This post describes an installation of Arch Linux with GPT (GUID partition table), LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup) and LVM (Logical Volume Manager) with the basic graphical window manager i3. LVM is set up on top of LUKS. Systemd-boot is used as an EFI compatible boot manager. I wrote this post, so next time I don’t have to search all the information in the Arch Linux Wiki. For more details, consult the links in the reference section.

Important: This is not a beginners guide for an Arch Linux installation, so you should have basic understanding of Arch Linux, LUKS and LVM. You should understand all options so you can adjust them to your needs.

Preparations

Set keyboard layout:

# loadkeys de_CH-latin1

Activate vi mode for more convinience

# set -o vi

Connect to WiFi:

# wifi-menu

Set system time using NTP:

# timedatectl set-ntp true
# timedatectl status

Disk setup

Setup GUID partition Table (GPT):

# gdisk /dev/sda

o # Create a new empty GUID partition table (GPT)
y # Confirm

# EFI System Partition (ESP)
n # Add a new partition
1 # Partition number
[Return] # First sector
+512M # Last sector = size
ef00 # Partition type = EFI System

# LUKS container
n # Add a new partition
2 # Partition number
[Return] # First sector
[Return] # Last sector = Use remaining space
8e00 # Partition type = Linux LVM

p # Check partitions

w # Write changes to disk and exit
y # Confirm

Format EFI System Partition (ESP):

# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

Encrypt the other partition with LUKS (512 Bit AES-XTS and SHA512 for passphrase):

# cryptsetup luksFormat -v -s 512 -h sha512 /dev/sda2
# cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda2 luks

Setup Logical Volume Manager:

# pvcreate /dev/mapper/luks
# vgcreate rootvg /dev/mapper/luks

Create Logical Volumes:

# lvcreate -n swap -L 4G -C y rootvg # -C = continuous data blocks)
# lvcreate -n root -L 25G rootvg
# lvcreate -n var -L 15G rootvg
# lvcreate -n home -l 100%FREE rootvg

Check LVM Setup:

# pvs
# vgs
# lvs

Create filesystems for LVs:

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/rootvg-home
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/rootvg-root
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/rootvg-var
# mkswap /dev/mapper/rootvg-swap
# swapon /dev/mapper/rootvg-swap

Install base system

Mount LVs and ESP for installation:

# mount /dev/mapper/rootvg-root /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/{var,home,boot}
# mount /dev/mapper/rootvg-home /mnt/home
# mount /dev/mapper/rootvg-var /mnt/var
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Select mirrors:

# vi /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Synchronize repositories:

# pacman -Sy

Install base packages:

# pacstrap /mnt base

Generate fstab file:

# genfstab -p /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab

Chroot into the new system:

# arch-chroot /mnt

Basic configuration

Configure hostname:

# echo chaos > /etc/hostname

Configure timezone:

# $ timedatectl list-timezones | grep Zurich
Europe/Zurich
# timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Zurich

Configure locale:

# vi /etc/locale.gen # uncomment the following locales
en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
en_US ISO-8859-1

Update locales:

# locale-gen

Set language:

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

Configure virtual console:

# echo "KEYMAP=de_CH-latin1" > /etc/vconsole.conf
# echo "FONT=Lat2-Terminus16">> /etc/vconsole.conf

Configure pacman:

# vi /etc/pacman.conf
# Add to [options] section:
Color
ILoveCandy
# Enable Multilib
[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Synchronize repositories:

# pacman -Sy

Install basic software

Install basic packages:

# pacman -S base bash-completion

Install packages for WiFi:

# pacman -S dialog wpa_supplicant wpa_actiond wireless_tools rfkill
# systemctl enable netctl-auto@wlp4s0

Activate IPv6 Privacy extension:

# vi /etc/sysctl.d/ipv6_tempaddr.conf
net.ipv6.conf.all.use_tempaddr = 2
net.ipv6.conf.default.use_tempaddr = 2

Install and configure sudo:

# pacman -S sudo vim
# visudo
%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Activate NTP Client:

# systemctl enable systemd-timesyncd

Install and activate OpenSSH:

# pacman -S openssh rxvt-unicode-terminfo
# systemctl enable sshd # If you want an SSH server running

Configure users

Set root password:

# passwd

Add new user:

# useradd -m -G wheel emanuel
# passwd emanuel

Configure boot environment

Configure hooks for initramfs:

# vi /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
HOOKS=( ... keyboard keymap encrypt lvm2 ... filesystems ...)

Create initramfs:

# mkinitcpio -p linux

Install bootloader

# bootctl install

Create bootloader entry:

# blkid | grep sda2 | cut -f2 -d\" > /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf # Write long UUID to file for later use
# vi /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
options cryptdevice=UUID=da360677-31d9-41da-b738-7c53c9932914:luks root=/dev/mapper/rootvg-root rw

Create default entry:

# vi /boot/loader/loader.conf
timeout 2
default arch

Install basic desktop environment (X11 and i3 window manager)

Install video driver:

# pacman -S xf86-video-intel

Install Xorg

# pacman -S xorg xterm xorg-xrandr
# localectl --no-convert set-x11-keymap ch

Install i3 window manager and desktop environment:

# pacman -S i3-wm i3blocks i3lock i3status dmenu rxvt-unicode xterm xbindkeys zenity xclip figlet

Install login manager

# pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
# systemctl enable lightdm.service

Install basic desktop applications:

# pacman -S acpi feh mpv gnome-terminal nautilus evince eog file-roller gvfs gvfs-gphoto2 gvfs-mtp gvfs-nfs gvfs-smb firefox smbclient

Install some basic terminal applications:

# pacman -S mlocate scrot bind-tools ed jq bc git mosh nmap p7zip zip unzip unrar qrencode the_silver_searcher tmux wget

Install alsa-utils for sound:

# pacman -S alsa-utils pulseaudio-alsa

Themes:

# pacman -S gnome-themes-extra gtk-engine-murrine arc-gtk-theme arc-solid-gtk-theme arc-icon-theme lxappearance-gtk

Finish installation

Reboot into new system:

# exit
# umount -R /mnt
# reboot # Yay!

References

Arch Linux Wiki: Installation Guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/installation_guide
Arch Linux Wiki: EFI System Partition: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#EFI_System_Partition
Arch Linux Wiki: Disk Encryption: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Disk_encryption
Arch Linux Wiki: System Encryption: LVM on LUKS: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dm-crypt/Encrypting_an_entire_system#LVM_on_LUKS
Arch Linux Wiki: LVM: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LVM
Arch Linux Wiki: Systemd-boot: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Systemd-boot