Complete Guide to install Arch Linux on bare metal from scratch

Install Arch Linux (x86_64) without speakup and etc...
# Welcome to Arch Linux
root@archiso ~ #

ip addr show

lsblk
# Output
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0    7:0    0 766.5M  1 loop /run/archiso/airootfs
sda      8:0    0 447.1G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0   529M  0 part
├─sda2   8:2    0    99M  0 part
├─sda3   8:3    0    16M  0 part
├─sda4   8:4    0 445.8G  0 part
└─sda5   8:5    0   677M  0 part
sdb      8:16   1   3.8G  0 disk
├─sdb1   8:17   1   917M  0 part
└─sdb2   8:18   1    15M  0 part

# choose partition drive you want to use
# sdb seems to be the UEFI USB
fdisk /dev/sda 

#### Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.39.3) ####

# print layout
Command: p
---
Disk model: Maxtor Z1 SSD 48
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 3BC240C3-0837-446D-A76B-BFD95820AFEC

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048   1085439   1083392   529M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda2    1085440   1288191    202752    99M EFI System
/dev/sda3    1288192   1320959     32768    16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda4    1320960 936312831 934991872 445.8G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda5  936312832 937699327   1386496   677M Windows recovery environment
---

# give empty partion table
Command: g
---
Created a new GPT disklabel (GUID: 03DAC614-9A82-414F-99D3-87701165B8BD).
---
Command: p # now empty 
---
Disk /dev/sda: 447.13 GiB, 480103981056 bytes, 937703088 sectors
Disk model: Maxtor Z1 SSD 48
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 03DAC614-9A82-414F-99D3-87701165B8BD
---
Command: n # new partition
---
Partition number (1-128, default 1): 1
First sector (2048-937703054, default 2048): 2048
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-937703054, default 937701375): +1G

Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 1 GiB.
Partition #1 contains a ntfs signature.

Do you want to remove the signature? [Y]es/[N]o: Y # !! will wipe out 

## end of creating first partion for boot process

Command: n
Partition number (2-128, default 2):
First sector (2099200-937703054, default 2099200):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2099200-937703054, default 937701375): +1G

Created a new partition 2 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 1 GiB.

Command: p # current status
---
Disk /dev/sda: 447.13 GiB, 480103981056 bytes, 937703088 sectors
Disk model: Maxtor Z1 SSD 48
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 03DAC614-9A82-414F-99D3-87701165B8BD

Device       Start     End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1     2048 2099199 2097152   1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda2  2099200 4196351 2097152   1G Linux filesystem

Filesystem/RAID signature on partition 1 will be wiped.
---

# 3rd partition will be used to install Linux

Command (m for help): n
Partition number (3-128, default 3):
First sector (4196352-937703054, default 4196352):
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (4196352-937703054, default 937701375): # also leave blank to make sure to allocate all remaining space

Created a new partition 3 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 445.1 GiB.

Command: t
Partition number (1-3, default 3):
Partition type or alias (type L to list all): 44

Changed type of partition 'Linux filesystem' to 'Linux LVM'.

Command: p # current status
---
Disk /dev/sda: 447.13 GiB, 480103981056 bytes, 937703088 sectors
Disk model: Maxtor Z1 SSD 48
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 03DAC614-9A82-414F-99D3-87701165B8BD

Device       Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1     2048   2099199   2097152     1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda2  2099200   4196351   2097152     1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda3  4196352 937701375 933505024 445.1G Linux LVM

Filesystem/RAID signature on partition 1 will be wiped.
---

# fully committing, *NO GOING BACK*
Command: w

The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

# now it will exit fdisk

# Now, continue in `root@archiso ~` shell 
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1 # partition 1
# output
mkfs.fat 4.2 (2021-01-31)

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2 #partition 2
# output, in my case discarding Windows
mke2fs 1.47.0 (5-Feb-2023)
/dev/sda2 contains `Windows Event Trace Log' data
Proceed anyway? (y,N) y
Discarding device blocks: done
Creating filesystem with 262144 4k blocks and 65536 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 1fc4b74a-1b58-4d37-a882-d8bff3506a15
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (8192 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda3 # Where all of our data goes in

WARNING!
========
This will overwrite data on /dev/sda3 irrevocably.

Are you sure? (Type 'yes' in capital letters): YES
Enter passphrase for /dev/sda3: # password needed for every boot
Verify passphrase:
cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda3  23.89s user 0.41s system 67% cpu 35.883 total

# now its partition is encrypted

# `lvm` here is just an arbitrary value
cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sda3 lvm 
# output
cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sda3 lvm  6.74s user 0.08s system 168% cpu 4.054 total

# create a volume for lvm
pvcreate /dev/mapper/lvm 
  Physical volume "/dev/mapper/lvm" successfully created.

# create volume group
vgcreate volgroup0 /dev/mapper/lvm
  Volume group "volgroup0" successfully created

# create logical volume
lvcreate -L 30GB volgroup0 -n lv_root # named lv_root in this section, and its for our root filesystem
  Logical volume "lv_root" created.

lvcreate -L 250GB volgroup0 -n lv_home # can adjust this value, in this case just want to have unclaimed space for it
  Logical volume "lv_home" created.

