Install Arch Linux on Kvm

Arch Linux is liked by many people but not that friendly to new users of Linux. Kvm is a light virtual machine, which is contained in most of Linux distributors. This article will show you how to install Arch Linux on Kvm step by step.

Setting Ssh

• [ Arch ] Enable ssh-server

systemctl enable sshd
systemctl start sshd

• [ Arch ] Check sshd status

systemctl status sshd

• [ Arch ] Show guest OS IP address

ip addr

• [ Arch ] Set password for root

passwd root

• [ Host OS ] Connect to Kvm

ssh root@ipaddress

Partition the disk

• List your devices

fdisk -l

/dev/vda will be shown

• Check whether you are using UEFI

ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

( In fact, there is no need checking, as KVM doesn’t support UEFI )

• Create root patition

fdisk /dev/vda

input n → choose p → continue press Entre → input w to save

Make filesystem

• If you choose ext4

mkfs.ext4 /dev/vda1

• If you choose btrfs

mkfs.btrfs /dev/vda1

Choose mirror

Reflector is a good tool to use, however, if you live in China, you’d better choose mirror by hand.

• Archive the former list first

cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.save

• Change the mirror

vim /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

• Within the vim

You can use input the code below to comment all Server

:%s/Server/# Server/g

The use this to search for your country

( I take China as an example )

/China

You can uncommet the server you like, still if you live in China, I recommend the two below

Server = http://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirrors.zju.edu.cn/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch

• Save and quit

:wq

• Refresh the pacman sourve

pacman -Syy

• Update the key

pacman -S archlinux-keyring

Install to your device

• Mount

mount /dev/vda1 /mnt

• Install basic software

pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware vim networkmanager dhcpcd sudo htop openssh

Configure installed system

• Generate fstab file, which defines the disk parition, block devices etc.

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

• Entre mounted disk as root

arch-chroot /mnt

• Set timezone

timedatectl set-timezone Asis/Taipei

• Set location

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

• Change hostname

echo hostname > /etc/hostname

• Create hosts file

vim /etc/hosts

Write these below into it

127.0.0.1	localhost
::1		    localhost
127.0.1.1	hostname

( You should replace hostname with your own hostname above )

• Set root passwd

passwd

• Start networkmanager

systemctl enable NetworkManager.service

• Enable sshd

systemctl enable sshd
systemctl start sshd

Grub install and configure

• Install grub

pacman -S grub

• Configure grub

grub-install /dev/vda
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

( Attention! /vda is the device name not partition name )

Common user

Using root to operate a computer is dangerous, so we need to create a new personal account

• Create user

useradd -m username

• Set password

passwd username

• Add new user to sudo list

vim /etc/sudoers

Add the sentence below after finding the Root

username ALL=(ALL) ALL

• Save and quit

:wq

Graphical interface (Optional)

• KDE plasma

pacman -S xorg plasma plasma-wayland-session kde-applications
systemctl enable sddm.service

• Gnome

pacman -S xorg gnome
systemctl start gdm.service
systemctl enable gdm.service

Exit

• Exit chroot

exit

• Shutdown

poweroff

Reference

https://itsfoss.com/install-arch-linux/

https://itsfoss.com/install-kde-arch-linux/

https://www.viseator.com/2017/05/17/arch_install/

https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/any/archinstall/

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/installation_guide