arch

A recorded Arch Linux install — boot, base system, bootloader, first boot. Notes I keep, not a guide.

STATUS: lab
UPDATED: 2026-07-15
STACK: bash · archiso · systemd
TAGS: arch / linux / sysadmin

Arch is installed by hand, so a fresh machine means repeating the same steps. This page records that procedure as it actually runs on this bench: GPT, UEFI, a three-slot partition table, pacstrap into the root, and nothing that is not needed to boot.

[status] This is the exact sequence from the last install. It gets rewritten whenever the bench is rebuilt; it is a log, not an opinion piece.

install plan

boot: Arch ISO on USB, UEFI only
partition: GPT: 512M EFI + swap + root
mount: root to /mnt, EFI to /mnt/boot
base: pacstrap base, kernel, firmware, editor
fstab: genfstab -U, check before chroot
bootloader: systemd-boot into the EFI partition
first boot: time, locale, user, sudo, network

/dev/nvme0n1    GPT            linux
├─ nvme0n1p1   512M   /boot   EFI system
├─ nvme0n1p2    32G   [swap]  linux swap
└─ nvme0n1p3  rest    /       btrfs

disk · single nvme

# pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware vim networkmanager sudo
# genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
# arch-chroot /mnt
# bootctl install

record · from the live ISO

# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Athens /etc/localtime
# hwclock --systohc
# echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" > /etc/locale.gen && locale-gen
# echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf
# useradd -m -G wheel hellasdev
# echo "hellasdev ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL" > /etc/sudoers.d/hellasdev

first boot · locale + user

There is no installer in the loop. Every step is typed and visible, and because the machine was built from these notes, it can be fixed from them too. The point is not that Arch is better; the point is that a machine is reproducible when its setup is a text file long.

[next] Collapse this into one main.sh that runs a clean install in about ten minutes, then take measurements — cold boot time, memory at idle, package count.