Arch Linux with Xfce4/i3 Installation Guide

_{Updated: March 2024
Author: Maxim Pershin}

Getting Started

Welcome to the Arch Linux Installation Guide with Xfce4 Desktop Environment!

This guide provides you with a step-by-step walkthrough of installing Arch Linux along with the Xfce4 desktop environment. It has been carefully created based on my own experience of installation Arch Linux on multiple devices over the years. This guide aims to make your installation process as smooth as possible.

To begin your Arch Linux installation, please follow the step-by-step instructions provided below.

Support and Feedback

If you have any suggestions, corrections, or encounter any issues while following the guide, I encourage you to get involved through Github.

Issues: If you come across any problems or have specific questions, please open an issue on the Github repository for this guide. This allows me to track and address your concerns effectively.

Pull Requests: If you have improvements or additions to the guide, feel free to submit a pull request. Your contributions can help enhance the clarity of the guide for everyone.

Downloading Arch Linux image

1. Go to Arch Linux downloads page https://archlinux.org/download/

2. Find HTTP Direct Downloads section and choose any download mirror. Select a mirror that is geographically closer to your location.

3. On the mirror page find archlinux-2023.06.01-x86_64.iso or archlinux-x86_64.iso or any other file with .iso suffix. Other files (like .txt, .tar.gz and even .iso.sig) are not needed for installation process.

Preparing installation medium

1. Insert a USB-stick into your PC with at least 2Gb of space availavle on it.

2. Find corresponding block device for USB-stick in /dev folder. Usually it is /dev/sdb.

IMPORTANT NOTE: you need block device without a number on the end. If you have for example /dev/sdb, /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdb2 you need /dev/sdb !

3. Burn previously downloaded Arch Linux ISO-image on a USB-stick (in my case it is /dev/sdb):

sudo dd if=./archlinux-2023.06.01-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdb conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress

Installation

1. Insert the installation medium into the computer on which you are installing Arch Linux.

2. Power on your PC and press boot menu key. For Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon series laptop, this key is F12.

3. Boot from USB-stick and wait until boot process is finished.

IMPORTANT NOTE: not every device can run a system from USB-stick out of the box. Many BIOS'es by default come with activated Secure boot option.You might need to deactivate it in your BIOS.

4. (Step is optional if you are using wired connection) Connect to WiFi using iwctl and check connection is established:

iwctl
[iwd]# station wlan0 get-networks
[iwd]# station wlan0 connect <Name of WiFi access point>
[iwd]# exit
ping 1.1.1.1

5. Syncronize pacman packaes:

pacman -Syy

6. Partition main device using fdisk utility (you can find the name using lsblk command).

fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

# repeat until all existing partitions are deleted

Command (m for help): d

# create partition 1: efi

Command (m for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1): \Enter
First sector (..., default 2048): \Enter
Last sector ...: +256M

# create partition 2: main (use -<double size of your RAM on last step>G)

Command (m for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2): \Enter
First sector (..., default ...): \Enter
Last sector ...: -32G

# create partition 3: swap

Command (m for help): n
Partition number (3-128, default 3): \Enter
First sector (..., default ...): \Enter
Last sector ...: \Enter

# change partition types

Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-3, default 1): 1
Partion typr or alias (type L to list all): uefi

Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-3, default 2): 2
Partion typr or alias (type L to list all): linux

Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-3, default 3): 3
Partion typr or alias (type L to list all): swap

# write partitioning to disk

Command (m for help): w

7. Create filesystems on created disk partitions:

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/nvme0n1p1 # on EFI System
mkfs -t ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p2   # on Linux filesystem partition
mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p3         # on Linux swap

8. Correctly mount all filesystems to the /mnt:

mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot/efi
swapon /dev/nvme0n1p3

9. Install essential packages into new filesystem and generate fstab:

pacstrap -i /mnt base linux linux-firmware sudo vim
genfstab -U -p /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab

