Install Arch Linux

Connect the USB drive and boot from the Arch Linux ISO.

Make sure the system is booted in UEFI mode. The following command should display the directory contents without error.

# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

Connect to the internet. A wired connection is preferred since it’s easier to connect. More info

Run fdisk to create Linux partitions.

# fdisk /dev/<your-disk>

If you have installed Windows, you already have a GPT partition table. Otherwise, create an empty GPT partition table using the g command. (WARNING: This will erase the entire disk.)

# WARNING: This will erase the entire disk.

Command (m for help): g
Created a new GPT disklabel (GUID: ...).

Create the EFI partition (/dev/):

Command (m for help): n
Partition number: <Press Enter>
First sector: <Press Enter>
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P}: +100M

Command (m for help): t
Partition type or alias (type L to list all): uefi

Create the Boot partition (/dev/):

Command (m for help): n
Partition number: <Press Enter>
First sector: <Press Enter>
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P}: +512M

Command (m for help): t
Partition type or alias (type L to list all): linux

Create the LUKS partition (/dev/):

Command (m for help): n
Partition number: <Press Enter>
First sector: <Press Enter>
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P}: <Press Enter>

Command (m for help): t
Partition type or alias (type L to list all): linux

Print the partition table using the p command and check that everything is OK:

Command (m for help): p

Write changes to the disk using the w command. (Make sure you know what you’re doing before running this command).

Command (m for help): w

Format the EFI and Boot Partitions.

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/<your-disk-efi>
mkfs.ext4 /dev/<your-disk-boot>

Set up the encrypted partition. You can choose any other name instead of cryptlvm.

# cryptsetup --use-random luksFormat /dev/<your-disk-luks>
# cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/<your-disk-luks> cryptlvm

Create an LVM volume group. You can choose any other name instead of vg0.

# pvcreate /dev/mapper/cryptlvm
# vgcreate vg0 /dev/mapper/cryptlvm

Create LVM partitions (logical volumes).

We create logical volumes for swap, root (/), and home (/home). Leave 256MiB of free space in the volume group because the e2scrub command requires the LVM volume group to have at least 256MiB of unallocated space to dedicate to the snapshot.

# lvcreate --size 8G vg0 --name swap
# lvcreate --size 100G vg0 --name root
# lvcreate -l +100%FREE vg0 --name home
# vreduce --size -256M vg0/home

Format logical volumes.

# mkswap /dev/vg0/swap
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg0/root
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg0/home

Mount new filesystems.

# mount /dev/vg0/root /mnt
# mount --mkdir /dev/<your-disk-efi> /mnt/efi
# mount --mkdir /dev/<your-disk-boot> /mnt/boot
# mount --mkdir /dev/vg0/home /mnt/home
# swapon /dev/vg0/swap

Install the base system. We also install some useful packages like git, vim, and sudo.

# pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware openssh git vim sudo

Generate /etc/fstab. This file can be used to define how disk partitions, various other block devices, or remote filesystems should be mounted into the filesystem.

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

Enter the new system.

# arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

Set TimeZone.

---> See available timezones:
# ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/

---> Set timezone:
# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Tehran /etc/localtime

Run hwclock(8) to generate /etc/adjtime.

# hwclock --systohc

Set Locale.

# vim /etc/locale.gen (uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8)
# locale-gen
# echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf

Set hostname.

# echo yourhostname > /etc/hostname

Create a user.

# useradd -m -G wheel --shell /bin/bash yourusername
# passwd yourusername
# visudo
---> Uncomment "%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL"

Configure mkinitcpio with modules needed to create the initramfs image.

# pacman -S lvm2
# vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
---> Add 'encrypt' and 'lvm2' to HOOKS before 'filesystems'

Recreate the initramfs image:

# mkinitcpio -P

Setup GRUB.

# pacman -S grub efibootmgr
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB

In /etc/default/grub edit the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX as follows. Don’t forget to replace /dev/ with the appropriate path.

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="cryptdevice=/dev/<your-disk-luks>:cryptlvm root=/dev/vg0/root"

If you have installed Windows and want to add Windows to the GRUB menu, edit /etc/grub.d/40_custom:

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
if [ "${grub_platform}" == "efi" ]; then
  menuentry "Windows 11" {
    insmod part_gpt
    insmod fat
    insmod search_fs_uuid
    insmod chain

    # After --set=root, add the Windows EFI partition's UUID.
    # (can be found with "blkid" command)
    search --fs-uuid --set=root $FS_UUID
    chainloader /EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi
  }
fi

In the above script, replace $FS_UUID with Windows EFI partition UUID. You can find this UUID using lsblk command. It should be something like 8E12-69DD.

Now generate the main GRUB configuration file:

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

Install networkmanager package and enable NetworkManager service to ensure you have Internet connectivity after rebooting.

# pacman -S networkmanager
# systemctl enable NetworkManager

Exit new system and unmount all filesystems.

# exit
# umount -R /mnt
# swapoff -a

Arch is now installed. Reboot.

# reboot

Backup LUKS Header

It is important to make a backup of LUKS header so that you can access your data in case of emergency (if your LUKS header somehow gets damaged).

Create a backup file:

# cryptsetup luksHeaderBackup /dev/<your-disk-luks> --header-backup-file luks-header-backup-$(date -I)

Store the backup file in a safe place, such as a USB drive. If something bad happens, you can restore the backup header:

# cryptsetup luksHeaderRestore /dev/<your-disk-luks> --header-backup-file /path/to/backup_header_file

Credits: z399