Struggling to install Arch on USB

linux_kitteh · 2013-07-04 16:44:17

Hi folks,

I am trying to install Arch Linux on a USB and am running into some obstacles. My only experience with Linux prior to this is about 2 months with Linux Mint, but I want something more challenging, so I'm trying to do a practice run on a USB before I start writing over my SSD's.

WHAT I HAVE DONE UP TO THIS POINT:

I have successfully used this command:

dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx

to make a live USB (not sure if correct phrasing). I turned on my laptop and booted into the flash drive & was met with a shell. I followed the instructions here and successfully made it to the point of connecting to my wireless network. At this point the guide starts talking about partitioning, and since I am trying to do all of this on USB, i click the link here as directed.

So apparently what I first did with the "dd" command was not "installing" Arch to the flash drive? Anyways, one of the first things I see under the "Preparation" heading of this USB installation page is that if I'm going to be installing Arch on a USB, from a live USB, I will have to install it on a different USB from the live one. That's no problem, when I went to the store yesterday I bought two flash drives. So I insert my other USB into my laptop, do lsblk, and viola, there it is, along with the "live USB" and the two SSD's of my laptop.

WHERE I RUN INTO PROBLEMS:

Still on the USB installation page, I now see that I'm supposed to follow the Installation Guide but with 3 exceptions about partitioning, SSD's and RAM that I have no clue what they mean. But wait, on the ArchWiki main page it says the "Installation Guide" is aimed at experienced Arch users, why I'm being directed there? Am I supposed to just refer back to the beginners guide instead? If I were to pick up where I left off on the beginner's guide, right after I clicked the USB installation link, it starts talking about partitioning. So I'm going to partition this flash drive? It says "It should be emphasized that partitioning is a personal choice." Does that mean whether or not I partition anything is a personal choice or whether I use "MBR" or "GPT" partitioning is a personal choice? After partitioning it starts talking about downloading something from a mirror? This is *not* the same thing as the half a GB iso I downloaded at the beginning of this journey is it?

Any clarification that could be offered regarding:

-differences between "live USB" vs installing on a USB
-partitioning the USB
-Is this "mirror" different from the original "iso"?

Thank you very much!

P.S.

It seems like these guides have mentioned "BIOS" vs "UEFI" about a million times, but I'm not sure which my laptop is. In my /sys/firmware there is no "efi", so maybe it's BIOS? All I have under /sys/firmware are two directories called "acpi" and "memmap" that are readable, writable & executable by the owner but only readable and executable by everyone else. Not sure if relevant info at all, though.

Last edited by linux_kitteh (2013-07-04 16:45:08)

teateawhy · 2013-07-04 18:46:17

linux_kitteh wrote:

now see that I'm supposed to follow the Installation Guide

That is expressed badly on the usb installation page.
I recommend you to stay with the beginner's guide.

linux_kitteh wrote:

differences between "live USB" vs installing on a USB

The state of the "live USB" is reset after you shut down the computer, that means installing packages, making configurations etc. will be lost after a reboot.

partitioning the USB

Partitioning really is completely your choice, and if you use GPT or MBR is also up to you.

Is this "mirror" different from the original "iso"?

The "iso" is the environment that allows you to install arch, because this environment contains the necessary scripts. The "iso" does not contain the packages that you need to install archlinux. That means you have to download the packages from a server. This server is called mirror.

"BIOS" vs "UEFI"

Your laptop most likely uses BIOS booting.

Last edited by teateawhy (2013-07-04 18:51:02)

Trilby · 2013-07-04 19:09:07

I think teateawhy covered it well, but to elaborate on two points, the installation guide and the beginners guide are 'parallel guides'. They go through the exact same steps. The beginners guide just does so with much more detail and elaborates on each step. The beginners guide is for those who many not be familiar with what all these steps are doing. The installation guide (some have said it should be called the experts guide) is more of a 'cheat sheet' for those who are already very comfortable with the installation process, but rather than try to do it purely from memory, could use a simple checklist to make sure they hit all the steps. But again, if you compare the actual steps, they are doing the same stuff. User the beginner's guide.

Is partitioning your choice? I think that should read that *how* you partition the disk is entirely your choice. The disk must be partitioned - that is a requirement. But given that most disks you'd have would almost certainly already be partitioned, whether or not you need to "repartition" it is yet another question. So:

Does the disk need to be partitioned: yes, this is a requirement.
Does the disk need to be repartitioned if it came with a partition already: not needed, but I'd recommend it.
How many partitions and mbr or gpt: entirely personal preference, but you can read up on some of the pros and cons of each.

