How to Install Arch Linux: A Beginner’s Practical Guide
Installing Arch Linux has always been a little more daunting for newer users. This is partly because it offers a little less wizard guidance, and also partly because you want to be super careful, especially around what partitions to use or format, or which not to format.
I know this because the first few times I even installed Ubuntu, back in the day, my biggest concern always was which partition is which, and am I going to install over something I don’t want to lose. I learnt later on to separate my home folder onto a different partition, and to use GParted or KParted to carefully note down exactly which partition was which, before I started.
But of course since I installed Manjaro Linux, I’ve never had to do another fresh installation again (basically one of the benefits that Arch Linux will give you too).
This guide actually shows you how to install Arch Linux in a virtual machine, which is probably an excellent way to try the installation out first, and will give confidence for the live installation later.
Remember too, with Arch Linux, you’ll probably never be doing this ever again, so some effort and time is really worth it. Linux is not Windows, and I’ve even ported my existing drives across into a brand-new motherboard, and it has worked fine (remember to map your drives using their UUID’s as that makes them pretty portable).
So why not Manjaro Linux or one of the other Arch Linux derivatives? They are friendlier and easier to install, they are intended to run on their stable editions. So if you are in the habit of wanting to run some more bleeding edge git versions from the AUR, you may find things break with those packages as they often don’t find some dependencies they require. Arch typically runs most of those more bleeding edge packages, so dependencies are not such an issue.
Still, even if you install Arch Linux in a VM, it will make a great festive season project to play with! For some (many?) Linux users, becoming a full-time Arch Linux user is the pinnacle they want to reach.
You’ll tell these users apart from others, as they may express crude disdain for Manjaro Linux and other Arch derivatives in the forums 
. But even if you use Arch Linux, they may also state you should not be using it as a new user… That said, forums are all getting a lot more friendly and helpful today, and there are also lots of Arch Linux users from all experience levels. This is really not such an issue today as it was maybe 5 plus years ago. I’m just mentioning it as those stereotypes do still crop up, but there are really tons of assistance and posts online about solving all sorts of Arch Linux issues. I know, because I use them to solve any issues I encounter on Manjaro Linux too.
See linuxiac.com/arch-linux-instal…
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