DISCLAIMER

This guide will not hold responsibility for any personal data loss or damages of any kind, proceed with personal judgement.

Installation guide

Note

Before starting, it's recommended to read the official installation guide and understand the major concepts.

Warning

This guide only works with UEFI/GPT Systems. For BIOS/MBR Systems, this guide will NOT work.

Part 1: Preparation

• Prepare an unallocated free space for Arch (Recommended 80GB+)

• Windows partitioning tool: diskmgmt.msc

• Linux partition tool: GParted

• If Dual-Booting with Windows: Take notes on the Windows EFI Partition Directory

• Install the Arch mirror ISO from the official website, for country, selecting any mirror from the US

• Write the ISO into a bootable USB using Rufus or Ventoy for multiple ISOs on the same USB. For reference, refer to Flashing Guide.

• Reboot into system BIOS System and boot into the USB.

  Note: Turn off secure boot

Part 2. Connect to the Internet

Use iwctl tool for internet connection.

• To ensure that the network adapter is successfully detected by the system, list the network devices available using

device list

Important

If not network adapter is shown, force shutdown and reboot. If problem persists, Arch is not for you.

• Proceed with station scanning:

station <device> scan
station <device> get-networks

• For connection:

station <device_name> connect “<network_name>”

• Check whether the internet connection is successfully established

ping archlinux.org

Part 3. Partitioning

Info

Both cfdisk and fdisk are available as tools for partitioning. In this guide, cfdisk would be used

• List the hard drives and partition:

  • Take notes on the hard drive name.

    # Examples:
    /dev/nvme0n1
    /dev/sda...

  • Run:

    cfdisk /dev/<primary-hard-drive-name>
    
    # Example
    cfdisk /dev/nvme0n1.

  • Search for the unallocated space designated for Arch

• Essential Partitions:

  • EFI Partition

    • If Dual-Booting with Windows, simply use the Windows EFI Partition, do not create another EFI partition as it may prevent Windows from booting
    • If no EFI partition is available, partition at least 512MiB for EFI Partition.
      • Press t for choosing the type of partition and select EFI System Partition

  • Swap Partition

    • Computer Ram + 4 = Swap Partition Size. E.g. 16 GB ram + 4 = 20 GB
      • Press t for choosing the type of partition and select Linux Swap

  • Root Partition: Two Options

    1. Leave the rest of the partition for root partition
       • Press t for choosing the type of partition and select Linux x86-64 root (/)
    2. Leave at least 30 GB for root and the rest for home
       • Write the partitions

• Formatting:

  • To format the EFI partition run:

  mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/<efi_system_partition>

  Skip this step if you already have a EFI Partition

  • To format the root partition run:

  mkfs.ext4 /dev/<root_partition>

  • To format the swap partition run:

  mkswap /dev/<swap_partition>

  • To format the home partition run:

  mkfs.ext4 /dev/<home_partition>

• Mount System Partitions:

  • To mount the root partition run:

  mount /dev/root_partition /mnt

  • To mount the EFI partition run:

  mount /dev/efi_partition /mnt/boot/efi

  If directory does not exist make the directory:

  mkdir /mnt/boot/efi

  • To enable the Swap partition run:

  swapon /dev/swap_partition

Part 4. Installation

Run:

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware nano networkmanager

Part 5. System Configuration

• To generate fstab with UUID (recommended) Run:

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

• Chroot into the Arch System

  • Run:

    arch-chroot /mnt

    This means that everything you install from now on will be saved onto your computer’s root partition hard disks. This is the root in your current Arch system inside your root partition.

