arch

ARCH

Installation Boot - UEFI

• unified flow for the latest official Arch ISO, with GNOME, GDM, and automatic login
• fresh disk + encrypted
• fresh disk + unencrypted
• dual boot with Windows + unencrypted
• this guide assumes UEFI mode and Secure Boot disabled during installation
• if you want Secure Boot later, set it up after Arch is installed
• replace <cpu_microcode> with intel-ucode on Intel or amd-ucode on AMD
• replace all disk and partition placeholders with your real devices
• the encrypted path is based on this gist, credits to mjnaderi

Choose one of those three paths before you start partitioning.

1. Boot, keyboard, network, and disk check

Boot the latest official Arch ISO, then set your keyboard, confirm UEFI mode, connect to the network, and inspect the current disks.

loadkeys br-abnt
cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size
iwctl

Inside iwctl, use your real wireless device name instead of <wireless_device>.

device list
station <wireless_device> scan
station <wireless_device> get-networks
station <wireless_device> connect <SSID>
station <wireless_device> show
exit

Back in the shell, verify connectivity, time sync, and disk layout.

ip link
ping -c 3 ping.archlinux.org
timedatectl
fdisk -l
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,TYPE,MOUNTPOINTS

2. Choose your path

fresh disk + encrypted

• wipes the target disk
• creates an EFI partition, a separate /boot, and an encrypted LUKS + LVM setup

fresh disk + unencrypted

• wipes the target disk
• creates an EFI partition and a root partition

dual boot with Windows + unencrypted

• keeps the existing Windows install
• shrink Windows first from Windows Disk Management
• reuse the existing EFI System Partition
• do not create a new GPT table
• do not format the existing EFI System Partition

3. Partition the disk

Fresh Disk + Encrypted

Use fdisk on the target disk, for example /dev/nvme0n1.

• press g to create a new GPT table
• create partition 1 as +1G for EFI
• change partition 1 type to EFI System
• create partition 2 as +1G for /boot
• create partition 3 using the remaining space for LUKS/LVM
• press p to review the layout
• press w to write changes

fdisk /dev/<target_disk>

Fresh Disk + Unencrypted

Use fdisk on the target disk, for example /dev/nvme0n1.

• press g to create a new GPT table
• create partition 1 as +1G for EFI
• change partition 1 type to EFI System
• create partition 2 using the remaining space for /
• press p to review the layout
• press w to write changes

fdisk /dev/<target_disk>

Dual Boot With Windows + Unencrypted

Use fdisk on the Windows disk, but only create the new Linux partition in the free space.

• do not press g
• press p first and confirm the current Windows layout
• <windows_disk> such as /dev/nvme0n1
• <existing_esp_partition> such as /dev/nvme0n1p1
• <windows_partition> such as /dev/nvme0n1p3
• create one new Linux partition in the unallocated space
• accept the default first sector
• accept the default last sector to use the remaining free space, or set a custom size such as +150G
• press w to write changes

fdisk <windows_disk>
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,TYPE,MOUNTPOINTS

4. Format and mount

Fresh Disk + Encrypted

Format the EFI and /boot partitions, then create the encrypted LVM layout.

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/<efi_partition>
mkfs.ext4 /dev/<boot_partition>
cryptsetup --use-random luksFormat /dev/<luks_partition>
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/<luks_partition> cryptlvm
pvcreate /dev/mapper/cryptlvm
vgcreate vg0 /dev/mapper/cryptlvm
lvcreate --size 150G vg0 --name root
lvcreate -l +100%FREE vg0 --name home
lvreduce --size -256M vg0/home
mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg0/root
mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg0/home
mount /dev/vg0/root /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/<efi_partition> /mnt/efi
mount --mkdir /dev/<boot_partition> /mnt/boot
mount --mkdir /dev/vg0/home /mnt/home

Fresh Disk + Unencrypted

Format the EFI and root partitions, then mount them.

