Arch Linux

The guide is for both - server and desktop.

It includes:

Server & Desktop

• UEFI
• systemd-boot
• LVM on LUKS
• NetworkManager
• zram
• doas
• nftables

Desktop

• Xorg
• KDE / Plasma
• SDDM

https://www.archlinux.org/download/

If using a US keyboard:

ls /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/**/*.map.gz
loadkeys us

Check if system is under UEFI:

ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

Connect to wifi if needed

iwctl
device list
station DEVICE_NAME scan
station DEVICE_NAME get-networks
station DEVICE_NAME connect SSID

Enable NTP and set timezone

timedatectl set-ntp true
timedatectl set-timezone Pacific/Auckland

Test Connection

ping techsaviours.org -c 1

Format your disks and create GPT table.

cfdisk /dev/sd*

Typical partitions look like this:

root

cryptsetup luksFormat --type luks2 --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --key-size 512 /dev/sda2
cryptsetup open /dev/sda2 root

home (Optional) Second disk (/dev/sdb1)

cryptsetup luksFormat --type luks2 --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --key-size 512 /dev/sdb1
cryptsetup open /dev/sdb1 home

root

pvcreate /dev/mapper/root
vgcreate vg0 /dev/mapper/root
lvcreate -l 100%FREE vg0 -n root

home (optional)

pvcreate /dev/mapper/home
vgcreate vg1 /dev/mapper/home
lvcreate -l 100%FREE vg1 -n home

root

mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg0/root
mount /dev/vg0/root /mnt

boot

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

home (optional)

mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg1/home
mkdir /mnt/home
mount /dev/vg1/home /mnt/home

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux-hardened linux-hardened-docs linux-hardened-headers linux-firmware nano networkmanager lvm2 opendoas openssh iptables-nft

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

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Pacific/Auckland /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

Uncomment your location. For example: en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

nano /etc/locale.gen

echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.conf

locale-gen

ls /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/**/*.map.gz
nano /etc/vconsole.conf

KEYMAP=YOUR_KEYBOARD

echo "arch" > /etc/hostname

echo "127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.1.1 arch.localdomain arch" >> /etc/hosts

passwd

nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

HOOKS=(base udev autodetect keyboard keymap modconf block encrypt lvm2 filesystems fsck)

mkinitcpio -P

bootctl install

echo "title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux-hardened
initrd /initramfs-linux-hardened.img
options cryptdevice=UUID=$(blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/sda2):root root=/dev/vg0/root rw" >> /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf

echo "title Arch Linux (fallback initramfs)
linux /vmlinuz-linux-hardened
initrd  /initramfs-linux-hardened-fallback.img
options cryptdevice=UUID=$(blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/sda2)=root root=/dev/vg0/root rw" >> /boot/loader/entries/arch-fallback.conf

Depends on your CPU - AMD or Intel - choose one of the following commands:

pacman -S intel-ucode

pacman -S amd-ucode

and add initrd /intel-ucode.img or initrd /amd-ucode.img above initrd /initramfs-linux-hardened.img, initrd /initramfs-linux-hardened-fallback.img in /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf and /boot/loader/entries/arch-fallback.conf

Allow members of group wheel to run commands:

echo "permit persist :wheel" >> /etc/doas.conf
chown -c root:root /etc/doas.conf
chmod -c 0400 /etc/doas.conf

pacman -Rsn opendoas
pacman -S sudo

or

echo "alias sudo='doas'
alias sudoedit='doas rnano'" >> ~/.bashrc

Change USER to your name.

useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash USER
passwd USER

echo "zram" >> /etc/modules-load.d/zram.conf

echo "options zram num_devices=1" >> /etc/modprobe.d/zram.conf

echo 'KERNEL=="zram0", ATTR{disksize}="4GB" RUN="/usr/bin/mkswap /dev/zram0", TAG+="systemd"' >> /etc/udev/rules.d/99-zram.rules

echo "# swap
/dev/zram0 none swap defaults 0 0
" >> /etc/fstab

systemctl enable --now NetworkManager.service
systemctl enable --now sshd.service

If you have decided to use an additional partition or drive, you can also use a key instead of entering the passphrase over and over again. This way it only stays for root to enter the passphrase.

mkdir /etc/luks-keys/
dd bs=512 count=4 if=/dev/urandom of=/etc/luks-keys/home.bin
chmod -cR 0400 /etc/luks-keys/
cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/sdb1 /etc/luks-keys/home.bin
echo "home           /dev/sdb1                                    /etc/luks-keys/home.bin" >> /etc/crypttab

exit

umount -R /mnt
reboot