What to do after install arch linux

10 Things to do first after installing Arch Linux

You have just installed Arch Linux and wonder what to do next. I am going to share with you my 10 things to do first after installing Arch Linux.

Arch Linux is very configurable and you can tweak it endlessly. But I believe these 10 things to do first after installing Arch Linux are the most essential for great user experience and security.

You can watch the video tutorial or continue reading below.

1. Install the LTS kernel

The first thing to do after installing Arch Linux is to install the LTS (long-term support) kernel, which is recommended installing if you want to make your Arch system more stable. The LTS kernel gets less frequent updates but it is patched with all the security fixes. First, check if you do not have the LTS kernel already:

If there is not lts in the kernel name, you have a standard Arch Linux kernel. So, you can install the LTS kernel and you also need to reconfigure the GRUB bootloader:

Reboot, and select the LTS kernel in Advanced options of the GRUB menu. After the boot, check if you indeed use the LTS kernel with uname -r .

If everything is fine and your active kernel is the LTS kernel. Feel free to remove the non-lts kernel

2. Install Microcode

Microcode is some kind of software installed on your processor. While microcode can be updated through the BIOS, the Linux kernel is also able to apply these updates during boot. These updates provide bug fixes that can be critical to the stability of your system. For Intel processors install intel-ucode , for AMD processors install linux-firmware . After the installation also update the GRUB:

3. Disable GRUB delay

GRUB is a multiboot loader, developed by the GNU project that allows us to choose which Operating System to boot from the installed ones. It is mainly used in GNU/Linux operating systems. You see this GRUB menu every-time you start the system.

Sometimes this is annoying because it wastes our time. Let’s make the system skip it and load as fast as possible. Open the GRUB configuration file:

Add the following lines to at the end of the file:

Then download this file 31_hold_shift.gz, uncompress it and place it to /etc/grub.d/ .

Make this file executable, and update the GRUB config:

This won’t show GRUB menu during the system load. To show GRUB menu, you need to hold the Shift key during the start-up.

4. Install some key packages

Here, I recommend only cross-desktop packages such as fonts, spell checking dictionaries, Gstreamer plugins, java etc. These are the packages I recommend, check their names in the command below:

I will do a separate video about the applications I install in KDE Plasma 5 desktop.

5. Enable the firewall

A firewall is a computer program that controls the access of a computer to the network and of network elements to the computer, for security reasons. The best way to set up a firewall on Linux is to use iptables, which is a built-in Linux firewall. But it is quite complicated and deserves a separate tutorial. Here, I will show you how to set up an uncomplicated firewall which is fine for a regular user.

First, we must install it:

Next, we must enable the service:

Check the status of the service, to make sure it works:

The default rules to deny incoming and allow outgoing are good for most of the users.

Finally, enable its autostart with the system.

6. Encrypt your home directory

It is wise to make a back up of all your data before this step. Encrypting your home folder is a very good idea if you want to have even more protection for your files. The simplest way to encrypt your home is to use ecryptfs-migrate-home script.

To run it, you need to log out. Switch to a virtual console by simultaneously pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2. In this console, login with the root user name and administrative password and check what processes are owned by your user:

There should be no output. If some processes are active you can kill them or reboot and login as a root again.

Next, install these programs:

Now, you can start encrypting your home folder:

Use the same passphrase as your login password. It is required for auto-mounting during the login.

Log out and log in as a regular user and mount your encrypted home folder:

Unwrap the decryption passphrase and write it down or save outside of your computer.

Now, make sure the files auto-umount and wrapped-passphrase exist:

Then open system-auth file:

And after the line auth required pam_unix.so insert the following content:

Next, above the line containing password required pam_unix.so paste this line:

And finally, after the line session required pam_unix.so write:

See the final result in the image below.

Reboot and check if you can log in to your user account. If everything is fine, it is safe to remove the backup of your home which was created during the migration. It is named with your username and some random characters.

7. Remove orphans

After installing Arch Linux and configuring it, you can little clean your system. This is important if you want to save disk space and improve disk performance. You can remove unused packages (orphans) and their configuration files.

I have no unused packages on my system (image above), but you may have some listed after that command.

8. Optimize pacman’s database

Arch Linux performance can be further enhanced by optimizing the pacman package manager with the following command:

This improves the speed at which pacman accesses the system’s databases.

9. Check for errors

First, check for failed systemd services:

Second, check for errors in logfiles:

If you find some errors, google them. If they are serious, try to fix. The errors you see on my system (image above) are not very dangerous as far as I know.

10. Backup the system

It is always good to have a backup of the system, so you can recover it in case there is a problem with it. And it is the last thing to do after installing Arch Linux.

I have already described how to back up your system in this post. Please, read it. Here, I only provide the commned to back up everything except some unnecessary directories:

As a conclusion, I would like to say that Arch Linux is very configurable and adaptable to many situations. So, there are many other things do after installing Arch Linux, but these 10 are the most essential in my view.

I hope this tutorial was useful for you. Let me know what you would add to this list by commenting below. And please share it.

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7 Essential Things To Do After Installing Arch Linux

Last updated June 1, 2020 By Ambarish Kumar 43 Comments

Brief: This tutorial shows you a few essential things to do after installing Arch Linux. This will help you get started with Arch Linux so that you can explore it further.

Earlier I showed you how to install Arch Linux. Today, I am going to list a few basic and yet important things to do after installing Arch Linux.

By this time, you probably already know that Arch Linux comes with a minimal installation and lets you build your own system on top of it. From installing desktop environments to media codecs and your favorite applications, everything has to be done by you.

This do-it-yourself (DIY) approach is what many Arch Linux users prefer. If you want things running out of the box, you should use Manjaro Linux. Manjaro is based on Arch minus the hassle.

