aei — arch easy install

One-shot Arch Linux installer that drops you into a themed Hyprland desktop on first reboot. Installs the system, the desktop, and a complete pywal "alchemia" theme (purple/gold/violet) across waybar, rofi, kitty, mako, hyprlock, wlogout and neovim.

ISO live env  ──►  arch-install.sh  ──►  reboot  ──►  greetd login  ──►  post-install.sh (auto)  ──►  done
   phase 1            phase 2 (chroot)                                   phase 3 (your user)

TL;DR

# Inside the Arch ISO, after `loadkeys us` and a working network:
pacman -Sy --noconfirm git
git clone https://github.com/danielradosa/aei && cd aei
./arch-install.sh --config arch-install.conf
# ↑ uses the bundled defaults. Drop the flag to be prompted for everything.

When phase 1+2 finish: umount -R /mnt && reboot. Log in via tuigreet — phase 3 (paru, AUR, oh-my-zsh, dotfiles, pywal) runs itself once. Re-runnable any time with ~/aei/post-install.sh.

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Full setup, end-to-end

1. Download the Arch ISO

Grab archlinux-x86_64.iso from a mirror near you: https://archlinux.org/download/

Verify the signature if you care:

gpg --keyserver-options auto-key-retrieve --verify archlinux-*.iso.sig

2. Make a bootable USB

You need an 8 GB+ USB stick. Anything on it gets wiped — back it up first.

Coming from Windows?

Use Rufus (https://rufus.ie) — it's a single 1.4 MB .exe, no install:

1. Plug in the USB stick.
2. Open Rufus → Device = your USB.
3. Boot selection → SELECT → pick archlinux-x86_64.iso.
4. A popup asks "ISOHybrid image detected — write in ISO Image mode or DD Image mode?" → choose "DD Image mode". ISO mode breaks the Arch ISO's layout and the resulting USB won't boot.
5. Partition scheme = GPT, Target system = UEFI (non CSM) for any machine made after ~2012. (BIOS/MBR if you have an older box.)
6. START → confirm the wipe → wait ~3 min.

Balena Etcher (https://etcher.balena.io) is the friendlier alternative — GUI on Windows/macOS/Linux, no DD-mode prompt to think about, just Flash from file → Select target → Flash. Slightly slower but harder to misuse.

Don't use Windows' built-in "burn ISO" tool, the Microsoft USB/DVD tool, or UNetbootin — they all produce a USB the Arch ISO won't boot from.

Already on Linux?

# Ventoy (recommended — drop multiple ISOs on one stick, no re-flash later)
sudo pacman -S ventoy
sudo ventoy -i /dev/sdX                # wipes the USB
# then just copy archlinux-x86_64.iso to the USB's exfat partition

# Or dd (single-purpose, classic)
sudo dd if=archlinux-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync

Find the USB device with lsblk before running either — picking the wrong /dev/sdX wipes a real drive.

Before you reboot — firmware prep

These steps apply to everyone, but Windows users hit them most often. Reboot, mash the firmware key as the vendor logo appears (varies — common ones: F2, Del, F10, Esc, F1; ThinkPad: Enter then F1; Surface: hold Vol Up while powering on). Once inside:

1. Disable Secure Boot. Look under Security → Secure Boot → Disabled. The Arch ISO is unsigned, so Secure Boot will silently refuse to boot it and dump you back into Windows.
2. Set USB as first boot device (or just use the one-shot boot menu — F12 / F11 / F9 / Esc / F8 depending on vendor). On UEFI machines you want the entry that says UEFI: <USB name>, not the plain <USB name> one (that's legacy/CSM mode).
3. (Replacing Windows entirely?) Make sure you've copied anything you want to keep onto another drive. The default aei flow runs sgdisk --zap-all and erases the whole disk. If you want to keep Windows, see the dualboot section further down.
4. (Dell/HP/Lenovo) Switch SATA mode from RAID/Intel RST to AHCI if you're on an older laptop — Linux's NVMe driver expects AHCI. ⚠️ Doing this on a working Windows install breaks Windows' boot. Only change it if you're wiping Windows anyway, or follow Microsoft's "switch to AHCI without reinstall" guide first.

3. Boot the ISO

With Secure Boot disabled and USB selected (steps above), reboot. Pick "Arch Linux install medium" from the boot menu. After ~20 seconds of kernel + initrd output, you should land at a root@archiso ~ # prompt.

If your machine boots straight back into Windows: Secure Boot is still on, or the firmware kept the internal drive ahead of USB. Re-enter firmware setup, fix it, save & exit.