# clarify
vgdisplay 
  --- Volume group ---
  VG Name               volgroup0
  System ID
  Format                lvm2
  Metadata Areas        1
  Metadata Sequence No  3
  VG Access             read/write
  VG Status             resizable
  MAX LV                0
  Cur LV                2
  Open LV               0
  Max PV                0
  Cur PV                1
  Act PV                1
  VG Size               445.11 GiB
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              113949
  Alloc PE / Size       71680 / 280.00 GiB
  Free  PE / Size       42269 / 165.11 GiB
  VG UUID               6DaiIX-OPYe-0OOf-7jjY-uvCm-hAU0-2MezI2

lvdisplay
  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Path                /dev/volgroup0/lv_root
  LV Name                lv_root
  VG Name                volgroup0
  LV UUID                4TCrsv-ej1s-ztKb-N6xk-kZGr-gJPT-11ExxE
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Creation host, time archiso, 2024-03-01 00:18:42 +0000
  LV Status              available
  # open                 0
  LV Size                30.00 GiB
  Current LE             7680
  Segments               1
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     auto
  - currently set to     256
  Block device           254:1

  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Path                /dev/volgroup0/lv_home
  LV Name                lv_home
  VG Name                volgroup0
  LV UUID                Au9nJC-vduG-807c-jAyZ-J3kB-C2nz-iETE4D
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Creation host, time archiso, 2024-03-01 00:23:09 +0000
  LV Status              available
  # open                 0
  LV Size                250.00 GiB
  Current LE             64000
  Segments               1
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     auto
  - currently set to     256
  Block device           254:2

modprobe dm_mod 
vgscan
  Found volume group "volgroup0" using metadata type lvm2
vgchange -ay # activate all volumes
  2 logical volume(s) in volume group "volgroup0" now active

mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_root
# output
mke2fs 1.47.0 (5-Feb-2023)
Creating filesystem with 7864320 4k blocks and 1966080 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 5337cf64-d898-49bb-ac62-974dff350ab2
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
	4096000

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

mkfs.ext4 /dev/volgroup0/lv_home
# output
mke2fs 1.47.0 (5-Feb-2023)
Creating filesystem with 65536000 4k blocks and 16384000 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 75c4f8d6-d48a-41a0-9202-47a06776c0d3
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
	4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (262144 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_root /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot

mkdir /mnt/home
mount /dev/volgroup0/lv_home /mnt/home

pacstrap -i /mnt base 
# ...
# pacstrap -i /mnt base  9.59s user 4.23s system 70% cpu 19.467 total

# edit fstab file
# to mount at boot time
genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
cat /mnt/etc/fstab

# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.

# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# /dev/mapper/volgroup0-lv_root
UUID=5337cf64-d898-49bb-ac62-974dff350ab2	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime	0 1

# /dev/sda2
UUID=1fc4b74a-1b58-4d37-a882-d8bff3506a15	/boot     	ext4      	rw,relatime	0 2

# /dev/mapper/volgroup0-lv_home
UUID=75c4f8d6-d48a-41a0-9202-47a06776c0d3	/home     	ext4      	rw,relatime	0 2

# If you've followed the step well, it should look like this

arch-chroot /mnt
# command prompt changed

passwd
---
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully

useradd -m -g users -G wheel jaehong21
# primary group: users
# wheel to access sudo
passwd jaehong21
---
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully

pacman -S base-devel dosfstools grub efibootmgr lvm2 mtools vim networkmanager openssh os-prober sudo 
# os-prober (when dual boot is needed)
# pacman -S gnome gnome-tweaks (for GUI desktop)

# (Optional)
systemctl enable sshd

pacman -S linux linux-headers 
# optional (for fail-safe, backup kernel)
pacman -S linux-lts linux-lts-headers
# optional (for hardwares)
pacman -S linux-firmware

lspci # giving PCI info
# If you have Intel or AMD GPU
pacman -S mesa

# If you have NVIDIA GPU
pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils
pacman -S nvidia-lts # for linux-lts

# for Intel
pacman -S intel-media-driver
# for AMD
pacman -S libva-mesa-driver
# for NVIDIA
# video decoding is included

vim /etc/mkinitpio.conf
# at the HOOKS line
# add `encrypt lvm2` between `block` and `filesystems` 

# without it kernel don't know how to deal with encryption & lvm2

mkinitcpio -p linux 
# check in the 
# -> Running build hook: []
# if there is `encrypt` and `lvm2`

mkinitcpio -p linux-lts # need to do for every kernel installed

vim /etc/locale.gen
# uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
locale-gen

vim /etc/default/grub
# GRUB_CMDLINE_DEFAULT
# between `loglevel=3` and `quiet`, add `cryptdevice=/dev/sda3:volgroup0`

# still in status in arch-chroot at /mnt
mkdir /boot/EFI
mount /dev/sda1 /boot/EFI

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck
---
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.

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

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

# if gnome is installed, shows login screen
# gdm: gnome display manager
systemctl enable gdm 

systemctl enable NetworkManager

# exit chroot
exit 

umount -a # unmount everything
# can ignore errors

reboot
# now it will show the gnome GUI