It is possible to install any init system (openrc, runit, s6, or dinit) from any ISO. Also, you can perform a base installation (as described in this article) from within any non-base ISO image, using the terminal; this way you can benefit from the auto-configured networking and web browser availability of our DE installation media. In fact, unless you are very experienced or doing a headless server installation, there is little reason to use the base images.
Artix can either be installed through the console or the GUI installer. The GUI install is quite straightforward, we'll focus on the console installation procedure here. The installation images are confirmed to work on both BIOS and UEFI systems.
To check the available layout types:
ls -R /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
Then type the name of the layout without the extension. For example, to set the Spanish(Spain) layout, type:
loadkeys es
This only sets the selected keyboard layout in the current tty and only until reboot. To make the setting permanent, you have to edit /etc/conf.d/keymaps in the installed system.
It's also useful to set up /etc/vconsole.conf - it may look like this:
FONT_MAP=8859-1_to_uni FONT=lat1-16 KEYMAP=de-latin1
Partition your hard drive (/dev/sda will be used in this guide) with fdisk or cfdisk, the partition numbers and order are at your discretion:
cfdisk /dev/sda
If you want to install side-by-side with other operating systems, you must make some space on the disk by resizing the existing partitions. You may use gparted for this, however detailed instructions are out of the scope of this guide. See the ArchWiki
NOTE: On UEFI systems with a GPT-partitioned disk, there must be an EFI system partition (ESP). The suggested size is around 512 MiB.
Next, format the new partitions, we will use ext4 in this example:
mkfs.ext4 -L ROOT /dev/sda2 <- root partition mkfs.ext4 -L HOME /dev/sda3 <- home partition, optional mkfs.ext4 -L BOOT /dev/sda1 <- boot partition, optional mkswap -L SWAP /dev/sda4 <- swap partition
The -L switch assigns labels to the partitions, which helps referring to them later through /dev/disk/by-label without having to remember their numbers
If you are doing a UEFI installation, the ESP needs to be formatted as fat32.
mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1 fatlabel /dev/sda1 ESP
Now, activate your swap space and mount your partitions:
swapon /dev/disk/by-label/SWAP (if created) mount /dev/disk/by-label/ROOT /mnt mkdir /mnt/boot mkdir /mnt/home mount /dev/disk/by-label/HOME /mnt/home (if created) mount /dev/disk/by-label/BOOT /mnt/boot (if created) mkdir /mnt/boot/efi (UEFI) mount /dev/disk/by-label/ESP /mnt/boot/efi (UEFI)
A working Internet connection is required and assumed. A wired connection is setup automatically, if found. Wireless ones must be configured by the user.
In contrast to systemd-based distributions, Artix uses traditional interface names, which were used before systemd. Here is an overview:
| Description | Interface name |
|---|---|
| Loopback | lo |
| Ethernet | eth0, eth1... |
| Wireless | wlan0, wlan1... |
If you want to connect through a wireless interface you should use a wireless connection manager, most likely wpa_supplicant (supporting WPA/WPA2) or iw (supporting WEP) and dhcpcd to set it up. See Network configuration/Wireless in the Arch wiki, substituting any systemd features with those pertaining to the used init. Verify your connection before you proceed:
ping artixlinux.org
Activate the NTP daemon to synchronize the computer's real-time clock:
rc-service ntpd start
or
sv up ntpd
or
s6-rc -u change ntpd
or
dinitctl start ntpd
Use basestrap to install the base and optionally the base-devel package groups and your preferred init (currently available: openrc, runit, s6, and dinit):
basestrap /mnt base base-devel openrc elogind-openrc
or
basestrap /mnt base base-devel runit elogind-runit
or
basestrap /mnt base base-devel s6-base elogind-s6
or
basestrap /mnt base base-devel dinit elogind-dinit
If you encounter errors, you can use the -i flag of basestrap ('interactive'). Example:
basestrap -i /mnt base
and you will be prompted to choose the respective elogind.
Artix provides three kernels: linux, linux-lts and linux-zen, but you can use any other kernel you like ('-ck, -pf' etc). It is very recommended to install linux-firmware too. You can try not installing it, but some devices such as network cards may not work.
basestrap /mnt linux linux-firmware
or
basestrap /mnt linux-lts linux-firmware
Use fstabgen to generate /etc/fstab, use -U for UUIDs as source identifiers and -L for partition labels:
fstabgen -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab <- edit and verify, also set root, swap, home and etc..
Check the resulting fstab for errors before rebooting. Now, you can chroot into your new Artix system with:
artix-chroot /mnt # formerly artools-chroot
Set the time zone:
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime
Run hwclock to generate /etc/adjtime:
hwclock --systohc
Note that this will default to UTC. If you use Windows and you want the time to be synchronized in both Artix and Windows, follow System_time#UTC_in_Windows:ArchWiki for instructions to enable UTC in there also.