Regardless of the partitioning though, you will have to create the filesystems - and this is often bundled as a subheading under partitioning, even though it is a distinct procedure. Each partition must have a filesystem, and odds are they already do. But unlike above, the filesystem that a store bought disk likely came with will most likely either not work at all with archlinux, or just be more trouble than it's worth. You'll want to use a linux file system. Again there are many to choose from including ext(2/3/4). If in doubt, ext4 is a very good option and as close to a 'standard' as you would find. A storebought disk likely came with a FAT or NTFS file system, and while it *might* be possible to run arch on that, I can assure you it'd be far more headache than I'd wish on anyone.

Last edited by Trilby (2013-07-04 19:10:43)

MickeyRat · 2013-07-04 19:47:27

All due respect to the others that have replied but, I think you got off track pretty early on. When you install onto a USB drive you don't copy the ISO image onto the USB. You do that when you're trying to install Arch from the USB on to the maindrive. I installed on a USB hard drive first too. You need to boot off the CD and treat the USB as you would the drive you will install into. As for UEFI, look in your BIOS. If you have it and it's on, then you have it. If you have it and it's off, leave it off or you'll screw up your other installation. So, in that case, you don't have it.

Make sure you know what device the USB is and partition that. If you re-partition your main drive, your other installation will be toast. On my system the main drive is /dev/sda and the USB drive is /deb/sdb.

Trilby · 2013-07-04 20:03:50

MickeyRat, you're assuming there was a CD ...

To install on *anything* you need an installation medium (unless you have a bootloader that can netboot or boot to an on-disk iso-image). So making an installation disk out of one of the usb's was the right first step.

Last edited by Trilby (2013-07-04 20:04:54)

MickeyRat · 2013-07-04 21:00:43

Trilby wrote:

MickeyRat, you're assuming there was a CD ...
To install on *anything* you need an installation medium (unless you have a bootloader that can netboot or boot to an on-disk iso-image). So making an installation disk out of one of the usb's was the right first step.

I stand corrected and you are right. The part about UEFI is correct though.

linux_kitteh · 2013-07-04 22:35:33

Thank you guys very much!

I would like to happily report that I have successfully installed Arch onto a 16 GB flash drive!

So it seems the initial dd command on flashdrive no.1 was essentially making the flash drive into like an Arch Linux "install cd", but a flash drive instead, and then flash drive no.2 was the target for installation.

Thank you for explaining about how the partitioning was necessary, Trillby. I ended up doing the "MBR" partitioning, because the "GPT" kept giving me some sort of warning at the beginning, forgot what about though. I temporarily hit a wall trying to figure out why "n" wasn't doing anything to make a new partition, but then I realized I had to delete the single partition that came on this drive first.

From there it was pretty smooth sailing!

I have my root and home partitions, I made my normal user, I installed vim (I much prefer this over that "nano" program Arch Wiki kept telling me to use), I can manually connect to my wireless network, I set a few command aliases, and my touchpad and keyboard works in Xorg

I'm going to take a break right now and work on installing KDE later this evening or tomorrow.

Thanks for the help, guys!

WonderWoofy · 2013-07-04 22:42:36

I just want to point out that as of July, there is now a tar.gz available that you can use to install Arch from any other Linux. You just expand the tarball whereever you want, and it has all the necessary tools to chroot into it and install Arch following the beginners guide. So the install scripts are there, and pacman is there. So as long as ytou have an internet connection on the host, you can install anything you want to your chroot installer if you need additional tools.

Follow this link, and then there is the archlinux-bootstrap-*.tar.gz files there. One for each architechture.
http://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/iso/2013.07.01

Arch Linux

#1 2013-07-04 16:44:17

Struggling to install Arch on USB

#2 2013-07-04 18:46:17

Re: Struggling to install Arch on USB

#3 2013-07-04 19:09:07

Re: Struggling to install Arch on USB

#4 2013-07-04 19:47:27

Re: Struggling to install Arch on USB

#5 2013-07-04 20:03:50

Re: Struggling to install Arch on USB

#6 2013-07-04 21:00:43

Re: Struggling to install Arch on USB

#7 2013-07-04 22:35:33

Re: Struggling to install Arch on USB

#8 2013-07-04 22:42:36

Re: Struggling to install Arch on USB

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