10. Chroot into filesystem:

arch-chroot /mnt

11. Setup system locale:

vim /etc/locale.gen
# uncomment `en_US.UTF-8` and `en_GB.UTF-8` inside /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen

12. Configure timezone, set your own:

echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin /etc/localtime

13. Setting up hardware clock:

hwclock --systohc

14. Setup hostname and /etc/hosts, use your own hostname:

echo carbon > /etc/hostname
vim /etc/hosts

# 127.0.0.1    localhost
# ::1          localhost
# 127.0.1.1    carbon

15. Add new user:

useradd -m -G wheel,storage,power,audio,video,docker -s /bin/bash max

16. Setup root and user passwords:

passwd
passwd max

17. Add wheel group to sudoers to allow sudo from user:

visudo

# uncomment this line in file:
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

18. Install and configure grub:

pacman -S grub efibootmgr
grub-install /dev/nvme0n1
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

19. Install NetworkManager:

pacman -S dhcpcd networkmanager resolvconf
systemctl enable sshd
systemctl enable dhcpcd
systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl enable systemd-resolved

20. Exit chroot, unmount all disks and reboot:

exit
umount /mnt/boot/efi
umount /mnt
reboot

Configuring installed Arch Linux

1. Activate time syncronization using NTP:

timedatectl set-ntp true

2. Connect to WiFi using nmcli:

nmcli device wifi connect <SSID> password <password>

3. Install Xorg:

sudo pacman -S xorg xorg-apps xorg-xinit xdotool xclip

4. Install useful packages:

sudo pacman -S bind dialog intel-ucode git reflector bash-completion w3m
sudo pacman -S base-devel lshw zip unzip htop xsel tree fuse2 keychain arandr powertop inxi
sudo pacman -S wget iw wpa_supplicant openbsd-netcat axel tcpdump mtr net-tools rsync conntrack-tools ethtool
sudo pacman -S sof-firmware pulseaudio alsa-utils alsa-plugins pavucontrol

5. Install SSD TRIM:

sudo systemctl enable fstrim.timer

6. Install Xfce

sudo pacman -S dbus xfce4 xfce4-screenshooter \
  thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin \
  xfce4-xkb-plugin xfce4-battery-plugin xfce4-datetime-plugin xfce4-mount-plugin \
  xfce4-netload-plugin xfce4-notifyd xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin xfce4-screensaver \
  xfce4-wavelan-plugin xfce4-weather-plugin xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin network-manager-applet

or install i3

sudo pacman -S i3-wm i3status i3lock lxappearance
sudo pacman -S polybar rofi ranger thunar alacritty dunst feh \
               xss-lock picom light pango flameshot gsimplecal \
               thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin

7. Install desktop manager:

sudo pacman -S ly
sudo systemctl enable ly

8. Setup bluetooth:

sudo pacman -S bluez bluez-utils blueman
sudo systemctl enable bluetooth

9. Impreove battary usage:

sudo pacman -S tlp tlp-rdw acpi acpi_call
sudo systemctl enable tlp
sudo systemctl mask systemd-rfkill.service
sudo systemctl mask systemd-rfkill.socket

10. Install essential fonts:

sudo pacman -S noto-fonts noto-fonts-emoji ttf-ubuntu-font-family ttf-dejavu ttf-freefont
sudo pacman -S ttf-liberation ttf-droid ttf-roboto terminus-font

11. Install themes and icons:

sudo pacman -S arc-gtk-theme
sudo pacman -S papirus-icon-theme

12. Setup the fastest pacman mirror, choose nearest countries:

sudo reflector --country Germany,Austria,Switzerland --fastest 10 --threads `nproc` --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

13. Intall printing settings:

sudo pacman -S cups cups-filters cups-pdf system-config-printer --needed
sudo systemctl enable cups.service

Important if there is no option for system-config-printer in xfce4-settings-manager, go to /usr/share/applications/system-config-printer.desktop and set Categories=System;Settings;X-XFCE-SettingsDialog;X-XFCE-HardwareSettings;

