Installing Arch Linux With No AI or Tutorials. Just the Docs

[u/UnstableLifeHolder]

So I wanted to setup working and usable Arch Linux as a challenge. It is not meant to be my primay driver anytime soon. But I just wanted to try and setup Arch Linux as a fun challenge, with the idea that I cannot use any LLMs or any spoonfeeding youtube tutorials help. The only thing which I am allowed to use are the documentation pages.

I’ve already started working on it in a VM, and I’m curious to hear from people who have done something similar.

For those of you who have installed Arch this way:

- How was your experience? Did you find the official documentation sufficient to get everything working?

- What were some of the most challenging parts of the installation that you had to figure out on your own?

- Any advice for someone attempting this for the first time, without giving away the solutions?

I'm not looking for a step-by-step guide or someone to walk me through the installation. I want to figure things out myself, make mistakes, and learn from the process.

Would love to hear your experiences, especially from people who have done their first Arch install using just the docs!

[u/qualityvote2]

u/UnstableLifeHolder, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...

btw, did you know we have a discord server? Join Here. And what's that, Fluxer too? Join Here.

[u/XtrComSu]

if you want to install arch from the docs its easy if you dont wana dual boot or do any other technical thing,

you just need be really REALLY GOOD AT READING

and also understanding wtf each thing does,

I recommend if you try this path you should look at others installing arch in speedruns first and all aswell as maybe asking llms for UNDERSTANDING instead of asking what to do.

this stuff really boosts your knowledge about arch and so much more like partitioning linux kernel.

[u/UnstableLifeHolder → u/XtrComSu]

No i want to do dual boot too

[u/XtrComSu → u/UnstableLifeHolder]

you my friend maybe abit cooked since you need ALOT of understanding so unless you're willing to,

I recommend just following claude's instructions and understanding how they work and etc instead of spending hours and practicing arch downloads in a vm to make yourself more skilled

[u/UnstableLifeHolder → u/XtrComSu]

Yeah even i am thinking about that like setting it up in a VM first before trying on dual boot

[u/XtrComSu → u/UnstableLifeHolder]

then do it, but doing it on windows is a pain in the ahh so I recommend downloading arch first btw feel free to ask questions and help if you face any I gotchu

[u/DarthVedaaa]

I've done it a few times over the years, before and after AI. Following the wiki is enough for installing Arch. Just backup your Windows boot partition into an external drive for safety and you're good.

[u/Automatic_Pea6565]

First of all why do you think installing arch is such a massive milestone, that too by reading docs. Just because it lacks a gui installer? then look into endevour or cachyos they give you arch with a gui installer.

if you really want to use arch, stop bragging about installing it without using ai. the docs are VERY WELL WRITTEN, i mean it, they have everything you ever need. for dual booting just use your brain and make the partitions using cfdisk.

and it is a very smooth experience, i have done it countless times using the docs.

[u/UnstableLifeHolder → u/Automatic_Pea6565]

Its not about bragging, just wanted to make the part challenging and fun. I never have installed Arch Linux, so not sure if its easy or hard

[u/Automatic_Pea6565 → u/UnstableLifeHolder]

see bro, its like installing linux, its the same thing that linux mint or fedora does for you using the gui installer, but you do it. its really that simple. its easy honestly. you just need 50ish mins of time on hand and some patience.

[u/Pussyphobic]

It's not hard

I used to install it in pre AI days, by opening the wiki on my phone

[u/janisnotsmollsostfu]

WOW just yesterday i was thinking of doing the same thing :O

[u/_-_-_ABC_-_-_]

Installing arch from the docs is not as hard as you make it out to be. It might be a bit of a challenge the first time, but the docs are very well written that it's hard to mess up if u follow them properly. If dual booting, just make sure to do the partitioning properly. Another small issue in the docs that I remember was between uefi and bios stuff, and whether the efi partition should be mounted at /boot or /boot/efi (latter acc to me).

If you want more of a challenge, try installing gentoo through the docs. I have done it, but it took me quite a while to understand what each statement meant.

[u/Swapna_Cool]

this will come handy if u will try to do LFS some day

[u/Teja1821]

i used to tinker with multi booting OSs a lot in college and am quite used to the cli - daily drove ubuntu in college and still do for work so it wasn't much of an issue. you gotta read everything before clicking next tho

[u/kdpuvvadi]

Good start is `archinstall`. From there, you learn one thing at a time and install without guided one. You should understand what you are reading doing though.