Creating a file system on a arch linux-installation - some questions

Lounge Hello
1

i am currently making up my mind how to set up a arch system.

well doing so i thougth it is a good idea to write it down all the steps. so i can share it with you and get feedback. at the moment i have some questions regarding the formating the fileystem. see below

here the start:

Installing Arch Linux on a notebook involves several steps,

Here’s a general outline of the installation process:

first we need to download the Arch Linux ISO:

therefore we need to visit the Arch Linux download page (https://archlinux.org/download/) and download the ISO image for our architecture (e.g., 64-bit).

then we need to create a so called Bootable Media:

Write the ISO image to a USB flash drive or burn it to a CD/DVD using tools like dd or a graphical tool like Rufus (Windows) or Etcher (Linux/macOS). Boot from the Installation Media:

Insert the bootable media into our notebook and boot from it. We may need to access our notebook’s BIOS/UEFI settings to change the boot order and prioritize the USB drive or CD/DVD drive.

step: Prepare the Installation Environment:

Once we boot into the Arch Linux live environment, we’ll be presented with a command prompt. We then need to set up our system’s internet connection, which can usually be done using commands like ip and wifi-menu for wireless networks or ip and dhclient for wired networks.

the Partitioning - this is pretty important:

we can use tools like fdisk, gdisk, or parted to partition our notebook’s storage device. we need to create at least one partition for the root filesystem (/) and optionally additional partitions for /home,

/boot, and swap. Filesystem Creation:

we then create filesystems on the partitions using commands like mkfs.ext4, mkfs.fat, or mkswap.

the formating - here i have a question: can we go like so?

see the comands:

mkfs.vfat /dev/md3

Creates an empty disk image of 33MB.

dd if=/dev/zero of=uefi.img bs=1M count=33

Formats the disk image as FAT32

mkfs.vfat uefi.img -F 32

Creates the requested subdirectories.

mmd -i uefi.img ::/EFI mmd -i uefi.img ::/EFI/BOOT

Copies the boot file.

mcopy -i uefi.img BOOTX64.EFI ::/EFI/BOOT

Creates an empty disk image of 100MB.

dd if=/dev/zero of=system.img bs=1M count=100

Formats the disk image as FAT32

question: is this possible to do so !? can i do the formating like mentioned above?

look forward to hear from you

2

All these commands do different things. The first one creates a vfat filesystem on a raid device. Most of them create disk images. I don’t think any of these would be useful in creating an Arch system for most common scenarios.

When it comes to the disk layout, you should first decide what partitions you want and which filesystems you want to use. Once you have that decided, you can find the right commands to create the filesystems.

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3

hello dear Dalto

first of all : many many thanks for the quick answer. Glad to hear form you.

can i break all down and say so: - in order to do the very first steps in creating a file system
… basically, I’m trying to do the following steps:

  • create a disk image of about 500MB;
  • create a GPT;
  • create a FAT32 partition in the first 300MB(I’ll call it UEFI);
  • create a FAT32 partition in the remaining bytes(I’ll call it SYSTEM);
  • create the following subdirectory in the UEFI partition: /EFI/BOOT/;

that said we have the following things:

Layouting a disk image and copying files into it

mkfs.vfat /dev/md3

Creates an empty disk image of 330MB.

dd if=/dev/zero of=uefi.img bs=1M count=330

Formats the disk image as FAT32

mkfs.vfat uefi.img -F 32

Creates the requested subdirectories.

mmd -i uefi.img ::/EFI
mmd -i uefi.img ::/EFI/BOOT

look forward to hear from you

4

A disk image is a file containing a disk image. What are you planning to do with that? Creating a disk image would not be a normal part of installing an operating system on a physical device.

GPT is a partition table. If you have a device(disk) that you are OK with overwriting. Creating a new GPT on it would make sense.

OK, this makes sense

You can’t install Linux into a fat32 partition. It doesn’t support POSIX permissions. You need to use a different filesystem. If you don’t know what to choose, use ext4.

You don’t do this manually. When you install the bootloader, it will do this for you.

None of the commands you have listed are related to installing an Arch Linux system in any obvious way.

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5

Simple way would be boot up the Arch usb then type archinstall and follow the directions.

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