14. Install NetworkManager additionals:

sudo pacman -S nm-connection-editor networkmanager-openvpn

Important if there is no option for nm-connection-editor in xfce4-settings-manager, go to /usr/share/applications/nm-connection-editor.desktop and set Categories=System;Settings;X-XFCE-SettingsDialog;X-XFCE-HardwareSettings;

15. Reboot again:

reboot

Hibernation support

1. Open you /etc/fstab and find UUID for your swap partition.

2. Open grub configuration file:

sudo vim /etc/default/grub

3. Find option GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="..."

4. Insert resume=UUID=<uuid of swap partition from /etc/fstab> (example: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT='... resume=UUID=17f82588-0b79-419a-954c-4a9a1ee90b70')

5. Regenerate grub config:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

5. Open mkinitcpio configuration file:

sudo vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

6. Find option HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck"

7. After udev insert hook resume (like this: ... base udev resume ...)

8. Regenerate initramfs:

sudo mkinitcpio -p linux

9. You can now use:

sudo systemctl hibernate

Additional: installing client apps

These all are my personal apps, so you can use your own

General

sudo pacman -S chromium telegram-desktop discord libreoffice fontforge gparted obs-studio \
               tilix vlc remmina wireshark-qt neofetch evince gimp spotify-launcher \
               shotwell file-roller shotcut inkscape evolution mousepad redshift klavaro

Yubikey

sudo pacman -S yubikey-personalization-gui yubikey-manager

Wine

1. Go to /etc/pacman.conf and uncomment (or add) following lines:

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

2. Update pacman package databases:

sudo pacman -Syu

3. Install wine using pacman:

sudo pacman -S wine wine-mono wine-gecko winetricks zenity

4. Configure smooth font:

winetricks settings fontsmooth=rgb

Important: if you are stuck with error wine: Read access denied for device L"\\??\\Z:\\", FS volume label and serial are not available., go to ~/.wine/dosdevices, remove z: symbolic link and make it point to your $HOME.

DevTools

# General
sudo pacman -S neovim tree-sitter tree-sitter-cli stow sqlite3 tldr \
               jq tmux openvpn wireguard-tools zip unzip virtualbox \
               nmap masscan pgcli redis ripgrep gitui lazygit \
               gpick apache rclone websocat ansible sshpass meld

sudo setcap 'cap_net_raw+epi' /usr/bin/masscan

# Devops
sudo pacman -S docker docker-compose kubectl helm aws-cli-v2 terraform etcdctl
sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo usermod -a -G docker max
newgrp docker

# Python
sudo pacman -S python-pip python-poetry

# C, C++ and Low Level Tools
sudo pacman -S gcc gdb cmake ninja clang cuda
sudo pacman -S nasm cdrtools qemu-full

# Lua
sudo pacman -S lua

# Golang
sudo pacman -S go
go install github.com/fullstorydev/grpcurl/cmd/grpcurl@latest

# Javascript
sudo pacman -S nodejs npm yarn

# Java
sudo pacman -S jdk20-openjdk

# Rust
sudo pacman -S rust

# Virtualbox
sudo pacman -S linux-headers
sudo pacman -S virtualbox-host-dkms
sudo pacman -S virtualbox

# Architecture
sudo pacman -S plantuml
yay -S gaphor

# Network emulation
yay -S gns3-server gns3-gui

# Hugo
sudo pacman -S hugo dart-sass

Install AUR package manager

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

Install AUR packages

# Etcd
yay -S etcd

# Slack
yay -S slack-desktop

# Solidity
yay -S solidity

# Legacy python versions
yay -S python36 python37 python38 python39 python310

Requires manual download

1. Dart / Flutter (https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install/linux)
2. Joplin (https://joplinapp.org/help/#installation)

Install texlive (LaTeX)

1. Donwload texlive installer

wget http://mirrors.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl-unx.tar.gz