4. Set keymap and verify network

loadkeys us                  # or whatever your layout is — danish: dk
ping -c2 archlinux.org       # if this fails, set up wifi:

iwctl
[iwd]# device list
[iwd]# station wlan0 scan
[iwd]# station wlan0 get-networks
[iwd]# station wlan0 connect "Your-SSID"
[iwd]# exit

5. Run aei

pacman -Sy --noconfirm git
git clone https://github.com/danielradosa/aei
cd aei

# Edit arch-install.conf if anything needs tweaking (disk path, hostname, etc.)
nano arch-install.conf

./arch-install.sh --config arch-install.conf

The script will:

• detect your firmware (UEFI/BIOS) and GPU (auto-installs nvidia-open-dkms if NVIDIA)
• partition + format the disk you specified (LUKS2 root if ENCRYPT="yes")
• pacstrap the base system + kernel
• pop into the chroot and configure locale, hostname, users, bootloader, greetd, all the desktop packages, services
• copy itself + all dotfiles + the post-install script into /home/$USER/aei/
• wire ~/.zprofile to auto-run phase 3 on first login

6. Reboot

exit                          # leave the chroot if you're still in it
umount -R /mnt
cryptsetup close cryptroot    # only if ENCRYPT=yes
reboot

Pull the USB out as the machine restarts.

7. First boot

greetd shows tuigreet. Log in as your user. Hyprland comes up — and ~/.zprofile immediately fires ~/aei/post-install.sh to:

• build paru from AUR
• install AUR packages (wlogout, swayosd, cava, papirus-folders, ventoy-bin)
• install oh-my-zsh + zsh-autosuggestions + zsh-syntax-highlighting
• symlink everything in dotfiles/ into your $HOME (existing files backed up to ~/.aei-backup/<timestamp>/)
• seed the alchemia pywal palette and regenerate every themed file
• hook up pywalfox so Firefox themes match
• headless :Lazy! sync so nvim is ready on first launch
• revoke the temporary NOPASSWD on wheel
• touch ~/.aei-done so the autorun is a no-op next login

Logs live in ~/.aei-postinstall.log.

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Dualbooting with Windows

If you want to keep Windows alongside Arch (same disk, both selectable from the boot menu), do this instead of steps 5-6 above. The Windows side needs a few minutes of prep first or you'll fight NTFS/BitLocker/Fast Startup later.

A. Prepare in Windows (before booting the Arch ISO)

1. Disable Fast Startup. Settings → System → Power & battery → Additional power settings → "Choose what the power buttons do" → "Change settings currently unavailable" → uncheck Turn on fast startup. With Fast Startup on, Windows leaves NTFS in a half-hibernated state that Linux refuses to touch — and your dualboot setup will look fine until the first time you try to mount the Windows partition from Arch.
2. Disable BitLocker or save the recovery key. Settings → Privacy & security → Device encryption → off. If you can't turn it off (Win Pro on TPM hardware), at least back up the recovery key — resizing the partition can trigger a recovery prompt.
3. Shrink the Windows partition to make room for Arch. Win + X → Disk Management → right-click C: → Shrink Volume. 80 GB minimum for a comfortable Arch install, more if you want games. Click Shrink — leave the freed space unallocated (don't make a new partition from Windows; we'll do that from the ISO with Linux tooling).
4. Disable Secure Boot in your firmware (covered in step 2's "firmware prep" subsection above). Required for the Arch ISO to boot at all.

B. Boot the Arch ISO

Steps 1-4 from the main guide above (download ISO, write to USB, boot, set keymap, get networking up).

C. Carve the Linux partition out of the unallocated space

Identify your disk:

lsblk -po NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,PARTLABEL
# Typical Windows 11 NVMe layout:
#   nvme0n1
#   ├─nvme0n1p1   100M  part  vfat        EFI    ← Windows ESP — DO NOT FORMAT
#   ├─nvme0n1p2    16M  part              MSR
#   ├─nvme0n1p3   180G  part  ntfs        Basic  ← Windows C:  ← shrunk
#   └─nvme0n1p4   650M  part  ntfs        Recovery

Open cfdisk and create one new partition in the free space:

cfdisk /dev/nvme0n1
# pick "Free space" → New → enter the size (or full remaining) →
# Type → "Linux filesystem" → Write → "yes" → Quit

After writing, lsblk should show a new partition like nvme0n1p5. That's your ROOT_PART. The ESP from step C is your ESP_PART — same one Windows uses; we don't reformat it.

