From UEFI boot to desktop — with troubleshooting, example outputs, and step-by-step commands.
Before you begin: Replace placeholders like
<DISK>, <DISK_EFI>, <DISK_ROOT>, <HOSTNAME>, <USER>, <SSID>.
Table of Contents
- 0) Boot ISO & Verify Environment
- 1) Identify Target Disk
- 2) Partition & Format (UEFI)
- 3) Mount Filesystems
- 4) Mirrors & Keyring (Optional)
- 5) Base Install
- 6) Fstab & chroot
- 7) Timezone, Locale, Host, Users
- 8) Bootloader (GRUB)
- 9) Enable Network & Reboot
- 10) First Boot: User, Drivers, Desktop
- Common Errors & Recoveries
- Clean Reinstall Loop
0) Boot ISO & Verify Environment
Confirm UEFI mode, sync time, connect to the internet, and test connectivity.
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loadkeys us ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars # UEFI must exist timedatectl set-ntp true timedatectl # Wi-Fi with iwctl iwctl device list station wlan0 scan station wlan0 get-networks station wlan0 connect "<SSID>" exit # Test network ping -c 2 archlinux.org # expect ~0% packet loss
1) Identify Target Disk
Make sure you know which disk to wipe (the USB installer often shows as /dev/sdX).
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lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,MOUNTPOINT # Example: # sda 28.9G disk # └─sda1 28.9G part /run/archiso/bootmnt (your USB) # nvme0n1 953.9G disk (internal SSD)
Warning: Double-check the disk before wiping. This action is destructive.
2) Partition & Format (UEFI)
Create a GPT layout with an EFI system partition and a root partition (optional swap).
Clean reinstall? The next two commands erase all data on
<DISK>.Copied!
sgdisk --zap-all /dev/<DISK> wipefs -a /dev/<DISK>
2.1 Create GPT: EFI (512MiB) + ROOT (rest) [+ SWAP optional]
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fdisk /dev/<DISK> g n # EFI +512M → t → 1 (EFI System) n # ROOT rest → (Linux filesystem) # optional: n # SWAP size≈RAM → t → 19 (Linux swap) w # sanity check lsblk -o NAME,PARTLABEL,SIZE,TYPE
2.2 Format
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mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/<DISK_EFI> mkfs.ext4 /dev/<DISK_ROOT> # optional swap: mkswap /dev/<DISK_SWAP> && swapon /dev/<DISK_SWAP>
3) Mount Filesystems
Mount root at /mnt and the EFI partition at /mnt/boot.
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mount /dev/<DISK_ROOT> /mnt mkdir -p /mnt/boot mount /dev/<DISK_EFI> /mnt/boot findmnt -rno TARGET,SOURCE /mnt /mnt/boot # expect: # /mnt /dev/<DISK_ROOT> # /mnt/boot /dev/<DISK_EFI>
4) Mirrors & Keyring (Optional)
If downloads are slow or signatures fail, refresh mirrors/keyring.
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pacman -Sy --noconfirm reflector archlinux-keyring reflector --country 'Malta,Italy,Germany' --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
5) Base Install
Install the Linux kernel, firmware, editor, and NetworkManager (plus microcode for your CPU).
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pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware networkmanager vim # CPU microcode (choose ONE) pacstrap -K /mnt intel-ucode # Intel # OR pacstrap -K /mnt amd-ucode # AMD
6) Fstab & chroot
Generate mounts, verify UUIDs, then chroot into the new system.
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genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab cat /mnt/etc/fstab arch-chroot /mnt # expect fstab lines with UUIDs for /, /boot, and swap (if created)
7) Timezone, Locale, Host, Users
7.1 Timezone & Clock
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ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Malta /etc/localtime hwclock --systohc
7.2 Locale
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sed -i 's/^#en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/' /etc/locale.gen locale-gen echo 'LANG=en_US.UTF-8' > /etc/locale.conf
7.3 Hostname & Hosts
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echo <HOSTNAME> > /etc/hostname cat >/etc/hosts <<'EOF' 127.0.0.1 localhost ::1 localhost 127.0.1.1 <HOSTNAME>.localdomain <HOSTNAME> EOF
7.4 Root Password
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passwd
8) Bootloader (GRUB)
Install GRUB to the EFI partition and generate a configuration.
