/arch-linux-vm-setup

arch-linux-vm-setup

Here are the steps for Arch Linux installation on a VM.

Create the VM and Boot

  1. Download the Arch Linux ISO image (https://www.techspot.com/downloads/5571-arch-linux.html)
  2. Create a Virtual Machine on VirtualBox (Make sure the VM and VirtualBox are on the same drive (both under C:/ or D:/))
  3. I have used Fixed size virtual HDD to avoid potential issues with Dynamically allocating the memory (I am not sure this is required)
  4. Start the VM
  5. Select "Boot Arch Linux", the first option on setup menu. Then the system should start booting.

Partition the Hard Disk

  1. We will create 3 partitions on the virtual hard disk: The first one will be the primary root partition with half the size of your total mem. size (if you total mem. is 20G, this should be 10G). The second one will be the swap partition, which will be twice the initial RAM allocation (if you allocate 1024M of RAM, this will be 2048). The third will be the logical partition with the remaining memory.
  2. Use cfdisk command to create partitions
  3. Select dos as the label type
  4. Press enter on Free space to create your first partition. Make it primary and bootable.
  5. Repeat the step 4, 2 times to create the other partitions.
  6. Select write to flush the changes. Type yes to confirm.

Format the Partitions

Run the following commands to format the partitions you created in the previous step.

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3 
mkswap /dev/sda2

Activate the swap by running this command

swapon /dev/sda2

Mount the Primary Partition

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
mkdir /mnt/home
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/home

Bootstrap Arch Linux

Bootstrap the system by running this command

pacstrap /mnt base base-devel

It can take a few minutes to complete.

After the installation generate the fstab file by typing:

genfstab /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Change the system root to the Arch Linux installation directory:

arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

Configure Language & Time Settings

  1. To configure language settings we need to install nano or a text editor. We will use pacman (package manager) to download stuff.
pacman -S nano
  1. Select your desired language configuration by deleting the # in front of it and pressing control + x and typing y to quit nano.
  2. Activate it by running
locale-gen
  1. Create the locale.conf by typing:
nano /etc/locale.conf

Add this line to the file:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

  1. Synchronize the zone information: Following command will give you a list of available zones.

ls /usr/share/zoneinfo

  1. Select your zone, I will be using CET

ln –s /usr/share/zoneinfo/CET /etc/localtime

  1. Synchronize the hardware clock

hwclock --systohc --utc

  1. Set the root user password

passwd

Setup Hostname and Networking

nano /etc/hostname

  1. Type any name as your hostname, save and quit.

  2. Install dhcpcd to setup DHCP client

pacman -S dhcpcd

  1. Enable DHCP client

systemctl enable dhcpcd

Install the Bootloader

  1. Initiate the grub installation

pacman -S grub os-prober

  1. Install the grub boot loader to the hard disk by typing

grub-install /dev/sda

  1. Configure it:

grub-mkconfig –o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

  1. Exit from chroot and reboot the system
exit
reboot

Boot into Installed System

  1. After rebooting select "Boot existing OS" to boot Arch Linux
  2. Login with your root name & password.