Arch Linux Installation - Part Four

Picking up from part three, now would be a great time to enable networking.

Network setup

We'll start off enabling the network for a wired connection by entering the following command:

CodeProject

• systemctl enable dhcpcd@eth0.service

If you don't have a wireless card you can skip the following

For enabling wireless, run the following:

• pacman -S wireless_tools wpa_supplicant wpa_actiond dialog
• press Y to proceed with the installation

Now we need to edit our pacman.conf file to enable the multilib package repository.

Enabling Multilib

The reason why we need to enable multilib is so we can run 32-bit applications on our x86_64 system. We do this by editing our pacman.conf.

• nano /etc/pacman.conf

In the pacman.conf look for the [multilib] section and uncomment the following two lines:

• [multilib]
• Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Once that's done press control-o, enter, then control-x to save then exit the pacman.conf.

Next we need to synchronize our package databases:

• pacman -Sy

Creating a user account

So far in this tutorial we've been running as root but it's recommended to create a user account and use the sudo command to run commands as root.

• useradd -m -g users -G wheel,storage,power -s /bin/bash EnterUserNameHere

Then create a password for our user:

• passwd EnterUserNameHere

Installing sudo

To run root commands as a normal user we need to install sudo:

• pacman -S sudo
• Then press Y, enter to install the package

Not every single user can execute a root command it has to be allowed. We will enable this with the following command and process.

• EDITOR=nano visudo

The /etc/sudoers.tmp file will open up in nano. The sudoers file is where you configure who can run the sudo command.

Inside the sudoers file we need to find the line that has %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL and uncomment it. Doing this will allow members of group wheel to execute any command. If you look back at the command where we added our user, wheel was one of the groups our user was assigned to.

Once the line is uncommented press control-o, enter, then control-x to save and exit the file.

Installing grub

The next package we need to install is the grub-bios (grand unified boot loader) used to boot into our system:

• pacman -S grub-bios
• Then press Y, enter to proceed with the installation.

Now we need to install grub to the hard disk:

• grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda

Next we need to copy our locale into grub:

• cp /usr/share/local/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo

Lastly, we need to create the grub configuration file:

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

Congratulations!

So now the Arch Linux installation process is done! Congratulations! so lets test it out.

Type exit to leave the chroot environment. Then unmount our partitions:

• umount /mnt/home
• umount /mnt

Now reboot:

• reboot

Once you've rebooted your vm remove the Arch Linux iso:

• go to Devices -> CD/DVD Devices -> Remove disk from virtual drive

Then reset the vm:

• go to Machine -> Reset

Once Arch is booted up you'll be welcomed by a login command prompt. This is when the fun begins. We can start molding Arch Linux to be what we want it to be!

Wrap Up

In the next tutorial we will start molding Arch into something useful!

Additional Resources

• Arch Linux Locale

Series Links

• Arch Linux Series - Part One
• Arch Linux Series - Part Two
• Arch Linux Series - Part Three
• Arch Linux Series - Part Five