• Time:

  • Run

    ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/<Region>/<City>/etc/localtime
    
    # Example setting the timezone to Caracas, Venezuela:
    ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Americas/Caracas/etc/localtime

  • Run hwclock to generate /etc/adjtime:

    hwclock --systohc

    Important

    This command assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC

• Localization:

  • edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and other needed UTF-8 locales

    # Example: (Note: nano is an editor)
    nano /etc/locale.conf
    
    # Run to generate the locales
    locale-gen

    Ctrl + o and enter to save the changes and Ctrl + x to exit

• Initramfs:

  • "Creating a new initramfs is usually not required, because mkinitcpio was run on installation of the kernel package with pacstrap." -Archlinux.org

    Run it if you have system encryption (Bitlocker)

    mkinitcpio -P

• Create locale.conf file

  • Create directory /etc/locale.conf

    # Example: (Note: nano is an editor)
    nano /etc/locale.conf

  • Type:

    LANG=en_US.UTF-8

    Ctrl + o and enter to save the changes and Ctrl + x to exit ::::

Part 6. Network Configuration

• Create the hostname file in /etc/hostname Eg. nano /etc/hostname
• Add your host name
• Complete the network configuration for the newly installed environment. That may include installing suitable network management software, configuring it if necessary and enabling its systemd unit so that it starts at boot.

  systemctl enable NetworkManager

Part 7. Root Password

• To create a root password, run:

  passwd

• If a normal user is desired, you can create another user by running:

  useradd -m <user-name>

  • To give the user a password, run:

    passwd <user-name>

  • Make user a superuser:

    pacman -S sudo
    usermod -aG wheel,storage,power <user-name>
    EDITOR=nano visudo

    Uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL and add Defaults timestamp_timeout=0 directly under

    Ctrl + o and enter to save the changes and Ctrl + x to

    Info

    For more information, reference to this Youtube Video at minute 21:11

Part 8 Bootloader

• Choose and install a Linux-capable bootloader. If you have an Intel or AMD CPU, enable Microcode updates in addition.

  # For Intel CPU:
  pacman -S intel-ucode
  
  # For AMD CPU:
  pacman -S amd-ucode

  In this guide, Grub would be used as a bootloader

  # Install grub and efibootmgr:
  pacman -S grub efibootmgr
  
  # For Dual-Booting:
  pacman -S os-prober

  Note

  If using os-prober, edit /etc/default/grub and uncomment the last line GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

• Run grub-install:

  grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory= <EFI_partition_mount_directory> --bootloader-id=Arch

  Make sure that the EFI partition have enough storage, you can delete unwanted bootloaders by:

  ls /boot
  ls /boot/EFI
  rm -rf /boot/<directory-of-bootloader>

• Now we want to create a config inside file the installed grub entry called “Arch” in the previous step

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

  Info

  Refer to this link if things gets complicated

Part 9. Reboot

• Use nmcli to connect to network

  # Show local network interface
  nmcli device
  
  # List nearby WIFI networks
  nmcli <device> wifi list
  
  # Connect to a WIFI network
  nmcli <device> wifi connect <SSID_or_BSSID> password <password>

• Perform system update:

  sudo pacman -Syu

• Install fastfetch

  sudo pacman -S fastfetch

• Run fastfetch

• Take picture and prove you’re a prestigious Arch user

Part 10. Post Installation

• Desktop Environment:

  • Gnome
    • Checkout our Gnome Guide

    sudo pacman -S gnome

  • KDE Plasma

    sudo pacman -S plasma-meta

  • Hyprland
    • For installation details follow the official wiki page

• Audio (Pulse Audio vs. Pipewire)

  • PipeWire: (Recommended for Most Users)
    • Modern features (Bluetooth LDAC, pro audio support)
    • Screen recording (OBS, Wayland screencasting)
    • Use JACK applications (DAWs like Ardour, REAPER)
    • Lower latency (audio production, gaming)
    • Running Wayland (better integration)

  sudo pacman -S pipewire pipewire-pulse pipewire-jack wireplumber
  systemctl --user enable --now pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber

  • Pulse Audio: (For older applications)
    • Using very old applications (with hardcoded PulseAudio support)
    • Prefer simplicity over advanced features
    • Troubleshooting PipeWire issues (fallback option)
    • Running Xorg-only systems without Wayland needs

  sudo pacman -S pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa pavucontrol
  systemctl --user enable --now pulseaudio

