arch installation

califool85 · 06-08-2020, 03:33 PM

My name is Mike and I new to the world of linux. Recently attempted to install arch onto an old laptop. Everything seemed to be going according to the list of instructions I researched and I thought I had successfully Installed it on my first attempt!!!! Wrong! It appears I have installed it on the usb stick I used to boot? The reason I think this is because I can not run it without that stick plugged in? I have tried to research this but only have found threads that pertain to Ubuntu. Any direction to where I can find info on helping me reinstall or correct this error would be much appreciated!

Thank you

cordx · 06-08-2020, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by califool85

My name is Mike and I new to the world of linux. Recently attempted to install arch onto an old laptop.

arch is interesting choice for someone new to linux, but to each their own. depending on how old that laptop is, you might need arch linux 32:

Quote:

from the arch wiki installation guide: Arch Linux should run on any x86_64-compatible machine

Quote:

Originally Posted by califool85

It appears I have installed it on the usb stick I used to boot? The reason I think this is because I can not run it without that stick plugged in?

sounds like maybe your bootloader got installed to the usb. running this command in a terminal might help you see where everything is installed

Code:

lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,LABEL,MOUNTPOINT,SIZE

quickbreakfast · 06-08-2020, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by califool85

My name is Mike and I new to the world of linux.

Welcome to Linux and these forums.

Quote:

Recently attempted to install arch onto an old laptop.

Details of the laptop would be appreciated any time you seek help..... atleast distro (including version), cpu, ram, board.

Quote:

It appears I have installed it on the usb stick I used to boot?

So repeat whatever you did. Just pay much closer attention to your target drive/disc.. Size of the drive/target should indicate where you are aiming the install.

teckk · 06-08-2020, 04:56 PM

If you are going to use arch, first stop is the wiki.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Table_of_contents

As another said. Arch is 64 bit only.

califool85 · 06-08-2020, 07:37 PM

[QUOTE=quickbreakfast;6132194]Welcome to Linux and these forums.

Details of the laptop would be appreciated any time you seek help..... atleast distro (including version), cpu, ram, board.

***

Lenovo N23 Windows 10
Memory 4GB DDR3L 1600 MHz
Storage 32GB eMMC
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops.../p/88EL10S0756

I want Arch on the Lenovo because I want experience using the command line interface and would like to use it to do a lot of my python class work because the keyboard is not condensed like my asus....

verndog · 06-08-2020, 09:15 PM

If you want to stay on the command line, try i3wm tiling

colorpurple21859 · 06-09-2020, 01:11 AM

Quote:

The reason I think this is because I can not run it without that stick plugged in

Explain this in detail how far along does the boot process gets.
No boot menu, boot menu then hangs during boot, other?

califool85 · 06-09-2020, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

Explain this in detail how far along does the boot process gets.
No boot menu, boot menu then hangs during boot, other?

Just moved, as soon as I unpack and find my computer I will post screen shots of where I am at with the install.

Mojojo · 07-12-2020, 05:30 PM

You should have ran fdisk -l to check your drive setup. The install is straight forward however many of the docs online can be confusing. If you have an EFI system below is a quick install guide to show the entire install is not too overly complicated.

Installing Arch Linux on EFI System
-----------------------------------------------------

1.) Check your available drives default is 'sda'

Code:

fdisk -l

2.) run 'cfdisk' to setup partitions, make sure to include boot/efi, swap, /root and /home partitons

Boot efi partitons are normally 500/mb (fat32)
Swap partitions are around 2500/mb
Root should be about 30-40% of remaining space (ext4)
Home should be about 60-70% of remaining space (ext4)

3.) Format partitions
SWAP Partition

Code:

mkswap /dev/sda2

EFI Boot Partition

Code:

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

/ Partition

Code:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

/home Partition

Code:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda4

4.) wifi-menu #interactive wifi setup

5.) Check internet connection

Code:

ping google.com

6.) Mount drives
Mount Boot

Code:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Mount Swap

Code:

swapon /dev/sda2

Mount Root /

Code:

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

Mount Home /home

Code:

mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/home

7.) Generate fstab file

Code:

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

8.) Install base system

Code:

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware vim nano mc grub efibootmgr networkmanager

9.) chroot into new system

Code:

arch-chroot /mnt

10.) Set timezone

Code:

timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York

11.) Set locale

Code:

locale-gen

Code:

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

Code:

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

12.) Set you hostname

Code:

echo yourhostname > /etc/hostname

13.) Create hosts file

Code:

touch /etc/hosts

(example hosts file)

PHP Code:



# Static table lookup for hostnames.
# See hosts(5) for details.
127.0.0.1       localhost
::1             localhost
127.0.1.1       yourhostname #Change this to your own hostname

14.) Set root password

Code:

passwd

15.) Add a user

Code:

useradd username

16.) Reboot installer into UEFI mode mount root again and chroot

Code:

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

Code:

arch-chroot /mnt

17.) Create efi folder

Code:

mkdir /boot/efi

18.) Mount efi partition

Code:

mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi

19.) Install grub

Code:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=GRUB --efi-directory=/boot/efi

20.) mkconfig

Code:

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

21.) Enable networkmanager

Code:

systemctl enable NetworkManager

22.) Exit chroot

Code:

exit

23.) Reboot

Code:

reboot

Upon reboot you will be met with a terminal now would be a good time to add your self to the sudoers file

24.)

Code:

sudo nano /etc/sudoers

Look for root and add your username below it (example below)

PHP Code:



##
## User privilege specification
##
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
username ALL=(ALL) ALL

25.) Update Pacman Database

Code:

pacman -Syy

26.) Install plasma plasma-nm and sddm

Code:

pacman -S sddm plasma plasma-nm

27.) Enable sddm

Code:

systemctl enable sddm

Code:

systemctl start sddm

Reboot and make sure everything works!

Note:

Once you have a base system installed you may want to save the package list before installing AUR packages using

Code:

pacman -Qqe > pkglist.txt

If you ever reinstall Arch all you need to do is run

Code:

pacman -S --needed - < pkglist.txt

This will save time in the future installing packages after a clean install.

ondoho · 07-16-2020, 03:31 AM

I'm not sure ArchLinux is the best choice for you, unless you want to learn installation and the inner workings of your OS from scratch - you can still use the command line a lot on other distros. Why not a Debian "netinst" - that's an install without a GUI? Less hassle to install, still a great challenge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by verndog

If you want to stay on the keyboard, try i3wm tiling

FTFY.

califool85 · 05-03-2021, 05:24 PM

Can you specify the step 2. When I use the cfdisk to create the partitions and then move on to step 3 and use mkswap I get a 'cannot open /dev/sda2: Device or resource busy'?

colorpurple21859 · 05-03-2021, 07:28 PM

what is the output of

Code:

parted -l

teckk · 05-04-2021, 08:20 AM

I don't mean to be rude. This is the installation guide.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide

If you can't follow the installation guide and get arch installed, then go use something else. You will have problems the whole time you use arch. That is how it is designed. It does not do anything for you. You read the wiki, get the info, then you do it the way that you want. There is also an arch forum. It is not newbie friendly at all.

Maybe try Ubuntu, Mint, or even Manjaro. Use them for a couple of years, then come back to arch when you are ready.

Arch does have an installer now. I have not tried it.
https://archlinux.org/news/installat...ith-installer/

And the forum which has lots of info.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/

Don't post simple little questions on the arch forum without your asbestos pants on. Oh, and you'll need to have arch installed before you can even register to the forum.

califool85 · 05-04-2021, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mojojo

You should have ran fdisk -l to check your drive setup. The install is straight forward however many of the docs online can be confusing. If you have an EFI system below is a quick install guide to show the entire install is not too overly complicated.