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pacman -S --noconfirm grub efibootmgr grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=Arch grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg # expect: # Installing for x86_64-efi platform. Installation finished. No error reported. # Generating grub configuration file ... done
Dual-boot Windows: enable OS prober.
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pacman -S os-prober sed -i 's/^#\?GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=.*/GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false/' /etc/default/grub os-prober grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
9) Enable Network & Reboot
Enable networking, exit chroot, unmount safely, and reboot into your new system.
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systemctl enable NetworkManager exit umount -R /mnt reboot
10) First Boot: User, Drivers, Desktop
10.1 Create user + sudo
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useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash <USER> passwd <USER> EDITOR=visudo visudo # uncomment: %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
10.2 GPU Drivers
Detect GPU and install the appropriate driver stack.
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lspci | grep -E "VGA|3D" # Intel: pacman -S mesa vulkan-intel # AMD: pacman -S mesa vulkan-radeon # NVIDIA: pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils nvidia-settings echo "options nvidia_drm modeset=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kms.conf
10.3 Desktop Environment
Pick one desktop; enable its display manager.
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# KDE pacman -S xorg plasma sddm konsole dolphin systemctl enable sddm # GNOME pacman -S xorg gnome gdm systemctl enable gdm # XFCE (lightweight) pacman -S xorg xfce4 xfce4-goodies lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter systemctl enable lightdm reboot
10.4 Connect Wi-Fi after desktop (if needed)
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nmcli device nmcli device wifi list nmcli device wifi connect "<SSID>" password "<password>"
Common Errors & Recoveries
A) No internet / DNS error
Symptom: Temporary failure in name resolution
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systemctl restart systemd-resolved timedatectl set-ntp true # Reconnect Wi-Fi with iwctl
B) pacstrap fails to retrieve files
Fix mirrors and keyring; then retry.
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pacman -Sy --noconfirm archlinux-keyring reflector --country 'Malta,Italy,Germany' --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # Retry pacstrap
C) “signature is unknown trust” during pacman
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pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring pacman -Syu
D) Wrong EFI path used with GRUB
Match the --efi-directory to where you mounted EFI.
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# If EFI mounted at /boot/efi: grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=Arch # If EFI mounted at /boot: grub-install --efi-directory=/boot --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=Arch
E) Black screen after NVIDIA
Try Xorg session, enable DRM modeset, or use a temporary VESA driver.
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# Switch to a TTY (Ctrl+Alt+F3), then: echo "options nvidia_drm modeset=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kms.conf pacman -S xf86-video-vesa # temporary fallback # If using GDM Wayland, disable Wayland or choose Xorg session
F) Boots straight to Windows (Arch entry missing)
From ISO, mount, chroot, reinstall GRUB, ensure the Arch entry is first.
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# From ISO: mount /dev/<ROOT> /mnt mount /dev/<EFI> /mnt/boot arch-chroot /mnt grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=Arch grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg efibootmgr # set Arch first if needed
G) “Emergency mode” at boot (fstab UUID mismatch)
Fix the UUIDs in /etc/fstab to match the actual partitions.
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# From ISO: lsblk -f # copy actual UUIDs mount /dev/<ROOT> /mnt nano /mnt/etc/fstab # fix to match lsblk -f
H) Rescue chroot (general repair)
Use this whenever the system doesn’t boot; then re-run the failed step (GRUB, kernel, etc.).
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lsblk -f mount /dev/<ROOT> /mnt mount /dev/<EFI> /mnt/boot arch-chroot /mnt # examples: # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=Arch # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg # pacman -S linux linux-firmware # mkinitcpio -P
Clean Reinstall Loop
When you want a clean slate, repeat this sequence.
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# 1) ISO → set NTP → connect network # 2) lsblk to confirm target # 3) sgdisk --zap-all + wipefs -a # 4) Partition → Format → Mount # 5) Mirrors → Base → Fstab → chroot # 6) Time/Locale/Host → GRUB → NetworkManager # 7) Reboot → User/Sudo → Drivers → Desktop