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What to do after you have installed Arch Linux

You've probably just installed Arch Linux, and you'll think, now what? You'll be on a console login, wondering what to do next.

Login as root

Easy as pie, just enter "root", press enter, then type in your password when you are prompted.

Info
You will not have a response to typing in your password. All that is there is...nothing, even if you type something. This is for security reasons. Don't worry! Just enter your password as normal and press enter.

Adding a user

First of all, you will need to add a user. I am assuming you are logged in as root.

adduser

Fill in the details until you get to "Additional groups". Put in

tty,disk,video,audio,optical,storage
If you are going to use sudo
Add "wheel" to save a little bit of time later

Now you will have set up a user!

Installing Xorg

Now we will need to install Xorg. See this tutorial for more information

Installing and setting up Xorg

Installing some fonts

There aren't any decent fonts on your installation at the moment. Run
pacman -S ttf-dejavu
If you want the Microsoft fonts (Arial, Verdana, Courier New, Times New Roman etc.) run
pacman -S ttf-ms-fonts
An alternative to the Microsoft fonts are Red Hat's liberation fonts
pacman -S ttf-liberation
Some decorative fonts called "Funfonts" are available in the AUR. You can install it through Yaourt
yaourt -S ttf-funfonts
or you can look here.

Installing a desktop environment or window manager

Next you will need to install a desktop environment or window manager. If you want a full desktop, a desktop environment is for you. If you like minimal bloat and ultra fast speeds, a window manager is for you. The most common window managers are:

  • Openbox
  • Fluxbox
  • Xmonmad
  • Awesome
  • Ratpoison
  • Dwm

There are many more - too many too list Smile

For tutorials for installing desktop environments, see the navigation bar.