:

locale-gen
echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf

Step 12: Network Setup

Give your computer a name:

echo "archpc" > /etc/hostname

Edit the hosts file:

nano /etc/hosts

Add:

127.0.0.1   localhost
::1         localhost
127.0.1.1   archpc.localdomain archpc

👉 Replace archpc with your hostname.

Step 13: Root Password

Set a password for root (the superuser):

passwd

Step 14: Bootloader (Start Your PC)

Install GRUB so your computer knows how to boot Arch:

pacman -S grub
grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sdX
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

👉 Replace sdX with your disk (like sda).
⚠️ Not sda1, only sda.

Step 15: Create an Admin User

Using root all the time is risky. Make a normal user:

useradd -m -G users,wheel,video -s /bin/bash admin
passwd admin

👉 You can choose another username instead of admin.

Step 16: Install GNOME (with Wayland)

Let’s add a desktop environment! 🖥️

pacman -S gnome-shell gdm gnome-control-center gnome-disk-utility \
networkmanager network-manager-applet wget rsync \
ttf-dejavu ttf-droid noto-fonts-emoji wqy-zenhei \
archlinux-keyring alacritty dnsmasq sudo gst-libav \
ntfs-3g git gnome-keyring gnome-applets

Enable login manager and networking:

systemctl enable gdm.service
systemctl enable NetworkManager.service

👉 GNOME runs on Wayland by default (modern and smooth).

Step 17: CPU Microcode

For Intel CPUs:

pacman -S intel-ucode

For AMD CPUs:

pacman -S amd-ucode

Step 18: Sudo (Admin Powers)

Allow your user to run admin commands:

EDITOR=nano visudo

Uncomment this line:

%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Step 19: Reboot 🚀

Exit, unmount, and reboot:

exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot

If everything went well, you’ll see the GNOME login screen. 🎉

Conclusion

Congratulations! 🎊
You just installed Arch Linux with GNOME and Wayland.

Arch is like LEGO: you start small, then build anything.

And remember, now you’re allowed to say proudly:
“I use Arch, by the way…” 😎