2. Upack archive

mkdir ./texlive
tar -xvf install-tl-unx.tar.gz -C texlive --strip-components=1

3. Enter texlive dir

cd ./texlive

4. Run install (and select nearest CTAN mirror):

sudo ./install-tl -select-repository

Setup Android DevTools

• Download zip-archive from here: https://developer.android.com/studio (Command line tools only section).
• Run unzip commandlinetools-linux-..._latest.zip
• Run mkdir -p ~/Android/cmdline-tools/latest
• Run mv ./cmdline-tools/* ~/Android/cmdline-tools/latest/
• Run rmdir cmdline-tools (downloaded one, not in ~/Android/...).
• Set ANDROID_HOME environment variable to $HOME/Andoird.
• Run sdkmanager "platform-tools" "platforms;android-29"
• Run sdkmanager "build-tools;29.0.3"
• Run sdkmanager --licenses
• Run sdkmanager --update

Tools for reverse engineering CTF's

Binaries: gdb, strace, ltrace, ldd, objdump radare2, frida, Ghidra, IDA Pro, cutter + rz-ghidra + cutterref, angr-management API Monitor, PEiD, UpxUnpacker

Python: pycdc

Java: jd-gui, jadx

C#: Avalonia ILSpy

Fix broken hibernation

In some Linux kernels there are some broken USB 3.0 device drivers, that sometimes wake up the system right after you launch hibernation process. If you see errors like this in your dmesg command output after an unsuccessful hibernation:

[80136.941050] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: PM: pci_pm_freeze(): hcd_pci_suspend+0x0/0x20 returns -16
[80136.941062] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: PM: dpm_run_callback(): pci_pm_freeze+0x0/0xc0 returns -16
[80136.941073] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: PM: failed to freeze async: error -16

Put it in /usr/lib/systemd/system-sleep/xhci (file must be executable):

#!/bin/sh

run_pre_hook() {
    echo "Disable broken xhci module before suspending at $(date)..." >> /tmp/systemd_suspend_log
    grep XHC.*enable /proc/acpi/wakeup && echo XHC > /proc/acpi/wakeup
}

run_post_hook() {
    echo "Enable broken xhci module at wakeup from $(date)" >> /tmp/systemd_suspend_log
    grep XHC.*disable /proc/acpi/wakeup && echo XHC > /proc/acpi/wakeup
}

case $1 in
    pre)  run_pre_hook  ;;
    post) run_post_hook ;;
esac

Original solution: https://gist.github.com/ioggstream/8f380d398aef989ac455b93b92d42048

Grub resolution fix

This can help if you have very tiny grub font on your 4k monitor

1. Open /etc/default/grub with text editor.

2. Add these lines (setting multiple resolutions as fallback):

GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT="gfxterm"
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
GRUB_GFXMODE=1920x1080x32,1024x768x32,auto

3 Regenerate grub.cfg:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Lightdm resolution fix

This can help if you have very tiny lightdm font on your 4k monitor

1. Open /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf with text editor.

2. Add following lines to the file:

display-setup-script=xrandr --output eDP-1 --mode 1920x1080

Important: place this line in [Seat:*] section of lightdm.conf file!!!

P.S. your screen output name, like eDP-1 in my case, can be found in xrandr -q

Other small fixes:

• Activate file-roller dark mode: gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme 'prefer-dark'
• Slack remove annoying menu bar: Window -> Always show menu bar -> disable
• If system goes to sleep after 3-5 minutes, this might be screensaver. To stop this, disable option Settings -> Screensaver -> Activate Screensaver when computer is idle
• Sometimes there is Wireguard VPN perimiter, but no DNS server in your company. If so, use resolvectl revert wg0 (change wg0 to your wireguard interface name) to prevent sending DNS requests through interface. This command will disable "DefaultRoute" feature of wg0 interface in systemd-resolved.
• If you face video freezes (or hangs) while not touching keyboard or mouse for some time (usually 1-10 minutes), this might be an issue with picom. Try disabling it to see if this helps. If so, try to change rendering backend of picom from xrender to glx and check if it helps (worked for me).