Install a text editor of your choice (let's use nano here) and edit /etc/locale.gen, uncommenting the locales you desire:
pacman -S nano nano /etc/locale.gen
Generate your desired locales running:
locale-gen
To set the locale systemwide, create or edit /etc/locale.conf (which is sourced by /etc/profile) or /etc/bash/bashrc.d/artix.bashrc or /etc/bash/bashrc.d/local.bashrc; user-specific changes may be made to their respective ~/.bashrc, for example:
export LANG="en_US.UTF-8" <-- localize in your languages export LC_COLLATE="C"
First, install grub and os-prober (for detecting other installed operating systems):
pacman -S grub os-prober efibootmgr grub-install --recheck /dev/sda # for BIOS systems grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=grub # for UEFI systems grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
NOTE: On GPT-partitioned drives, refer to ArchWiki:Grub article.
Alternatively, you can use some other bootloaders or even the own kernel using EFISTUB. Bear in mind that we won't cover them here since most are not supported officially and the Arch Wiki already provides enough documentation. See the ArchWiki:Bootloader article if you want to view the alternatives. If you have an Intel or AMD CPU, enable microcode updates in addition.
First, set the root passwd:
passwd
Second, create a regular user and password:
useradd -m user passwd user
Create the hostname file:
nano /etc/hostname myhostname
Now add matching entries to hosts:
nano /etc/hosts 127.0.0.1 localhost ::1 localhost 127.0.1.1 myhostname.localdomain myhostname
If the system has a permanent IP address, it should be used instead of 127.0.1.1.
If you use OpenRC you should add your hostname to /etc/conf.d/hostname too:
hostname='myhostname'
And install your prefered DHCP client
pacman -S dhcpcd or dhclient
If you want to use a wireless connection, be sure to also install wpa_supplicant.
Note: In Runit, s6, and dinit, enabling a service by default at this step requires a different command than the normal one because the init systems rely on a /run (a tmpfs) to be created. That creation occurs when you actually boot into the new system. You can choose to skip these steps and and enable the services after a reboot if you wish using the commands listed on the Runit, s6, and dinit pages. Just be sure you have an internet daemon and its respective service script installed first.
In this example, we'll use connman and assume a GTK-based DE. For Qt-based DEs, the GUI is not included in the Artix repositories. Instead, there is a program called cmst (for LXQt, also lxqt-connman-applet) in AUR. It is the user's responsibility to manage installing programs from AUR, if desired. Plasma has a built-in network indicator, but unfortunately it only supports NetworkManager. Using several different network management programs at the same time is discouraged, as it can only lead to network issues.
Install connman and optionally a front-end:
pacman -S connman-openrc connman-gtk rc-update add connmand
Install connman and optionally a front-end:
pacman -S connman-runit connman-gtk ln -s /etc/runit/sv/connmand /etc/runit/runsvdir/default
Install connman and optionally a front-end:
pacman -S connman-s6 connman-gtk touch /etc/s6/adminsv/default/contents.d/connmand s6-db-reload
install connman and optionally a front-end:
pacman -S connman-dinit connman-gtk ln -s ../connmand /etc/dinit.d/boot.d/
Alternatively, if you will use openrc, Gentoo's netifrc modules can be used, these are located in /etc/init.d/ and work on a script-per-interface basis.
ip -s link <- Get the exact name of your interface
nano /etc/conf.d/net <- Add config_<interface>="dhcp"
Now the parent script /etc/init.d/net.lo should be symlinked to create additional scripts for each network interface and then loaded into an openrc runlevel.
ln -s /etc/init.d/net.lo /etc/init.d/net.<interface> rc-update add net.<interface> default
Now, you can reboot and enter into your new installation:
exit <- exit chroot environment umount -R /mnt reboot
Once shutdown is complete, remove your installation media. If all went well, you should boot into your new system. Log in as your root to complete the post-installation configuration. See Archlinux's general recommendations for system management directions and post-installation tutorials.
To get a graphical environment you need to install the xorg group:
pacman -S xorg
Read the Archlinux's Xorg wiki, for information on how Xorg chooses the best available video driver and which one is optimal for your hardware and how properly set Xorg server.
Install your favorite desktop environment, for example KDE, GNOME, MATE, XFCE4 or LXQt:
pacman -S plasma kde-applications pacman -S mate mate-extra system-config-printer blueman connman-gtk pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies pacman -S lxqt
See also: Artix Linux: Installation of XFCE4 (might be outdated!)
Each DM has its own openrc package, which brings openrc's DM setup in line with runit and s6 counterparts. Currently we support XDM, LightDM, GDM, SDDM and LXDM.
for example:
pacman -S sddm-openrc or sddm-runit or sddm-s6 or sddm-dinit
Be sure to add the service to start automatically at boot time.
Or you can use .xinitrc to launch your DE manually; edit (or create) ~/.xinitrc and add exec mate-session.
Notice: mate-session and quite a few other packages from the Arch repositories are compiled against systemd even if they don't actually use it, at least not as PID1; to satisfy the library link you may install elogind and its services files elogind-openrc, elogind-runit, elogind-s6, or elogind-dinit.
pacman -S elogind