D. Run aei in manual-partition mode

pacman -Sy --noconfirm git
git clone https://github.com/danielradosa/aei && cd aei
nano arch-install.conf

Edit these lines in arch-install.conf (uncomment + set):

MANUAL_PARTITION="yes"
ROOT_PART="/dev/nvme0n1p5"     # the partition you just made
ESP_PART="/dev/nvme0n1p1"      # Windows' ESP — re-used as /boot/efi
# DISK="/dev/sda"              # ← comment this out; not used in manual mode

Then:

./arch-install.sh --config arch-install.conf
# or, equivalently, leave the conf alone and pass:
# MANUAL_PARTITION=yes ROOT_PART=/dev/nvme0n1p5 ESP_PART=/dev/nvme0n1p1 \
#   ./arch-install.sh --manual-partition

What aei does differently in this mode:

• Skips sgdisk --zap-all — your Windows partitions stay where they are.
• Skips mkfs.fat on the ESP — your Windows boot files survive.
• Formats only ROOT_PART (LUKS-wraps it first if ENCRYPT="yes").
• Mounts Windows' ESP at /boot/efi — Arch's kernel, initramfs and systemd-boot loader land alongside EFI/Microsoft/Boot/.
• Detects Windows automatically in the bootloader step:
  • systemd-boot: writes /boot/efi/loader/entries/windows.conf pointing at /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi.
  • grub: installs os-prober and ntfs-3g, sets GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false, regenerates grub.cfg — Windows appears in the menu automatically.

After phase 2 finishes, reboot. The boot menu now lists both Arch Linux (default) and Windows. Phase 3 runs on first Arch login as usual.

E. Dualboot troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Windows entry doesn't show in systemd-boot menu	Verify /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi exists. If not, your ESP is on a different partition than you set. Check with mount | grep efi and find /boot/efi -name bootmgfw.efi. Re-create /boot/efi/loader/entries/windows.conf manually if needed.
Windows boots, Arch doesn't (or vice versa)	Open firmware boot menu (F12 etc.) — check both Windows Boot Manager and Linux Boot Manager/GRUB are listed. If only one: efibootmgr -v from a live ISO and efibootmgr --create ... to add the missing entry.
Mounting Windows partition fails with "wrong fs type"	Fast Startup is still on. Boot Windows, properly shut down with Shift held while clicking Shut down (forces a real shutdown), then disable Fast Startup.
BitLocker recovery prompt on first Windows boot post-install	Expected once. Enter the recovery key you saved in prep step A.2. Future boots are fine.
Clock is 8 hours off in Windows after using Arch	Linux uses UTC for the hardware clock; Windows uses local. In Arch: timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock.
Want to remove Arch later	Boot Windows → Disk Management → delete the Linux partition → extend C: into the free space. Then in firmware: remove the Linux EFI entry with bcdedit from an admin cmd, or boot the Windows install media → recovery → bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /rebuildbcd.

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Customizing

Want to...	Edit
change packages	packages/pacman.txt and packages/aur.txt
change Hyprland config	dotfiles/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf
change waybar / rofi / kitty	dotfiles/.config/{waybar,rofi,kitty}/
swap pywal scheme	dotfiles/.config/wal/colorschemes/dark/
add a new pywal-templated app	drop into dotfiles/.config/wal/templates/
change the wallpaper	replace dotfiles/Pictures/wallpapers/*
pre-set passwords	arch-install.conf (then chmod 600)

Re-running ~/aei/post-install.sh after editing dotfiles re-links them.

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Troubleshooting

Boot / install

Symptom	Fix
No internet from preflight	iwctl (see step 4) or dhcpcd eth0 for wired
pacstrap fails with mirror errors	reflector --country YourCountry --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist then retry
Picked DISK is not a valid block device	edit arch-install.conf, set DISK=/dev/... to the path from lsblk -dpno NAME,SIZE,TYPE
LUKS passphrase prompt never appears at boot	the encrypt hook is missing from mkinitcpio — boot the ISO, mount + chroot, fix /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, run mkinitcpio -P
bootctl install fails with "ESP not mounted"	UEFI install but ESP not at /boot/efi — re-mount and re-run phase 2