Cutting down the chit-chat, let’s see what to do after installing Arch Linux.

Must to do things after installing Arch Linux

While at It’s FOSS, we focus on beginner centric approach and hence we suggest plenty of GUI based approach, this won’t be the case here.

Arch Linux is sort of expert domain and we believe if you use Arch, you are not afraid of using the terminal. This is why the steps mentioned here are command line based.

0. Update your system

You might already have used the latest release, but it’s advisable to check for the latest update for your Arch System:

1. Installing X server, Desktop Environment and Display Manager

Before installing a desktop environment (DE), you will need to install the X server which is the most popular display server.

Once it’s completed, use any of the below commands to install your favorite desktop environment.

To install GNOME:

To install Cinnamon:

To install XFCE:

To install MATE:

You will also need a display manager to log in to your desktop environment. For the ease, you can install LXDM.

Once installed, you can enable to start each time you reboot your system.

Reboot your system and you will see the LXDM login screen, select your desktop environment from the list and login.

This is how my system looks like with LXDM and GNOME.

2. Install an LTS kernel

Why should you install LTS kernel in Arch Linux when it is supposed to be cutting edge?

Installing an LTS kernel means you have a more stable kernel with better support to older hardware. Also, the LTS kernels are supported for at least 2 years with bug fixes and performance enhancements.

If you rather choose to use the latest Linux kernel, you may find regression and bugs introduced by the latest kernel updates to your existing software and system. It’s not a certainty but it is definitely a possibility. For example, a Kernel update broke GNOME in Arch based Linux some time back.

This is why it is advisable to use an LTS kernel if you prefer a more stable system and/or have an older one. But the decision is yours to make.

Before you install an LTS kernel, check the Linux kernel version you are using.

To install the LTS kernel and Linux LTS headers, type the below command:

At this point, the LTS version is the default one.

Once done, you can remove the older kernels by typing the below command. However, I prefer to keep it in “case” something goes wrong, I can boot into the other Linux kernel version.

3. Installing Yaourt

Yaourt stands for Yet AnOther User Repository Tool which can be used to search, download and install packages from the official repository as well as AUR.

Arch User Repository or AUR is a community-driven repository for Arch users and contains package descriptions to compile a package from source and install it. Most of the packages that make to the official repository start in the AUR first. Users contribute their own applications which are voted for or against and once it becomes popular enough, they are included in the official repository.

AUR contains lots of useful applications that are not found in the main repo can be installed from AUR with help of Yaourt. Yaourt is similar to what Synaptic Package Manager does, and can be installed by following these steps:

Open /etc/pacman.conf file and add these lines at the bottom:

Save the change. Install Yaourt with the below command

sudo pacman -Syu yaourt

Use the command below to sync Yaourt with AUR:

To install AUR packages, you can the below commands :

4. Install GUI Package Manager Pamac

The default package manager for Arch Linux is Pacman (Package Manager) and using Pacman is quite easy to install or remove a software.

However, it’s sometimes difficult to talk in commands. Pamac provides a GUI option for Pacman and works like Synaptic Package Manager or GNOME Software.

Pamac serves as a GUI tool for installing or updating packages and works well with Arch User Repository AUR.

How to install Pamac

Before you can use Pamac, you will need to have Yaourt (or Packer) installed first. Once done, type the below command in terminal to install Pamac.

You can launch the GUI by searching for Add/Remove Software. It will show different packages that are available and installed and which all updates are needed.

However, by default, the AUR packages are not enabled. To enable it, click on the options just beside the search option) and choose Preferences. Under the AUR tab, Enable AUR support.

Installing software through Pamac is as easier as searching it through the GUI (which searches the community and AUR) and installing it with a click.

5. Installing Codecs and plugins

Of course, you are going to use your personal system for recreational works like watching videos and listening to your favorite song. But before that, you will have to install codecs for these audio and video files.

Type the below command in the terminal:

However, installing a media player like VLC imports all the necessary codecs and installs it.

You may add a music player too:

6. Installing productive software

For day to day use and setting up your Arch system for productive use, you need some basic applications like an office suite, email client, a web browser etc.

Aria2 is a download manager, LibreOffice is the most popular open source office suite, Thunderbird is a cross-platform mail and chat client, Firefox is an open source and free web browser, Gedit is an editor, flashplugin installs flash, Skype is a popular messaging and video calling software and Dropbox – to store your file for anytime access.

Along with these, you will need archive managers

This is of course just a suggestion. You can install essential Linux applications of your choice and your requirement.

7. Customizing the looks of your Arch Linux desktop

You can customize your Arch Linux by installing some nice flat themes or the conky monitoring tool.

Installing themes

Some of the most liked themes are Arc GTK, flatplat, Vertex and Numix, which can be installed by below command:

Go to settings > Appearance and change the default theme from there.

Installing Conky

Conky is a free system manager application which can monitor and display memory usage, CPU statistics, disk storage, swap, CPU temperature and more.

To install conky, use below command :

You can configure conky yourself which will need some digging into the

/.conkyrc file or you can download your favorite one from web and replace the default conkyrc file. There is a detailed tutorial about conky and its configuration on the Arch Linux website.

Additional tip:

At any point in time, if you feel like removing any application (and its dependencies), you can use these commands:

It removes the package without removing the dependencies. If you want to remove the dependencies but leaving out the ones which are being used by some other application, below command will help:

Final Words

Arch Linux is a great distribution if you want to take control of everything, from setting up your favorite desktop environment to the tools you want to use. The Arch Wiki is a great place to learn these things and in itself more than sufficient.

In this article, we have just listed out the most important things to do after installing Arch Linux. The rest is up to you to explore.

By the way, what are the things you do after installing Arch Linux?

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