• Yay Installation - Yay is a package manager that allows the user to access the AUR repository

  sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel && git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git && cd yay && makepkg -si

ROG Asusctl

Repo

sudo pacman-key --recv-keys 8F654886F17D497FEFE3DB448B15A6B0E9A3FA35

sudo pacman-key --finger 8F654886F17D497FEFE3DB448B15A6B0E9A3FA35

sudo pacman-key --lsign-key 8F654886F17D497FEFE3DB448B15A6B0E9A3FA35

sudo pacman-key --finger 8F654886F17D497FEFE3DB448B15A6B0E9A3FA35

• Edit /etc/pacman.conf and add

[g14]
Server = https://arch.asus-linux.org

• Perform a full system update

sudo pacman -Suy

Asusctl - custom fan profiles, anime, led control etc.

pacman -S asusctl power-profiles-daemon
systemctl enable --now power-profiles-daemon.service

Superfxctl - graphics switching

pacman -S supergfxctl switcheroo-control
systemctl enable --now supergfxd
systemctl enable --now switcheroo-control

ROG Control Center - GUI

pacman -S rog-control-center

Custom Kernel

pacman -Sy linux-g14 linux-g14-headers
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

• Run unname -r it should output:

# -g14 is the important one
6.8.1-arch1-g14

• If you are using a custom kernel use the nvidia-dkms package for nvidia drivers.

sudo pacman -S nvidia-dkms

Known errors and fixes

Important

Note that all fixes below may vary depending on the user's specific situation.
Make sure to identify the error before copying the commands listed under.

Yay Error: error while loading shared libraries

• This happens when your Yay repo is very outdated compared to your system, usually happens after a system update, to fix this, simply reinstall yay:

# Remove yay for update
sudo pacman -R yay

# Install yay from git
cd /tmp
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-bin.git
cd yay bin
makepkg -si
cd ..

# Clean /tmp folder
rm -rf yay-bin

Pacman Error: mirror not responding

• This happens when your list of mirrors are too slow or are outdated, this can be fixed by regenerating a list of faster mirrors under the /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist file.
• This can be done by reflector, a package that automatically sorts and generates the mirrors by rates and saves on the /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist file.

# Install reflector
sudo pacman -S reflector

# Example Template:
sudo reflector --country <country_name> --latest <number of servers from the latest>  --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# Example Use:
sudo reflector --verbose --sort rate -l 75 --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Signature from "" is unknown trust

# Example fail message:
error: PackageName: signature from "User <email@archlinux.org>" is invalid
error: failed to commit transaction (invalid or corrupted package (PGP signature))
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

• "This occurs because the packager's key used in the package package-name is not present and/or not trusted in the local pacman-key gpg database" - archlinux.org

Fix can be done by:

pacman-key refresh-keys

• If error persists, try regenerating the list of keys by the following:

# Remove the keys
sudo rm -r /etc/pacman.d/gnupg

# Re-add the default keys
sudo pacman-key --init
sudo pacman-key --populate

Pacman Error: failed to synchronize all databases (unable to lock database)

sudo rm /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

Pacman Error: failed to commit transaction (invalid or corrupted package)

• This happens when the keyring is outdated due to the lack of use or update of the system. The cause of this error is that it fails to check the package integrity using the PGP signature. To fix this error, simply update the keyrings by:

pacman -S archlinux-keyring

Noob corner (commonly asked questions)

How to install .tar.zst files through terminal?

sudo pacman -U <directory-of-extracted-package.pkg.tar.zst>

Uninstall:

# Search for package name
pacman -Q | grep "<package_name>"

# Removing while keeping dependencies (recommended)
sudo pacman -R package_name

# Removing unused dependencies
sudo pacman -Rsn package_name

How to revert pacman system update?

