Arch Linux How to Install: Why You Should Probably Stop Using Easy Scripts

You're standing at the edge of a cliff. Below you is the terminal—a blinking white cursor against a void of black. Most people look at that cursor and run back to the safety of Ubuntu or Windows. But you? You want to know about arch linux how to install because you’ve heard the rumors. You’ve heard it’s faster, cleaner, and that it makes you a better "linux person." Honestly, it does. But it’s also a giant pain if you don't know why you're typing what you're typing.

Arch isn't a "product." It's more like a pile of high-quality lumber and a blueprint that's missing half the pages. You build it. That's the point.

The Big Lie About the Arch Install Process

If you search for arch linux how to install, you'll find a thousand guides telling you to just run archinstall. That's the automated script included on the ISO. Look, it works. It’s fine. But if you use it, you aren't really "using" Arch yet. You’re just installing a pre-configured system that someone else designed. When it breaks—and Arch will break because it’s a rolling release—you won't have a clue how to fix it because you didn't build the foundation.

Real Arch users usually stick to the manual way. Not because we're masochists, but because we want to know exactly which microcode is running and how the EFI partition is mounted. If you want a system that just works out of the box, go get Fedora. If you want a system that reflects your brain, stay here.

Step 0: The Stuff Nobody Mentions

Before you even download the ISO from a mirror, check your BIOS. Or UEFI. Whatever. If you haven't disabled Secure Boot, you’re going to have a bad time. Arch doesn't officially support Secure Boot out of the box without some serious manual signing of keys. It’s doable, but for your first time? Just turn it off. Also, ensure your SATA mode is set to AHCI. If it's on RAID/RST, the Linux kernel might just ignore your SSD entirely. That's a fun hour of troubleshooting you don't need.

Setting the Stage: Networking and Clock

Boot the ISO. You're in. You’re root.

First thing? Internet. If you’re on Ethernet, you’re likely already good. Type ip link to see. If you’re on Wi-Fi, you need iwctl. It’s a little command-line utility that feels weird at first. You type device list, find your adapter, then station wlan0 scan and station wlan0 get-networks. It’s tactile. It feels like you're actually talking to the hardware.

Once you're online, sync that clock.
timedatectl set-ntp true

Small step. Big impact. If your system clock is wrong, SSL certificates fail. If certificates fail, you can't download packages. Everything breaks.

Partitioning: Where People Panic

This is the part of arch linux how to install where most people accidentally wipe their Windows partition. Don't be that person. Use cfdisk. It’s a "ncurses" interface, which basically means it has menus you can navigate with arrow keys instead of the terrifying raw command line of fdisk.

💡 You might also like: Jailbreak Firestick (Explained): What You’re Actually Doing to Your Device

You need a few things:

1. An EFI Partition (around 512MB to 1GB). Format it as EFI System.
2. A Swap partition. How much RAM do you have? If you have 16GB, maybe 4GB of swap is plenty.
3. The Root partition. This is the rest.

Label them. Be precise. Use mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1 for the boot and mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3 (or whatever your numbers are) for the main system. EXT4 is the "old reliable." People talk about BTRFS and ZFS—and they’re cool—but if you're reading this, stick to EXT4 for now. It won't let you down.

The Core: Pacstrap and the Soul of the System

Now you mount the disk. mount /dev/sda3 /mnt.
Then you create a folder for boot: mkdir -p /mnt/boot and mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot.

Now we use pacstrap. This is the moment your computer stops being a USB stick and starts being a Linux machine.
pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware

Wait.

Don't just run that. You need a text editor. Add vim or nano to that list. You also need networking tools for later. Add networkmanager. So it looks like:
pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware vim networkmanager

The Chroot: Entering the Matrix

You’ve copied the files, but you’re still "outside." You need to go "inside."
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
arch-chroot /mnt

The prompt changes. You are now the king of your new, empty castle. It’s quiet in here. No desktop, no browser, just you and the config files. Set your timezone. Link it:
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

🔗 Read more: How to turn off read receipts on iMessage without making it awkward

Edit /etc/locale.gen. Find en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 (or your local equivalent) and delete the #. Run locale-gen. This tells the computer how to talk to you.

The Bootloader: The Final Boss

If you mess this up, the computer won't start. Most people use GRUB. It’s the industry standard.

1. pacman -S grub efibootmgr
2. grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
3. grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Watch the output. If it says "Done" without errors, breathe. You’ve passed the hardest part of arch linux how to install.

Creating a User (Don't Be Root!)

Running as root is like walking around with a loaded gun with the safety off. Create a user.
useradd -m -G wheel yourusername
passwd yourusername

Now, give that user "sudo" powers. Use visudo. Find the line that says %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL and uncomment it. Now you can do things safely.

The "After" Part: GUI and Graphics

You reboot. You see a login prompt. It’s ugly. It’s just text.
You need a Desktop Environment (DE). Most newcomers pick KDE Plasma or GNOME.
For KDE: pacman -S plasma-desktop sddm
systemctl enable sddm
systemctl enable NetworkManager

Reboot again. Suddenly, a mouse cursor. A wallpaper. Windows. It feels like a real computer again, except you know every single nut and bolt that holds it together.

Real Talk: Why Did We Do This?

Why go through the arch linux how to install manual nightmare? Because you now have zero bloat. No "Candy Crush" pinned to your start menu. No telemetry sending your data to a corporate mother-ship. Just the kernel, your drivers, and the desktop you chose.

🔗 Read more: Is the MacBook Air M2 256GB actually slow? Truth about the base model

A Word on the AUR

You're going to hear about the Arch User Repository (AUR). It’s the "secret sauce." It contains almost every piece of software ever written for Linux. But it’s community-maintained. Use a helper like yay. It makes life easier, but remember: always read the PKGBUILD file. People can put weird stuff in there.

Moving Forward with Your New Build

So, you're in. Now what? The journey doesn't end at the login screen.

• Check your microcode: If you have an Intel or AMD CPU, you need intel-ucode or amd-ucode. It fixes security bugs at the hardware level. Install it via pacman and regenerate your GRUB config.
• Pick a browser: pacman -S firefox. Simple.
• Sound Check: Arch moved to pipewire recently. It’s better than the old PulseAudio. Install pipewire-pulse to get everything working smoothly.
• The Wiki is Law: The Arch Wiki is the best documentation in the entire tech world. Seriously. If you have a problem, don't ask Reddit first. Search the Wiki.

Don't panic if something goes wrong. Arch is about the "learning" as much as the "using." Your first install might take three hours. Your second will take twenty minutes. You've officially entered the world of "I use Arch, btw." Use it well.

Next Steps for Your System:
Start by configuring your firewall using ufw. It’s simple and essential. Then, look into "Pacman hooks"—they can automate things like clearing your package cache so your SSD doesn't fill up with old versions of software you don't use anymore. Finally, explore different window managers like i3 or Sway if you want to ditch the traditional desktop look entirely.