Install Arch Linux with KDE Plasma: complete UEFI and minimal system guide

Boot from the Arch Linux USB drive

Restart the PC and select the USB drive from the UEFI boot menu, usually opened with F12, F2 or Delete.

Install Arch Linux with the automatic archinstall installer

Since 2021, Arch Linux has included the archinstall guided installer in its ISO. It can create a complete system through an assisted command-line interface.

Run this command in the Arch live terminal:

archinstall

Then follow the steps:

• Choose the language, disk and file system
• Create a user, select KDE and choose the kernel
• Let the installer configure GRUB and the network automatically

Recommended for beginners: archinstall reduces critical mistakes and speeds up the setup.

Install Arch Linux with KDE Plasma: UEFI and a minimal system

Installing Arch Linux can look intimidating. With a rigorous method and a properly prepared system, however, you can obtain a stable, fast and uncluttered environment for everyday use. The following steps take you from the live ISO to a minimal KDE Plasma desktop in UEFI mode.

Boot the ISO and initialize the system

After booting the Arch ISO, select the US keyboard layout and synchronize the system clock:

loadkeys us && timedatectl set-ntp true

Partition the disk in UEFI mode with a GPT table

⚠️ Warning: this step completely erases /dev/sda.

Create two partitions:

• A 512 MB EFI partition for UEFI booting
• A main partition for the Arch system

wipefs -a /dev/sda && 
sgdisk -Z /dev/sda && 
sgdisk -n1:0:+512M -t1:ef00 -c1:EFI /dev/sda && 
sgdisk -n2:0:0     -t2:8300 -c2:ROOT /dev/sda

Format the partitions for Arch Linux

Use FAT32 for the EFI partition and EXT4 for the system partition:

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1 && mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

Mount the partitions before installing Arch Linux

Prepare the installation mount points:

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt && mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi && mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi

Install the base system and GRUB UEFI packages

Install the kernel, firmware, nano editor, sudo, networking tools and GRUB for UEFI:

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware nano sudo networkmanager grub grub-efi-x86_64 efibootmgr

Generate fstab and enter the installed system

Add the mount points to /etc/fstab, then enter the installed Arch environment:

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

Configure the locale and language

Enable US English and the US keyboard layout for the installed system:

echo -e "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.gen && locale-gen && echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf && echo "KEYMAP=us" > /etc/vconsole.conf

Configure the hostname and hosts file

Name the computer archpc and configure its hosts file:

echo "archpc" > /etc/hostname && echo -e "127.0.0.1tlocalhostn::1tlocalhostn127.0.1.1tarchpc.localdomain archpc" > /etc/hosts

Create a user with sudo access

Set a root password, then create the adrien user with administrator privileges:

passwd && useradd -mG wheel adrien && passwd adrien && EDITOR=nano visudo

In visudo, uncomment the line that allows the wheel group to run all commands:

%wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Install GRUB in UEFI mode for Arch Linux

Install GRUB on the EFI partition and generate the bootloader configuration:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=Arch
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Install a minimal KDE Plasma desktop

Install the display server, Plasma environment, file manager, terminal and browser:

sudo pacman -S plasma kde-applications-meta sddm

Then enable the graphical login at startup:

systemctl enable sddm

Enable networking

Enable NetworkManager so it manages connections after the next boot:

systemctl enable NetworkManager

Restart and start using Arch Linux

Leave the chroot, unmount the system cleanly and restart:

exit && umount -R /mnt && reboot

Installation is complete. You now have a clean and fast Arch Linux system with KDE Plasma and no unnecessary software.