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/<efi_partition>
mkfs.ext4 /dev/<root_partition>
mount /dev/<root_partition> /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/<efi_partition> /mnt/boot

Dual Boot With Windows + Unencrypted

Format only the new Linux partition. Reuse the existing Windows EFI partition without formatting it.

mkfs.ext4 /dev/<new_linux_root_partition>
mount /dev/<new_linux_root_partition> /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/<existing_esp_partition> /mnt/boot

5. Install packages

Install the common packages first.

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware sof-firmware <cpu_microcode> grub efibootmgr networkmanager gnome gnome-tweaks gnome-shell-extensions sudo vim man-db man-pages texinfo

When prompted for the gnome package group, press Enter to install all.

If you chose the encrypted path, also install lvm2.

pacstrap -K /mnt lvm2

If you chose the Windows dual-boot path, also install the Windows detection helpers.

pacstrap -K /mnt os-prober ntfs-3g fuse3

Generate fstab, review it, and chroot into the new system.

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
vim /mnt/etc/fstab
arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

6. Configure the base system

Set the timezone and hardware clock.

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Sao_Paulo /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

Set locales and keyboard layout.

• uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
• uncomment pt_BR.UTF-8 UTF-8

vim /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
echo 'LANG=en_US.UTF-8' > /etc/locale.conf
echo 'KEYMAP=br-abnt' > /etc/vconsole.conf

Set the hostname and hosts file.

echo myhostname > /etc/hostname
cat > /etc/hosts <<'EOF'
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.1.1 myhostname.localdomain myhostname
EOF

Set the root password, create your user, and allow sudo for wheel.

passwd
useradd -m -G wheel --shell /bin/bash username
passwd username
EDITOR=vim visudo

Inside visudo, uncomment:

%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

7. Encryption-only setup

Skip this step if you did not choose the encrypted path.

Edit mkinitcpio.conf and add encrypt and lvm2 to HOOKS before filesystems, then rebuild the initramfs.

vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
mkinitcpio -P

8. Install and configure GRUB

Fresh Disk + Encrypted

Install GRUB to the EFI partition mounted at /efi, then set the encrypted root kernel parameters.

Set GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX to:

cryptdevice=/dev/<luks_partition>:cryptlvm root=/dev/vg0/root

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

Fresh Disk + Unencrypted

Install GRUB to the EFI partition mounted at /boot.

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

Dual Boot With Windows + Unencrypted

Install GRUB to the existing EFI partition mounted at /boot.

Add or uncomment this line in /etc/default/grub before generating the config:

GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

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

9. Enable services and configure automatic login

Enable networking, time sync, and GDM.

systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl enable systemd-timesyncd
systemctl enable gdm

Edit /etc/gdm/custom.conf and under [daemon] set:

AutomaticLogin=username
AutomaticLoginEnable=True

vim /etc/gdm/custom.conf

If GNOME on Wayland gives you GPU problems, you can force Xorg for this user.

mkdir -p /var/lib/AccountsService/users
cat > /var/lib/AccountsService/users/username <<'EOF'
[User]
XSession=gnome-xorg
EOF

10. Finish the installation

Exit the chroot, unmount everything, and reboot.

exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot

11. Dual-boot-only check after first boot

Skip this step unless you chose the Windows dual-boot path.

If Windows does not appear in GRUB after the first boot into Arch, run:

sudo os-prober
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

12. Post-install script note

The post-install script new_arch.sh now favors cooler Intel laptop defaults:

• keeps thermald
• uses TLP instead of mixing multiple power-management layers
• applies a conservative CPU policy for lower heat on Intel laptops

If you want to tune those thermal settings later, edit:

/etc/tlp.d/10-cooler-intel-laptop.conf

For lower temperatures, reduce CPU_MAX_PERF_ON_AC or set CPU_BOOST_ON_AC=0.

For more performance, raise CPU_MAX_PERF_ON_AC back toward 100.