Base installation

Mirrors

Optionally rank nearby HTTPS mirrors. Replace Germany with your country:

reflector --country Germany --age 15 --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Install the base system

Run this from the live ISO. Append amd-ucode for an AMD CPU or intel-ucode for an Intel CPU. For the encrypted layout, also append lvm2; cryptsetup is installed as a dependency of the base system.

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware networkmanager nano sudo man-db man-pages pciutils less

The default microcode initramfs hook includes installed CPU microcode. See Microcode.

Kernel headers and DKMS are only needed for external kernel modules. Install headers matching each kernel when you need them.

Generate fstab and enter the system

For this fresh installation, write the filesystem table and inspect it. Re-running this command replaces the file, so preserve any manual edits first:

genfstab -U /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab
cat /mnt/etc/fstab
arch-chroot /mnt

The remaining installation commands run as root inside this chroot until the reboot page tells you to exit.