Check for cached packages (old packages)

ls /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ | grep <package-name>

Downgrade specific packages

sudo pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/<package-name>-<old-version>.pkg.tar.zst

If cache was cleared, use downgrade from aur

yay -S downgrade
sudo downgrade <package-name>

Last resort, revert all recent updates. The following line reverts the last 10 packages being updated

sudo pacman -U $(ls -t /var/cache/pacman/pkg/*.pkg.tar.zst | head -n 10)

How to improve download speed?

Install reflector package

sudo pacman -S reflector

Reflector is a package designed to filter and replace existing pacman mirrorlists

# Example Template:
sudo reflector --country <country_name> --latest <number of servers from the latest>  --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# Example Use:
sudo reflector --verbose --sort rate -l 75 --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

System Maintainance

Clearing unused/cache files

• ncdu is a useful tui tool that scans storage usage in the provided directory

# Example usage: Scan everything starting from /
# -x flag prevents ncdu from crossing into other mount points
sudo ncdu -x /

• Clearing pacman cache

  • Refer to the official ArchWiki for more details.

  • Install pacman-contrib package

  sudo pacman -S pacman-contrib

  • Run

  # Removes all older unused packages and keep 1 version in cache
  sudo paccache -rk1
  
  # Removes all uninstalled packages
  sudo pacman -Sc

• Clearing unused flatpak runtimes and extension

  • You can check what exactly is using up spaces but running

  flatpak list --columns=name,application,size

  • Run

  flatpak uninstall --unused

• Clearing pip cache

  • You can check how much cache pip is using by running:

  pip cache info

  • To clear the entire cache:

  pip cache purge

  • Clearing global pip cache will not affect existing .venv environments

• Clearing old dockeroverlay layers

  docker system prune -a --volumes

Cool tricks

• Add the line

ILoveCandy

under /etc/pacman.conf will give you a cooler download bar!

Contributors

aier9500Lunear01

Changelog

2/4/26, 5:18 PM

View All Changelog

• a6aa8-Added more on system maintainanceon 2/4/26
• cf4be-Corrected Arch Guide for more precise and modern practiceson 12/11/25
• 35118-Grammar and Spell Checks for the entire Webon 12/11/25
• 5810a-Cleaner way of displaying contributors in articles.on 12/9/25
• de685-Migrating to permalinks for article references.on 12/7/25
• da9f9-Enhance Arch guide formatting and update instructions for secure boot and CPU microcodeon 11/15/25
• a6ccb-Fix formatting issues in error messages and FAQs in Arch guideon 11/12/25
• 4c5a5-Reformatted Arch pageon 11/12/25
• 4d9e4-Set Arch and Debian guides to published statuson 11/10/25
• 26c5a-Restructuring tags.on 11/10/25
• 4fdc4-Added system maintainence on Arch Guideon 10/10/25
• 0072f-Arch page reformattingon 9/26/25
• 06f80-Better & more consistent iconson 7/28/25
• 6f292-Enhance markdown formatting for consistency across documentationon 7/12/25
• d4a77-Remove co-author card placeholders from Arch, Debian/Ubuntu, and Fedora guideson 6/24/25
• c2d6c-arch fixon 6/13/25
• e2f6b-Refactor guide authorship sections: update titles from "Maintainer" to "Author(s)" and "Contributors" to "Co-author(s)" across multiple guideson 6/12/25
• e3681-Vuepress guide completed, Added code-tree to guidlines, arch guide modified.on 6/12/25
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• 2fc68-Update TODO noteon 6/12/25
• 9c0ab-Refactor guides for improved formatting and clarity across Vuepress, Essentials, Popular, Arch, and Fedora documentationon 6/11/25
• fbbc3-Arch bug fixed, Vuepress guide updatedon 6/11/25
• 9d94b-maintainers tag added and guideline page addedon 6/9/25
• cca8b-Fixed broken archon 6/9/25
• 573fd-Tagging/untagging.on 6/9/25
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• 20bcd-Change our-team desc and added noob corner to arch.mdon 6/8/25
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• f101c-Rough formatting of Arch guideon 6/2/25
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