Arch Linux VM Setup

Initial Installation

Start Arch Installation

Start Arch Installation:

pacman -Sy archinstall

What this does: Updates package database and installs the guided Arch installer
Why this matters: Provides a user-friendly installation method

archinstall

What this does: Launches the guided Arch Linux installation wizard
Why this matters: Simplifies the traditionally complex Arch installation process

Manual Partition Setup (Alternative)

Check Available Disks:

lsblk

What this does: Lists all block devices and their partitions
Why this matters: Helps identify the target disk for installation

ip addr

What this does: Displays network interface configuration
Why this matters: Confirms network connectivity for package downloads

Partition the Disk:

cfdisk /dev/sda

What this does: Opens a text-based partition editor
Why this matters: Allows manual control over partition layout
Gotcha: Replace /dev/sda with your actual target device

Format Partitions:

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

What this does: Creates a FAT32 filesystem on the EFI partition
Why this matters: UEFI systems require FAT32 for the boot partition

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

What this does: Creates an ext4 filesystem on the root partition
Why this matters: ext4 is the standard Linux filesystem with good performance

Mount and Install Base System

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi

What this does: Mounts the root and EFI partitions
Why this matters: Prepares the target filesystem for installation

reflector --country India --latest 5 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

What this does: Generates an optimized mirror list for faster downloads
Why this matters: Improves package installation speed
Gotcha: Replace "India" with your country for better speeds

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware

What this does: Installs the base Arch Linux system
Why this matters: Provides the minimal system needed to boot

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

What this does: Generates filesystem table with UUIDs
Why this matters: Ensures proper mounting after boot

System Configuration

arch-chroot /mnt

What this does: Changes root into the newly installed system
Why this matters: Allows configuration of the installed system

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Kolkata /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

What this does: Sets the system timezone and syncs hardware clock
Why this matters: Ensures correct time configuration

pacman -S nano vim

What this does: Installs text editors
Why this matters: Needed for editing configuration files

Locale Configuration:

nano /etc/locale.gen

Uncomment: en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

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

What this does: Configures system language settings
Why this matters: Sets the default system language

Network Configuration:

echo "your-hostname" > /etc/hostname

What this does: Sets the system hostname
Why this matters: Identifies the system on the network

Edit /etc/hosts:

nano /etc/hosts

Add:

127.0.0.1   localhost
::1         localhost
127.0.1.1   your-hostname.localdomain your-hostname

User and Security Setup

passwd

What this does: Sets the root password
Why this matters: Secures the system administrator account

pacman -S openssh networkmanager sudo grub efibootmgr base-devel git curl qemu-guest-agent

What this does: Installs essential system packages
Why this matters: Provides networking, SSH, bootloader, and virtualization support

systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl enable sshd
systemctl enable qemu-guest-agent

What this does: Enables essential services to start at boot
Why this matters: Ensures network and SSH access after reboot

Bootloader Installation

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

What this does: Installs and configures the GRUB bootloader
Why this matters: Makes the system bootable

exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot

System Enhancements

Swap File Configuration

sudo fallocate -l 4G /swapfile

What this does: Creates a 4GB swap file
Why this matters: Provides virtual memory for better system performance

sudo chmod 600 /swapfile

What this does: Sets proper permissions on the swap file
Why this matters: Security best practice for swap files

sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

What this does: Initializes and activates the swap file
Why this matters: Makes the swap space immediately available

echo '/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

What this does: Makes swap permanent across reboots
Why this matters: Ensures swap is available after system restart

Verification:

free -h
swapon --show

Development Environment Setup

Install Neovim with NvChad:

sudo pacman -S nvim

What this does: Installs Neovim text editor
Why this matters: Provides a powerful, modern text editor

git clone https://github.com/NvChad/starter ~/.config/nvim

What this does: Installs NvChad configuration for Neovim
Why this matters: Provides a pre-configured IDE-like experience

Shell Environment Enhancement

Install and Configure Zsh:

sudo pacman -S zsh
chsh -s /bin/zsh

What this does: Installs Zsh and sets it as the default shell
Why this matters: Zsh offers better features than bash

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

What this does: Installs Oh My Zsh framework
Why this matters: Provides themes and plugins for enhanced productivity

Install Useful Plugins:

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

What these do: Add autosuggestions and syntax highlighting to Zsh
Why this matters: Improves command-line productivity and reduces errors

Edit ~/.zshrc to enable plugins:

plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting)

Install Powerlevel10k Theme:

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

sudo pacman -S ttf-hack-nerd

What this does: Installs a powerline-compatible font
Why this matters: Required for proper theme display

Set theme in ~/.zshrc:

ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

exec zsh
p10k configure

Additional Tools:

sudo pacman -S fzf nnn neovim htop wget tmux fastfetch elinks yt-dlp mpv

What this does: Installs various productivity and system tools
Why this matters: Provides a complete development environment