Installing Arch Linux on EFI System
-----------------------------------------------------

1.) Check your available drives default is 'sda'

Code:

fdisk -l

2.) run 'cfdisk' to setup partitions, make sure to include boot/efi, swap, /root and /home partitons

Boot efi partitons are normally 500/mb (fat32)
Swap partitions are around 2500/mb
Root should be about 30-40% of remaining space (ext4)
Home should be about 60-70% of remaining space (ext4)

3.) Format partitions
SWAP Partition

Code:

mkswap /dev/sda2

EFI Boot Partition

Code:

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

/ Partition

Code:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

/home Partition

Code:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda4

4.) wifi-menu #interactive wifi setup

5.) Check internet connection

Code:

ping google.com

6.) Mount drives
Mount Boot

Code:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Mount Swap

Code:

swapon /dev/sda2

Mount Root /

Code:

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

Mount Home /home

Code:

mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/home

7.) Generate fstab file

Code:

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

8.) Install base system

Code:

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware vim nano mc grub efibootmgr networkmanager

9.) chroot into new system

Code:

arch-chroot /mnt

10.) Set timezone

Code:

timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York

11.) Set locale

Code:

locale-gen

Code:

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

Code:

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

12.) Set you hostname

Code:

echo yourhostname > /etc/hostname

13.) Create hosts file

Code:

touch /etc/hosts

(example hosts file)

PHP Code:



# Static table lookup for hostnames. 
# See hosts(5) for details. 
127.0.0.1       localhost 
::1             localhost 
127.0.1.1       yourhostname #Change this to your own hostname

14.) Set root password

Code:

passwd

15.) Add a user

Code:

useradd username

16.) Reboot installer into UEFI mode mount root again and chroot

Code:

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt

Code:

arch-chroot /mnt

17.) Create efi folder

Code:

mkdir /boot/efi

18.) Mount efi partition

Code:

mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi

19.) Install grub

Code:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=GRUB --efi-directory=/boot/efi

20.) mkconfig

Code:

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

21.) Enable networkmanager

Code:

systemctl enable NetworkManager

22.) Exit chroot

Code:

exit

23.) Reboot

Code:

reboot

Upon reboot you will be met with a terminal now would be a good time to add your self to the sudoers file

24.)

Code:

sudo nano /etc/sudoers

Look for root and add your username below it (example below)

PHP Code:



## 
## User privilege specification 
## 
root ALL=(ALL) ALL 
username ALL=(ALL) ALL

25.) Update Pacman Database

Code:

pacman -Syy

26.) Install plasma plasma-nm and sddm

Code:

pacman -S sddm plasma plasma-nm

27.) Enable sddm

Code:

systemctl enable sddm

Code:

systemctl start sddm

Reboot and make sure everything works!

Note:

Once you have a base system installed you may want to save the package list before installing AUR packages using

Code:

pacman -Qqe > pkglist.txt

If you ever reinstall Arch all you need to do is run

Code:

pacman -S --needed - < pkglist.txt

This will save time in the future installing packages after a clean install.

Quote:

Originally Posted by teckk

I don't mean to be rude. This is the installation guide.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide

If you can't follow the installation guide and get arch installed, then go use something else. You will have problems the whole time you use arch. That is how it is designed. It does not do anything for you. You read the wiki, get the info, then you do it the way that you want. There is also an arch forum. It is not newbie friendly at all.

Maybe try Ubuntu, Mint, or even Manjaro. Use them for a couple of years, then come back to arch when you are ready.

Arch does have an installer now. I have not tried it.
https://archlinux.org/news/installat...ith-installer/

And the forum which has lots of info.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/

Don't post simple little questions on the arch forum without your asbestos pants on. Oh, and you'll need to have arch installed before you can even register to the forum.

Thanks. Thanks a lot. -Ernest Tubb

califool85 · 05-04-2021, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teckk

I don't mean to be rude. This is the installation guide.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide

If you can't follow the installation guide and get arch installed, then go use something else. You will have problems the whole time you use arch. That is how it is designed. It does not do anything for you. You read the wiki, get the info, then you do it the way that you want. There is also an arch forum. It is not newbie friendly at all.

Maybe try Ubuntu, Mint, or even Manjaro. Use them for a couple of years, then come back to arch when you are ready.

Arch does have an installer now. I have not tried it.
https://archlinux.org/news/installat...ith-installer/

And the forum which has lots of info.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/

Don't post simple little questions on the arch forum without your asbestos pants on. Oh, and you'll need to have arch installed before you can even register to the forum.

cool.