Configure the system

Use nano to edit files: Ctrl+O followed by Enter saves, and Ctrl+X exits.

Hostname

Replace myhostname with your computer's name:

echo myhostname > /etc/hostname

Locale and keyboard

Edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment the UTF-8 locales you need, including en_US.UTF-8 if using the example below:

nano /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf

Set your console keymap before generating the initramfs. This example uses German; choose the layout you used in the live ISO:

echo KEYMAP=de-latin1 > /etc/vconsole.conf

Desktop keyboard layouts are configured separately after login.

Time and networking

Replace Region/City with your timezone, for example Europe/Berlin:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc
systemctl enable systemd-timesyncd.service NetworkManager.service

NetworkManager handles the installed system's network connections. Wi-Fi credentials from the ISO are not copied automatically; connect again after reboot.

Pacman

Edit /etc/pacman.conf. For Steam or other software requiring 32-bit libraries, uncomment both lines of the multilib repository:

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

Optionally enable Color and set ParallelDownloads = 5 in the options section. After changing repositories, perform a full upgrade:

pacman -Syu

Avoid partial upgrades such as refreshing databases and installing packages without upgrading the system. See System maintenance.