First boot

Symptom	Fix
Black screen after reboot, NVIDIA card	press Ctrl+Alt+F2, log in, check journalctl -b -u greetd — usually nvidia_drm.modeset=1 missing from kernel cmdline. Edit /boot/efi/loader/entries/arch.conf and add it.
greetd shows but Hyprland won't start (loops back)	check journalctl --user -b -t Hyprland — most often start-hyprland not on PATH. Verify with which start-hyprland (should be /usr/local/bin/start-hyprland). If missing, copy from ~/aei/scripts/start-hyprland.
tuigreet doesn't list a Hyprland session at all	/etc/greetd/config.toml should have --cmd start-hyprland. Re-run sudo aei/post-install.sh won't fix this — edit the file directly and sudo systemctl restart greetd.
Wallpaper doesn't load	pgrep awww-daemon. If empty: awww-daemon & then awww img ~/Pictures/wallpapers/alchemy-bg.png. The awww package provides swww.
Waybar shows but with no colors	~/.cache/wal/waybar-colors.css missing — run wal --theme alchemia to regenerate. The custom templates live in ~/.config/wal/templates/.
Firefox doesn't theme	install the pywalfox browser extension from addons.mozilla.org, then pywalfox update

Phase 3 (post-install)

Symptom	Fix
Phase 3 didn't auto-run on login	check cat ~/.aei-done (should NOT exist if it didn't run). Manually: ~/aei/post-install.sh. The hook lives in ~/.zprofile.
paru: command not found after phase 3	the build failed. Check ~/.aei-postinstall.log. Most often: missing base-devel (it shouldn't — pacstrap installs it). Try manually: cd /tmp && git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/paru && cd paru && makepkg -si.
AUR package fails to build	log line says which one. Re-run paru -S <pkg> to see the real error. Failed packages are listed at the end of post-install.sh's output and don't block the rest.
LazyVim sync errors on first run	non-fatal — open nvim, run :Lazy sync, then :Mason to fill in any missing LSP/formatter binaries.
Dotfiles got overwritten / I want my own back	~/.aei-backup/<timestamp>/ has your previous files. The deployer always backs up before symlinking.
~/.aei-done exists but I want phase 3 to re-run	rm ~/.aei-done && ~/aei/post-install.sh

Day-to-day

Symptom	Fix
Hold-backspace deletes one char per second	already handled — repeat_delay = 220, repeat_rate = 50 in hyprland.conf. If you changed it, lower repeat_delay (50–250 ms) and raise repeat_rate (30–60).
nvim feels laggy on key sequences	dotfiles/.config/nvim/lua/config/options.lua sets timeoutlen = 300, ttimeoutlen = 10 — drop them lower if you want even snappier (10/0).
wal --theme alchemia says theme not found	the colorscheme JSON should be at ~/.config/wal/colorschemes/dark/alchemia.json — check the symlink.
Bluetooth doesn't work	sudo systemctl enable --now bluetooth && bluetoothctl — power on, scan on, pair <MAC>.
Docker says permission denied	log out / back in (group membership added in phase 2 only takes effect on a new login session).

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Repo layout

aei/
├── arch-install.sh        # phases 1 + 2 (ISO, partition, chroot, packages)
├── arch-install.conf      # baked-in non-interactive defaults
├── post-install.sh        # phase 3 (per-user; idempotent, fail-tolerant)
├── packages/
│   ├── pacman.txt         # one official-repo package per line
│   └── aur.txt            # one AUR package per line
├── scripts/
│   └── start-hyprland     # greetd launches this (env + dbus + Hyprland)
└── dotfiles/              # symlinked into $HOME by post-install
    ├── .zshrc
    ├── Pictures/wallpapers/
    └── .config/
        ├── hypr/{hyprland,hyprlock,hypridle}.conf
        ├── waybar/{config.jsonc,style.css}
        ├── kitty/kitty.conf
        ├── rofi/{config.rasi,alchemia.rasi}
        ├── mako/config
        ├── wlogout/{layout,style.css}
        ├── swayosd/style.css
        ├── cava/config
        ├── fastfetch/config.jsonc
        ├── starship.toml
        ├── nvim/                  # LazyVim + alchemia colorscheme
        └── wal/{colorschemes,templates}/

Notes

• NVIDIA: defaults to nvidia-open-dkms (open kernel modules — Turing/Ampere/Ada+). If you have a Maxwell/Pascal card, swap that for nvidia-dkms in packages/pacman.txt.
• awww vs swww: this repo uses awww (it's in [extra] and provides=swww). All configs reference awww / awww-daemon. If you prefer plain swww, swap the package + the two exec-once lines in hyprland.conf.
• greetd's start-hyprland: lives at /usr/local/bin/start-hyprland. If you re-image without this script, tuigreet's --cmd Hyprland will technically work but you'll lose XDG/dbus env propagation (no portal, no clipboard, no Qt theme).
• Re-running post-install.sh is always safe. It checks each step's current state before acting, so partial-failure recovery is just ~/aei/post-install.sh.