Install the system files

Since we will be downloading packages from the Internet, it’s recommended to choose the closest mirror for the fastest download speed. Edit the mirrorlist file with ‘nano’ editor (I prefer nano as it’s easy for new users.

# nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Tip: You can use ‘Ctrl + w’ in nano to search the closest location. Copy the URL of the nearest mirror using Alt+6, use ‘page-up’ keys to go on top of the list and paste the URL using the Ctrl+U keys. Once done, use ‘Ctrl+x’ to save and close the file.

Once mirrorlist is configured, install the base packages:

# pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel

Once all packages are installed, generate the ‘fstab’ file so that it has information about mounted partitions and system can boot into Arch Linux.

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

If you want, you can check the newly generated fstab file

# cat /mnt/etc/fstab

If you notice any errors, please edit the file manually instead of re-running the genfstab command.

Then ‘chroot’ into the newly installed system:

# arch-chroot /mnt

Configure language for the system by editing the ‘locale.gen’ file:

# nano /etc/locale.gen

Find the entry for your language, uncomment it and save the file (in my case it was US English):

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Then run the following commands, one by one:

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

Configure the time zone. Run the following command and follow the simple steps:

# tzselect

Once all steps are completed, it will show you the selected time zone. Now create a symlink to it:

# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Zone/SubZone > /etc/localtime

In my case it was:

# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York > /etc/localtime

Set hardware clock to UTC:

# hwclock --systohc --utc

Our base installation is complete. It’s time to install the boot manager, create the root password and give our hostname a decent identity (optional).

Warning: If you are using WiFi for connectivity, please also install these packages before you reboot the system otherwise you won’t be able to access wireless network:

# pacman -S iw wpa_supplicant dialog

Now you are all set to move to the next step.